kennybob

Need help yet again....

There is a '58 fuelly on E-bay that is listed as all original and documented with 42K (I think this is the # but low miles anyway). I called the owner and he said it is all original except for the block which was bought when the engine siezed way back when. He said that he is the second owner, has the original order sheet for the car with all the options (it is the optional silver of which he says there were only 190 or so of and only a few with the Fuelly option).

I feel that the engine block being correct is pretty important but he said that having the original spec sheet, original title, history of the car and milage etc. is most important to prove it is all original except for the motor is worth more on a car like this.

Please weigh in and let me know what you think. Also, please let me know what a car would be reasonable priced at-- he is looking for mid $60s but I feel that this is too much for a non-matching car (understanding that value is in the eye of the beholder, I am looking at this as not only a way to fulfill a dream but also as an investment).

Thanks in advance,

Ken

59er

kennybob,

According to the Corvette Black book he is right that there were only 193 58's delivered in silver and you could check on the order sheet to see if it was ordered with the fuel injection option 579(250HP 504 ordered) OR 579d(290hp 1007 ordered).

I'm with you as far as the original blocks desireability and the heads especialy but it may still have the correct heads.

Replacing the correct block would no doubt be difficult and expensive to get and I wouldn't be paying top dollar only to have to go through that kind of grief.

For me owning a totaly original car would only give me real satisfaction if I was absolutely sure that it was all original and more for the fact that it was as it left the factory. A replacement block will make it "correct" but not "original".

My 59 has a Non Original Motor and it's going to stay that way.

It still sounds like a terrific car but if you are considering it an investment as well as a toy then be carefull.

Good Luck, Mark.

ARed64

The price seems high. I would discount it for the cost of a correct block. Also, with all the stuff that is happening with forged and reproduced documents, I would want an inspection by an NCRS type/Judge/Corvette expert as well as all the registration history.

For example, I saw on the web that someone is selling reproduction tank stickers. They will even run them through a washing machine a few times to make them look old.

Be careful and Good Luck. Let us know how you make out.

JohnZ

Don't think about our old Corvettes as an investment (unless you were lucky enough to buy a rare one cheap 20 years ago); they're dream-fulfillers and emotionally-inspired purchases, to be admired and enjoyed on the road :cheers:

58Mike

Don't make me go into my speech about what poor FINANCIAL investments Corvettes are. They're only good investments if you get a lot of enjoyment (presumably driving - uh-oh, that's lowering the value!) out of them. :smash:

- Mike Greene

Mike66

Let's all say it together... Cars are not investments.

Mike

62fuelie

The cars are not investment vehicles. Try stocks, bonds, precious metals. Even in today's market they are better investments. The car is an expensive toy. Now, if you don't go hog wild over the originality thing it is a toy that you can keep and play with for several years and get all or most of your money out of when you want to move to something else, like a different Vette. Try doing that with a $30,000 bass boat.

kennybob

Whoa!! Maybe I should restate my intentions-- while I would consider this purchase as an investment, it would be acting as a diversification of my assets. I watched a third of my net value go away over the past year and a half with "investment grade" stocks-- while I may not be able to count on an annual return, having some of my cash sitting in the garage where I can touch it and enjoy it will help me to rest easier at night.

Plus this spiel helped me sell the idea to my wife.... :p:

Anyway, I am leaning back towards a 1960 ex fuelly I found-- the block casting #, casting date and pad stamp seem to be consistent. The Stamp date is 20 days after the casting date-- does this seem about right??

thanks in advance,

Ken

Lee

Right on kennybob. This talk of vettes not being an investment has to stop. My wife, an accountant, bought into the 58 purchace because "it was a good investment" If she gets wind of this conversation, I'll never convince her that we need a big block midyear as our next investment.

Be quiet out there you guys!

:D

59er

kennybob,

I do believe that the "investment" in classic corvettes is a legitimate one.

Although they may not increase as predictably as blue chip investments they are by far a better investment than later models or any other late model brands.

An investment commentry that I read recently on an earlier post, refered classic cars to be a popular alternative to conventional investments when those investments failed or performed badly.

It mentioned that the attitude of such investors was that even if the investment performed badly, that at the very least the investor ended up with a beautiful fun car in the garage that he can still enjoy.

I would certainly rather have a Vette, even if it was somewhat devalued from my original purchase price, than a worthless stock certificate or failed superanuation fund statement.

I am not a wealthy person, I am in fact a technician on a very average wage, but due to some reasonable profits on a twenty year hobby on a series of motorcycle and car restorations, I have managed to get to the position of owning a classic Corvette, but if I didn't believe that the Vette would at least hold it's current value then it would have been on the market a long time ago.

You still need to do the research and buy sensibly but I still believe that classic Vettes are a good investment.

Mark.