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I am a new member as of today. I am really joining to get a feel for the value of the items that I have in my possession. I have what I believe to be mostly 1956 or 57 Corvette parts left behind from my father. We have been holding onto theses parts and pieces mostly for nostalgia, but at some point they are just mere objects that don't represent the person as much as just a thing that a person did or collected. With that realization, I am just trying to see what the best outlet for these items would be. We are just now going through the items, but some of the bigger parts are (2) 56 or 57 seats with full frames, (2) 56/57 doors with windows intact, a 3/4 rear body clip/portion of a 56/57, a 56/57 convertible top frame with original material(very aged). Many other parts such as manifolds, radios, chrome body pieces, etc, exist, but have not gotten into that part of the house yet. More to come. If anyone has knowledge of persons looking for these types of items, please let me know. Also have a 1960's Stingray hood with 327 badge.
Dadsvettestuff
Last edited by Dadsvettestuff; Jan 24, 2026 at 10:02 PM.
It's pretty hard to tell from the pictures exactly what parts you have and their year(s), but you could have some fairly valuable parts there.
Good used 56-60 top frames (just the metal frame, material and weatherstrip doesn't matter) usually sell in the $1500-$2000 range. The hood is a 67 Corvette, if it's a real GM made hood it too is worth $1500-$2000. The seats look like they might be 63-64 Corvette, but the tracks on them aren't. If they are 63-64's (we'd need a better look at the back rest to determine the year) they could be worth $1000-$2500 for the pair (63's would be worth more and the condition of the frames and tracks effect the value). The door's probably worth a few hundred dollars.
You have multiple options to sell the parts. You could advertise them here in the C1/C2 for sale section of the Corvette Forum. You can list them on eBay, Facebook Market Place and/or Craigslist. If you have the time and a pick up, you could load them in your car and haul them to various auto parts swap meets, but to be honest your best bet would be to figure out what you have and sell it all as a lump some of parts to a vendor who sells used Corvette parts. You'll likely get a lot more money by selling everything individually yourself because a vendor buying it all to resell will only pay you about half what it's worth, but in the long run you'll probably better off.
To try to sell it yourself you'll need to fully identify what you have, research what it's worth, come up with an asking price, calculate how much to charge for freight on each part, photograph them, decide where best to advertise them and list them. Once you have them listed you'll have to field calls and emails, answer questions, be prepared to barter on the price, determine how you want to be payed, get boxes and box the parts, and ship them. Selling at a swap meet is not all that easy either. You still have to deal with much of what you do with advertising the parts, plus deal with swap space fees, tolls, gas, hotels, setting up, and loading up after the meet. If you sell everything in one lump sale, it's all gone and you're left with a pocket full of cash.
I've dealt with Corvette and other old car parts since the late 60's, first as a hobby/part time and later as a business. As someone with years of experience selling parts, I think you'd be far better off selling everything in one sale to a vendor. I'm talking about someone who deals in used parts, not one of the big national companies like Corvette Central, Top Flight, Zip, etc, who sell just new reproduction parts.
Where are you located, I may be able to put you in touch with a vendor nearby to talk to?
It’s fine to get info on these parts in this thread, but please don’t sell them here. When it’s time to make sales, if you choose to sell on the site please list them in the Parts For Sale section with each available part having an asking price. Or, take it to PM.
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