Is there any hope for this vette? - NCRS Discussion Boards

Is there any hope for this vette?

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • John Sanford

    Is there any hope for this vette?

    I have a 74 model stingray hardtop with numbers not matching. I came to you guys and I think yall can tell me what my best bet is for selling it or trading it. I took it to super chevy here in town over the weekend and I didnt get a single call.
    Here is a little history. My car was originally red on red with an L82 engine, auto trans. There were a couple of owners before me including a young girl who blew up the motor. It was replaced with another motor and therfore now the numbers don't match. For all I know it may not even be the original trans. Sometime after the girl owned it a man painted it a dark mettalic maroon. The paint looked really good as I had seen the car a couple of times before I owned it. That same guy apparently dyed the red interior black, and replaced the original carpet with black. There are wear places on the interior where the red is showing through the black dye, and of course-red seatbelts.

    I bought the car from another guy who was in a front end collision in it. It did not bend the frame but it pretty much broke everything up front. we were able to save the front bumper and the hood, and the lights. the rest of the glass came off in pieces. I paid $3000 for the wrecked but running car. We rebuilt everything that could possibly be built and had to buy a lot of new parts. I soldered the stock Brass? radiator. The car has a 350 that I don't know who built, but it has good HP and torque, good compression in all cylinders, edelbrock alum intake, and a 750 holley vacuum secondary. It has headers and dual flowmaster exhaust. The car is basically a hot rod with common vette problems. The windows are power but for some reason they dont really work good. They have enough power to lift the window a little bit, but then they just stop comming up. you have to help them. The T Top rubber doesn't leak but the window rubber is pretty much shot. The switches in the middle of the seats do not work. The outside drivers door handle does not work. The speedometer cables are not working, or are not hooked up. The tach does not work because the car now has an HEI distributor. I have an auto meter tach, oil pressure , and water temp hooked up and in it.
    None of the stock guages worked to my knowledge. When I put the 1 piece aftermarket front end on the car I guess I did not do some things right becuase the hood is high on one side in the front and it does not latch. I took off the factory light vacuum system because the motor has such a big cam that they wouldn't work anyway. The stay up with the accuator's support but they dont work by the switch. They also do not line up right when closed in the body of the car. You know the first thing that people notice is the hood and lights. I also remeved the big thing that attches to the firewall that hooks up to all the heating and air components. I took all that out to. I knew hell would freeze over before I got the money to fix that!

    Bottom line I just want to get rid of the car but this weeknd when I took it to the show it made me relize that it is going to be very hard to get rid of. I would like to trade it for another project vehicle and try this again but it seems that mine is just in too rough of shape. A lot of guys there told me that my best bet would be to get a young guy to buy it. They said that's probably where I would get the most for it. The aftermarket front end cost around $1100 and the paint was about $500, I painted it myself. I am a pro painter, so It's not a cheap looking job. The car is silver with blue flames.
    It really is a nice car to the untrained eye but when someone that knows what they are looking at sees it, they turn away.

    I just figured I would ask you guys because yall probably know my best bet for getting rid of it. I like vettes and all but I sure cant afford to buy the replacement parts, and besides I want a steel body car next time. I made the car like I was happy with it, for instance it really didn't bother me that the lights are a little low and the hood is high, on and on. All of the problems above can surely be fixed with a little money and time, but I am just burnt out on it. So I have about $4500 In the car, not counting my labor. Do you think that I will get that back out of it? Thank you for your replies and advice.
  • Mike McKown

    #2
    Yall is spelled Ya'all and

    if you have $4500 in it, you're going to be out about $4000.

    Comment

    • John Sanford

      #3
      Re: Yall is spelled Ya'all and

      I know that this board is full of purists and I understand your views but, can YA'LL please answer with some sincerity, thanks. I'm from AL, can you tell?

      Comment

      • Kevin Whiteley

        #4
        Re: You will get....

        what someone is willing to pay for it. I know that's a generic answer, but it's true. To increase your chances of selling the car, advertise in the local newspaper, eBay, the local "trader" magazine, and maybe the Corvette trader. You never know, someone may want the entire car. I don't think you'll ever get what you put into it. It's just not the way improvements/repairs work. Failing selling the entire vehicle, you can part it out and sell the individual parts on eBay. As long the the parts you sell are ORIGINAL to the car, then you could recoupe some of your investment.

        Comment

        • Edward M.
          Extremely Frequent Poster
          • November 1, 1985
          • 1916

          #5
          Re: Yall is spelled Ya'all and

          Where in Alabama? I am in Huntsville.

          Comment

          • Terry F.
            Expired
            • September 30, 1992
            • 2061

            #6
            Re: Yall is spelled Ya'all and

            What you described is not that uncommon of an experience. Unfortunately, looks means everything when it comes to resale. I would try to advertise it locally and see if you can get someone to fall in love with it or its potential. Take what you can get and cut your losses. The other option is parting it out. But, that takes work and time. There may not be a whole lot there to part out. Personally, I don't think your into it for that much. I would cut bait. People go upside down all the time on these cars, very easy to do. You can easily have $30,000 into a $20,000 car and be worse off than your situation. I am not made of money either so I know it hurts the wallet a bit but I think it is time to cut bait. Best of luck, Terry

            Comment

            • Chuck R.
              Expired
              • April 30, 1999
              • 1434

              #7
              Re: Is there any hope for this vette?

              The car has quite a shopping list of issues John, none of them cheap to fix as you have found out. When you purchased this car, you grabbed a Godzilla of tigers by the tail!

              From the desciption you have given, it seems parting out will maybe get you close to getting your money back. Other than that, your going to be hard pressed to get $4.500.00 from the kid who would want to make a hot rod out of it.

              The frame, fiberglass, larger suspension components, and other ancellary items that are correct will fetch you Ok dollars if you go that route.

              I parted out a 69 fire wreck chassis without the body (melted off) and I tell Ya John it was a ton of work salvaging components, but... I also made fair money that I was able to put towards my current project.

              Hope you can get out from under it John,

              Chuck

              Comment

              Working...

              Debug Information

              Searching...Please wait.
              An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded.

              Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
              An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

              Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
              An internal error has occurred and the module cannot be displayed.
              There are no results that meet this criteria.
              Search Result for "|||"