Hello! Although this is my first post in this section, it's certainly not my first on CF. I've currently got a '96 LT4 Coupe. Before that, it was a 91 Coupe. Before that, it was riding in the Vettes my dad had when I was a kid.

When I was born, he had a Honduras Maroon / White Coves '60 with both tops, 3-spd, but not the original motor. He sold it when I was about 13 at a show outside of Atlanta, GA. Actually, he was on his way to the show, the car broke down, a fellow Vette enthusiast stopped to help, and also bought the car that same day! (It was already for sale, though) At any rate, *any* time I see one of those beauties, my stomach drops. They say that smell is the strongest sense tied to memory, but in my case, it's the sight of a 58-60 rollin' down the road that gets my memory banks going...

That said, I would really like to find an affordable one and work on it. My parents weren't in the best financial situation when I was younger, so I completely understand the need to sell the car. However, I think it would be really neat to find a car that needs some TLC, spend a few years wrenching, learning, and remembering, and hopefully one day take my dad for a ride just as he did with me when I was little.

So the million dollar question is.....Where do I begin?! I'm familiar with all of the usual places - ProTeam, CnV Corvettes, VetteHound, Corvette Mike, etc., etc., etc. Then there's Corvette Trader and Hemming's, but it seems like anytime a "reasonably priced" older Vette hits the printed ads, it's snapped up by one of the dealers with deep pockets. Then, a shoddy paint job is added, some new crome, maybe a little interior work, and they jack the price up $30k or more.

I'd love to find one for around $25 - I know this will be a rough car, but that's what I want. I understand that there are the all-original, NCRS Top Flight, Bloomington Gold cars still out there, but they are out of my pricerange. Then there are the "restored" cars at the dealerships for mid-50s, it seems. I don't want to pay for somebody to have already done the work for me (and perhaps not to my standards), though!

Any advice or suggestions you all might have would be greatly appreciated and welcomed! Thanks very much...



Aaron

 

Welcome to the C1 group. On my home page I have a few pics of me and my dad's car taken 30+ years ago. Neither is for sale but lots of memorys.

 

AAron,
If you're looking for a fair deal and something to wrench on, stay away from the major dealers - sounds like you know how they make their money.

The dealers do find great deals from private selles and have deep connections - that's how they seem to snap everything up. That being said, there are some people on this forum that have DEEP connections and can help you out.

Try Jim Gessner on this forum and check the C1 for sale forum oftern - post a wanted add. Check out every lead in auto trader or hemmings. Get hooked up with people in the know, be patient, and be dilligent.... and you WILL find the right car.

Also, when you find something worth looking at, get an expert to come with you - there are lots of money pit traps out there with shiny paint waiting for a victim!

good luck.
brian

 

Patience and quick to act when you do find one!

Good luck,

 

Brian gave good advice to consider.

BTW, you may also want to check on Collectorcartraderonline.com that's where I found my car.

I could be wrong as I don't follow the C1 resale prices as closely as I do the C2's but finding a C1 car in the 25k price range may be difficult even as a project car. For example, there is a '57 (non-fuelie) car sitting in the paint shop where my '65 currently is. The owner bought it as a basket case to rebuild. Pretty much all the parts were already there but it literaly came home to him on a flatbed with about 20 boxes of parts and the body already seperated from the frame and it still cost him $40,000. Of course, the key here was that all the parts are already with the car - both originals and the new replacement parts needed. If you find a car for significanly less it will most likely require you to have to search and buy whatever missing parts yourself, a pricey thing to do especially on C1's.
i think your best bet is to keep looking everywhere you can online, if you are a member of your local corvette Club ask the members there if they know of any C1's for sale, check the for sale forum here and on CAC constantly, and even start a thread in the for sale forums stating what you are looking for. You may also want to go to and walk around local cruise-in's in your area and talk to other Vette owners there. Many times they may know of cars for sale to get you leads to follow up on. If you are an NRCS member you can also put a free ad in the Driveline magazine.

Brian's advice regarding taking a C1 expert with you to look at potential purchases is an EXCELLENT idea. Again, you may find someone to help you from a local corvette club or a local NCRS chapter.

good luck, and when you find your car come back and ask a lot of questions, there are a lot of very knowelagable people on here to help you out.

 

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words and sound advice. I'll be sure to keep my eyes on this section and check in with any questions I might have. You guys are great!

 

They are out there. I saw I a '62 @ the Jefferson, WI swap in April. Decent looking paint and body, clean frame, NOM $22K firm. Friend just picked up a beautiful 1 owner '74 4 speed ragtop on the board at the grocery store for $8K. I passed on a slighlty rust 65 coupe, all there but needed some work for $18K that I heard about through a guy at work. Local is where the deals are (hint:especially during Bloomington and Carlisle when the vette hunters are out of town). Be ready to move when you find it!

John

 

great advice, and while you are patiently looking for the car that suits your criteria (model year, color, options) you should get thyself educated on the car and how to verify the claims and representations you will soon encounter.

another source of leads on fairly presented cars is the NCRS Driveline, requires a NCRS membership but that wouldn't be a bad idea, lots of gret information over there, whether you like 'em 100% correct or heavily modified. also agree that Jim Gessner is a great resource.

My own experience? I was patiently (depending on the spare cash situation, really patiently - I had bought my first "Corvette Black Book" in 1993, and didn't buy my C2 until 2003) looking for a C2 that fit my model year / configuration / color critieria, and among other things had plugged in a search request with Vettefinders.com, which put a bunch of "hits" in my email inbox every so often - eventually one of those hits was just right, and caught me at the right time.

 

Sales of Vettes are up there with the housing market ,but on a lower scale, speculators buy them as cheap as they can ,perform a few repairs and improvements and then turn them over for the big bucks, lets face it, its a business, period!! I personally know a lot of folks doing it , nothing wrong with it except it sure limits the possibilties for first timers buying a home or a vette for that matter., but yes keep looking, especially locally, one never knows , I picked up my 64 coup,fully optioned, from a guy that walked into my business and asked me If I wanted to buy another one (I had my SWC sitting outside) for 7 K a year and a half ago, I even know of a 58 in Manhattan Beach Ca ,friend on mine has it but hasn't worked on it for ages but (of course ) won't sell it because "he's going to get to it some day"( I wish I had a penny for every time I heard that ) I would like to at least help him get it running and put it on the road, its sad seeing it just sitting in the garage being used as an extra shelf.....stuff all on top of it...lets face it ,most folks know what a vette is worth, and the only way they will let things go for cheap is if there is a general or personal economic downturn ( if its a general downturn you may become apprehensive to spend any funds if you even have any to spend)

 

I would also suggest working with Jim Gessner. I worked with him a 65 Convertible. I was flying around the country looking at junk prior to hooking up with Jim. The quality and quantity of cars in a more local area to me increased significantly.

Here is his website

http://www.vettefinderjim.com/how.html