Torqued Off

Gone

dar322

thx for enlightening me.

mike48750

hummmm.

Syl1953

Wow!

sullyman56

I don't consider my rubber bumper 77 to be a "total pile of junk" either. I bought it three years ago for $ 3500 and haven't really had to spend much money. So far I've replaced the radiator, radiator hoses, new tires, had Lars rebuild my quadrajet and he did a great job on it, replaced the valve seals as they had disappeared and restored the interior. I ended up spending over 5 k if you add in the purchase price, but I'm not anywhere near 20k. It can happen and I didn't have to con the guy into selling it so cheap. I ended up with an Arizona car with no rust on the frame or birdcage and it's a matching numbers L48 with a 4 speed. Oh, I forgot about the dual exhaust system that I put on. Still nowhere near 20k. The 68 convertible I'm restoring is another story. Don't even want to say how much I've spent so far and it's still pretty much disassembled. It's just an enjoyable pastime. Right?

Freddy76

I love my rubber bumper car. I couldn't care less what anybody thinks or says about it. It's mine and I enjoy working on it and most of all driving it.

Jammers

It seems if you want a car "better than Chevy built" you will have to pay really top dollar.
If you buy a car that needs a ton of work you are gonna spend top dollar to get it "better than Chevy built", but if you sell it you'll take a massive loss.

Seems the best thing to do is buy a decent car (7k-10k?) and do a little work here and there and just enjoy driving and working on the car.
Yea old corvettes are a lot of work. Don't want to do the work? Pay a ton of money or buy a car that isn't 35+ years old.

vettebuyer6369

So, chrome bumper car owners are responsible for rubber bumper car values?

Iceaxe

Nice meltdown.

revival1

I have a 1969 but love all C3 corvettes.
Lori

derekderek

So where did the orig post go?

BBCorv70

OP deleted it...

Tooonz

Humans as a species love to use something a reference point to value themselves above another. In my short time in this corvette world it has appeared that the presumption of a metal bumper with Chrome somehow makes for a better corvette. OK i can see the draw. but seriously? can't imagine that chrome bumper owners have that much power over the values. I also have a hard time fathoming the past 42 years of corvettes are diminished by a non chrome bumber. especially on a totally fiberglass car

derekderek

chrome owners have NO say over the values of our rubber cars. if anything, their holding out for better prices is helping the values of our 74-up cars. it is the future owners who would rather buy 68-73s that are devaluing our cars. my 75; paint is a 9, int a 8, frame-cage 8.5. well taken care of always garaged. new parts all over it. if i could find a 72-older that doesn't need frame replaced i would probably trade in a heartbeat...

Faster Rat

Congratulations Derek...we have a winner! The mere perception of value can have a serious affect on actual market value. It works with anything, not just classic cars.

Here is a picture of me with my first, a 75 that was bought used in 76...for around $5k. I only had to wait another 28 years to be able to afford a 427 with side exhaust. Of course, I was not born in the "I want it all and I want it now" generation. Evidently you were not either.

MrJlr

I sold my 74 in 1 week on Craigslist for $20k


Market seems pretty good to me.......

derekderek

it is amazing really the disparity in values across the C3 line. there was this L88 i think at Carlysle for 600,000. i could put a whole lot of parts from my 75 on that car, including the frame itself. and i got mine for the same price...minus 2 zeros. is that car really worth 100 of mine?

Faster Rat

Yes. Same reason a 2 bedroom house in Detroit can be had for 10k and the same house in LA goes for a million. The law of supply and demand applies to everything. I heard this Wayne character on Chasing Classic Cars say something like "It's nice to have something that others want and can't have." I have had the good fortune of being allowed to drive a real '67 L88 (they are selling for almost $4 million now) and possibly the lowest mileage, unrestored, real '68 L88 and let me tell you, I would rather drive my '69 L36...which some know-it-all racers on this forum refer to as a "lump" or "junkyard truck" motor. Massaged to over 500 torque at 3125 rpm, it will blow most minds coming out of the hole. At least I don't have to worry about it overheating in traffic, paying $12 per gallon for race fuel, or some idiot rear ending me while sending that all important text message.

The point I keep trying to make about C3 values is that "a rising tide lifts all boats" and we should all talk up the value of our cars...for no other reason than to just keep pace with inflation. If you can't increase your income, you better find a way to own things that will go up in value. Money in the bank at 0.3% interest is not one of them.

I came up with the name "Faster Rat" because of my father, not because I think my car is faster than others. I am not into that. My dad quit working early and he was quite poor by today's standards. When I asked him why, he said "they're building faster rats." He felt that he could no longer compete with the younger crowd...to get that piece of cheese at the end of the maze.

bj1k

It's not just the corvettes that are being affected by the lack of chrome and the chrome bumper Corvettes and many of the other sport type cars are perceived as the last of the true classics . Some people still love the rubber bumper cars and I include myself in that group , they are all real Corvettes as long as they were built before 1984 .

dtamustang

is it any wonder that c3s are not worth what other cars of the same era are worth , when all you read on the internet is .....the brakes are junk , trailing arms are a nightmare , 10,00.00 for a decent paint job , a/c is worthless , if it not numbers matching its worth 20-50% less , parts are overpriced , they parts you buy don't fit , suspension needs to be upgraded , they all overheat unless you buy an aluminum radiator and the list goes on and on. people read this kind of stuff and get a really bad impression of the cars and are understandably reluctant to put any money in one.