bradenleeh

I am looking for as much help as possible as I inherited a 63 split window when my dad passed a year ago. I am looking for ballpark values as is and if restored. Ballpark restoration costs as well. I know these are very vague without being able to see it but hopefully I can provide enough details to get close or someone can put me in touch with someone near the Cincinnati, Ohio area that could be helpful.
Condition: it has been garaged since at least 1977. It was originally blue but was painted white. The engine is not in but I do have it and it is an original engine that was stamped with matching numbers. I believe I have 95 percent of the parts if not all of them for a restore. The body is in great shape with no dings. The anterior is in great condition, no rips or tears. My dads got it for a trade in the late sixties and has had it since. His goal was to restore it but his health took him away from it. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

moonframer

I am so sorry for your loss. I lost my Dad several years ago and it is very difficult. He must have been pretty cool to have a Corvette. Hope you have some memories of the two of you in the car.
I have restored many mid years over the years and I would be more than happy to offer guidance in whatever direction you choose to go with the car. My cell is 412-913-5620 moonframe@msn.com Jim

Dougs63

For restoration costs, much will depend on whether you have the time, tools and abilities to do much of the work yourself.

If not, you can expect to spend big $$ on a professional restoration.

You'll get better advice on the forum here if you can post pictures of the car. Lots of expertise from people who have been there, done that.

mrtexas

Pay someone else to do a restoration and you will be under water for sure. Spend $100,000 (at $90 and hour for labor) which is easy and if you are lucky it will be worth $75,000. That is just how farming out restoration works. Do it mostly yourself and be very lucky to break even starting out with an inherited car. Unless there is great sentimental value, buy a restored one and you will be money ahead. Hardest part is deciding what condition you really want. Don't have $100k? Sell it and buy something finished. Many 63 parts are one year only and difficult to find and expensive. I've restored 1 63 verte corvette and 5 Fords doing much work myself. I'd be extremely happy to get 75% of the money back. I don't keep track because that would take the fun out of it.

Watch Fantomworks? The guy usually tells the man hours and parts bill speparately. 1,000 hours of labor at $90 an hour is $90k. Usually it is more than 1,000 hours. Parts could easily be $50k.

rtruman

Need pictures to help you ,

71scgc

Thread worthless w/o pics.

Carter

65hihp

Doesn't the engine have a weird looking aluminum box on the top, where you normally would see a shiney round air cleaner? And, there should be another box that was on a shelf in the garage with an odd vacuum cleaner looking thing crammed in it. Let us know. And please attach just as many photos as you can. I have a cousin in Cincinnati I can put you in touch with if you need it.

MikeM

My advice, put the car back in running condition and clean everything up. Don't restore anything until you have a chance to evaluate your next move.

This may be all you need to do for the best bang for your buck.

MidShark

Welcome to the Forum. Without more details and pics of course it is hard to gauge. I would assume that the car may be in the same condition as mine since mine has been sitting since 1975. I have budgeted around $45,000 for the restoration, but apart from the body and paint work ($15,000) and rebuilding the engine ($5,000) I do most of the work myself, which I will start shortly by removing the body from the frame, and disassembling the chassis down to a bare frame. If you have the desire to dive into this yourself it could be a fun journey, but proceed cautiously and slowly. Help and advise abound here (and other things too) but it is still a huge undertaking. Figure 2-3 years. As already stated, if you have to pay for all the work, it will be expensive, but at least you didn't have the initial expense of the car. I would say as it sits you could be in a range of $35-50,000, depending on a lot of variables. You didn't say whether you have a burning desire to keep and restore the car, and I'd say a lot probably depends on that. Good luck with whatever road you choose.

Rich

Duck916

My condolences on your loss.

What is your intention for the car? Do you want to keep it for yourself/family or do you want to sell it off?

If you want to keep it, I think MikeM is correct. If you want to just sell it, I'd think that selling it as-is will be your best bet. But seeing some photos would surely help better comment on options.

As others have said, paying someone else to restore it is pretty much always a money loser.

Easy Rhino

The way I read it you want to sell it as-is, or reassemble it and sell it.

You mention no interest in rebuilding it yourself or keeping it.

In that case, sell it as-is. Sadly it will bring a fraction of an assembled car.

However, the costs to reassemble and restore it will far exceed any additional money made from selling it assembled in almost every conceivable case.

The only exception is if the car if 100% perfect, all the parts are there, the details (color, dated parts, etc.) are correct for the car, the documentation is 4.0 solid, and it is a desirable combination, and can be reassembled in less than a few hundred hours.

GUSTO14

I'm very sorry for your loss. It is certainly not the way anyone would want to acquire a Corvette.

Welcome to the Corvette Forum. I believe you will find it very helpful in just about any direction you pursue with the car. As others have mentioned, pictures of the car, even basic ones will result in much more meaningful responses from folks here.

Here is a number a well known shop has used in the past when asked for a "ball-park" restoration figure that I've found helpful and fairly accurate when little else is known. You need to be prepared to spend 1000 hours on labor and about $40k on parts. Both of those numbers are relative to condition and degree of restoration you decide to pursue.

Good luck with the project... GUSTO

morly1963

Sorry for ur loss. Go slow and take in all the information here.
Check local Corvette clubs in ur area and talk with them.
But watch-out u dont get taken advantage of.
Good luck-keep us posted.

JMills

I'm in Cincinnati and a 63 split window owner! Be happy to stop by and look at the car and discuss your questions! Retired now-- so nothing but time on my hands! PM me if interested!

Jmills

emdoller

If you don't plan on keeping the car, sell it as is for sure!!! Post pictures and the folks on this website will give you an honest assessment if its value. Once you have that, you can either put it for sale on this website or eBay. What's nice about eBay is you can set a very high reserve and see what folks are willing to pay. If it were me, I'd go eBay first.

Ed

68hemi

bradenleeh

Thanks for everyones input so far. I have attached some pictures and will post some more this weekend once I get all the clutter around it cleaned out.

ptjsk

Welcome to the forum.

First off, sorry for the loss of your Father. Obviously, these times are most always difficult to deal with. My condolences to you and your family.

Secondly, I'm sure you have already been inundated with PM's willing to purchase it, as '63 split windows have been increasing in value at an alarming rate.

Third, why don't you think about keeping it? Even if you don't have the finances to do something with it right now, you can store it and quite possibly be able to restore it, or at least get it driving a few years down the road.

In closing, I can almost guarantee you that if you were to sell it, you will someday regret it. The '63 split is a very desirable car, and getting one is very rare for most people. And...you have the personal tie with it as it was your Fathers car for several decades.

Don't do anything in haste! Sit on it, even if only for a year or so. Give yourself some time to think as it really is a cool car!

Take care, and good luck!

Pat

68hemi

From what I can see from the pictures you have a car that many will be happy to buy. Since the engine is out of it there is no reason to do anything to it other than clean it up a little, get the clutter from around it and the engine and parts so buyers can easily inspect it. Member Frankie the Fink is a 63 split window owner and NCRS judge and has looked at many split windows for sale recently and should be able to give you a good idea of what to ask for it.
I would get all of the numbers off of the engine and post them here to be sure it is the original engine. We need the full V.I.N. of the car to determine when it was built to compare to the numbers. There is a casting number on the driver's side top rear of the engine close to where it would mate to the bell housing. On the passenger side (same general area described) there will be numbers that will tell us the casting date of the engine. On the driver's side front of the engine in front of the cylinder head there will be a flat surface that will have a partial V.I.N. number matching the V.I.N. that is located under the glove box inside the car. There will also be alfa-numeric characters on the engine pad that will decode to a date and engine description . Good well lite pictures of these numbers will be necessary for us as well as people that will be interested in buying the car.

JMills

He says the engine was restamped!