White73Vette

Hello,

I am helping my soon to be mother in law with her 1973 Stingray. She is looking to sell it but it's been sitting for several years and has some issues so I am helping her out. It has 22,000 miles on it, she is the 2nd owner. She got it in about 1976 at roughly 16,000 miles so it hasn't been driven too much since she got it and needs some TLC.

I need to find out a few things that may or may not affect the value if someone can help. On the front bumper in the center there is a license plate holder instead of a grille. She can't remember there ever being a grille there and thinks that maybe the original owner changed it. I have found a replacement metal diecast grille for sale and was wondering if that would be better to have than the license plate holder? Also, the door sill plates are scratched up pretty good, is it acceptable to replace these with the $40 ones out there?

The car is painted white with red stripes on the hood, fenders, doors, quarter panels and on the roof around the rear window. They vary in width from 4 to 6 inches, the wheels are also red. I have done some searching but can't find any other 73 Corvette's with this same paint. I haven't asked her (I don't think she will know since she bought it this way) but I don't think it is factory. I can probably post pictures if needed. I'm wondering how much it will affect the value if it's not a solid white. The body paint is not great but not terrible. Probably a 6-7 out of 10 after I get it cleaned and buffed. We are going to paint the front bumper and a few other things but I didn't want to have to paint the whole car, she may not get the money back out of it.

It also has the chrome side pipes but they are not in very good condition. They are pitting and rusting in some spots and one of the smaller collector pipes underneath is crushed. My questions for the exhaust are: Did they come with the side pipes from the factory or are they all aftermarket? Would the car be more valuable with a basic/stock rear exhaust kit if that's how they came originally or would it be best to install another side kit? I think the cheapest I found was about $900 for an ebay special and $2,000 or so for the nice ones.

Sorry for being long winded, but I'm a little ignorant on Corvette details and don't want to do anything to screw up the value for her.

Thanks for looking!

DonnieP73

They came with the center grille, but if in state that needed license in front the dealer used the plate holder.

They were solid color, look on the trim tag on the front door sill.
White would be 910 code.

No factory side pipes.
You might post pictures so others might give idea of value. I wouldn't speed money unless I was keeping it myself.

Donnie

vettebuyer6369

You hate to spend money on what's going to be a low-dollar car, but from your description I believe you would increase the ability to sell the car dramatically if you lose the red stripes, the red wheels and the rusted, damaged nonoriginal side pipes.

It would be interesting to look at pictures though to give you a better idea. Dont spend the money on sill plates, put it towards an exhaust system. You might be able to find a cheap used one at a swap. Is the rear valance filled in?

I dont know what the wheels are, but Im going to guess that anything is better than red.

Pictures of everything (eng compt, body, interior) would help a lot.

71 Green 454

Definitely paint the wheels silver, check the spare to see if it's painted factory silver. Do the wheels have caps and trim rings?

If the rear valence still has the exhaust tip openings, and the exhaust manifolds are original, then I would install a new exhaust system.

Please post some pictures of the car if you can. Exterior, interior, engine, etc.

Good luck.

White73Vette

All good info. I was starting to think more and more that the paint was not original. I hadn't really looked at the spare, it is silver. I will check into a paint job and see what she wants to do. The trim code is 404 and the paint code is 910 (so white).

They do have the original rear valance piece and the chrome pieces. They are not really in good shape though, dull and pitted. Is it worth it to have stuff like that re-chromed or get new? As for the exhaust, would a basic system with the stock headers be ok or should it be better stuff?

I have attached a few pictures. Sorry for the bad quality/lighting. It's inside and not moving at the moment. Thanks!

White73Vette

A couple more pictures.

vettebuyer6369

Still like to see the rear valance, but the sides dont look awful as described. If you can get away with not doing anything with them, you wont spend that money. They look OK.

The red stripes just have to go, unless the car is going to need a paint job anyway. If the new buyer will have to paint the car regardless, then they wont matter either.

However, buy a can of silver and paint those hideous wheels today.

LS4 PILOT

The red stripe doesn't look near as bad as I feared . Whew....I ve seen worse.....it would cost way to much to repaint the car for the return investment.

The red wheels MUST be repainted.....no question...if you do nothing else.....that would like kill the sale alone ...LOL. ...what were they thinking ?

I d ditch the side pipes me and put a new std exhaust and a new pair of rocker moulding on if it were mine.....to sell.

Buff the paint out and fix the nose cover.

Work with what you have




Detail. The hell out of the interior. ...clean , wipe ,scrubb, vacuum ....make best with what's there.

Clean up underneath if you can get it up in the air .

Tune it up points, plugs and wires ...get it running right and call it good.


Base 350, auto , coupe is just not going to bring a lot of money .

White73Vette

Got it. I will definitely repaint the wheels. I found Duplicolor Silver #HWP101. Does that sound like the right color? I have a buddy that owns a paint shop so I am going to take it to him to have a look at it and see what he thinks but I think you're correct, return on investment probably isn't there. We may pull the valve covers and intake and repaint, not sure yet. I planned on lots of detailing and cleaning. This gets me going in the right direction. Thank you very much for the help guys! Much appreciated!

A few more pictures.

Mike Ward

Do NOT touch anything under the hood. It's very rare to see an unbubba-ed engine bay. Buyers will pay a premium for it.

I'm curious about the tires. Can you read the date code on them?

Cavu2u

Not too bad looking in my estimation. 'Course I'm partial to white '73's.

Instead of paint on the wheels, may I suggest having them powder coated instead?
I had an extra set (6 actually) that came along with the project car and according to the date stamp on 5 of them, are the original factory wheels. They had been painted 3 different times, looked awful, and after stripping and sandblasting just one, gave up on that! Took four to the local powder coater, and for $50 a piece, they stripped & cleaned, and got the smooth silver factory look back, over the entire wheel. Now I'm looking for some affordable redline tires to go with the wheels, caps, & wide trim rings.

With powder coated wheels, I believe your car's overall value will give you a good return for it.

Steve

RobRace10

If it were my car and I wanted to sell it I would do the following:

1) repaint the wheels
2) spend the $40 on new sill plates
3) clean up the interior as best you can
4) take some chrome polish to the side pipes and get them as nice as looking as you can. There are plenty of buyers who would want them.
5) If a exhaust tube is badly crushed,take it to a muffler shop and see if they can patch it.

Change fluids and plugs plus tune-up.

Don't touch the paint as you will never get out of it what you spend on it, the exception if you need to do the front bumper, paint that.

Do the brakes work as a lot of these that sat for years will need to brake calipers?

It is a low miles car and if it does not have rust issues, you should be able to find a buyer that likes it just the way it is.

Cavu2u

Brandons72vette

Where is the master cylinder? Brake booster if it is power brakes? What is that "****" on the passenger side front console? Those tires are very old. Wouldn't drive around on them. Cool thing is that it is an AC car, and has the tilt/telescopic column. Looks better than I imagined.

RobRace10

looks like the brackets for the AIR system are there, just no pump and hoses etc, and the ignition shielding is gone plus looks like some aftermarket ignition module (Crane?)attached to the fire wall.

Also looks like it could use some wiring cleanup under the hood, but I wouldn't sweat the stuff I mentioned above as the next owner can take care of those things if he wants to.

As Brandon72 pointed out, you have no brake master cylinder, so I would plan on you needing rebuilt calipers, master cylinder and booster if it was a Power Brake car.


What state is the car located in?

Sunstroked

Whoa there Mike, it has headers! Everyone knows only a bubba deviates from stock exhaust manifolds.
Actually if you're just going to help her sell it, I'm not sure I would do much of anything.
Just clean the hell out it. Someone who is interested will certainly buy it. But buying all kinds of replacement parts will not net you anymore. Let's say it's a $10k car as it sits, (assuming no major rust issues) you start fixing this and that, soon you have $2k into it. Now it's better but still only worth $12k.
Seriously, think about it, a 73 is a nice car but with a 350, auto, certainly not a collector. A really nice example may be worth $20k. I'd sell it as is.

Cavu2u

I never noticed the missing Brake Booster/Master Cylinder. That's an item that I'd say must be purchased, installed, and Brake system bled, in order to prevent a major hit in selling price.

Air cleaner too, if you don't have that (and beware; stock one's are pricey. Aftermarket air cleaners are more affordable, but aftermarket).

LS4 PILOT

Putting new tires on it , always helps the looks and makes a sale go quicker, that's why used dealers , buff the paint , detail or clean the interior , add tires and slap an inspection sticker on it .......

Then tell you it runs like a new car

This is prime example where all the wrong things were done to,car , and not much of value was done in terms of making the thing run and drive correct ...... Tires, suspension, brakes , electrical....you know stuff that should matter .....zero attention to what the car really needs.

The only way this car survives , is a do it your self er gets ahold of it.....for a long term hobby project . It's going to need a ton of money to fix it right.

White73Vette

Thanks for all the advice. Brakes didn't work, booster is bad so I'm replacing it. It has had the calipers replaced in the last 10 years but I'm going to go through all the lines and calipers just to make sure there aren't any more problems. After talking with her I think we will leave the side pipes and try to clean them up. I found out she doesn't have the factory manifolds (the first owner changed them but didn't include, he also had the paint done) so it won't be cost effective to change the exhaust back to stock. I'm pretty sure it will need shocks, any recommendations on those? The tires are original, I'm going to have them pulled and set them aside, I assume that the new owner would definitely want them. What tires are recommended to replace these? I have a place that powder coats and sandblasts, should I have them do both sides in argent silver?

We have the air cleaner, I set it aside to get a better look at the engine. The original owner put in a CDI system, should we leave it? This engine will be all new to me, all I've ever built are turbo and fuel injected. Luckily I have a buddy who is a small block expert so we will make sure it's running good. It's never had any problems so it won't need much more than a tune up. The oil is surprisingly clear, I was impressed.

The **** on the passenger side is a front/rear fader for the radio. I wasn't sure if that was factory or not (the manual doesn't mention it), I haven't really checked out the interior too much and I don't know much about what would be stock or not. There is also a switch to the right of the **** that turns the speakers on and off. I'm thinking that there may be an aftermarket amp mounted somewhere. All of that is on my list to check out.

Anyone have any ideas on what the value may be? Thanks again!

7T1vette

Leave the stripes alone. If a buyer wants to remove them, he/she can after purchase. Clean the outside and inside. If you feel the need, take the car to a quarter car wash and use pre-soak soap on the engine compartment, letting soak for 15-20 minutes; then pressure rinse (at some distance, so damage isn't done to wiring/hoses/electrical components; then spot-free rinse....DONE!

Paint wheel rims Argent Silver and use some chrome polish to clean up the side pipes some. Don't worry about getting them totally cleaned up.

Then, sell it AS-IS just stating that the owner doesn't know that much about the car. No warranties...no returns; just a normal used-car sale. I would put a price of $9000 on the car and allow some dickering down to $7500...or however low the owner will take for the car.

Good luck!!