As you can see I am VERY new at this. I'll explain the name a bit. My husband has an 84 vet(you can find him in the c4 section) and our 14 year old daughter (yup---you read right---14 )was left a 76 vet by her grandfather when he passed away. I myself am a TA person--sorry.. Anywho---hense the name.

My daughters vet has been garaged for the past 5 or 6 years and due to a death in the family I must finally move it home and start figuring out what to do with it

When her grandfather was going to rebuild it for her, he was going to restore it to original but I have been reading some of the threads here and in the sale section and it doesn't seem to me that an original 76 is very high on peoples list of cars. Right now it is bright yellow (not that taxi cab yellow) with black interior, the t-tops are the color of the car. I do not know much else about it because it has been garaged for so long, once I get it home I can give more details---so ask all the questions you think are important or that will help me. I also want ot know if we should customize the car instead of going original.

My husband customized his 84 and everyone loves it---I just thought that an original rebuild would be worth more for my daughter in the long run if she had to sell it.

All the help you can give would be great...

 

Welcome aboard. The '76 can be a fun car to drive, and it usually comes fairly well equipped. If you are considering resale value, you may never recover your investment after all is said and done. On the other hand, for sentimental reasons, I see no reason not to keep it. Customize it if you wish, it won't detract fron the value at all. G/L with whatever you decide.

 

Thank you. I'm sure when I finally get it home and can get a REAL good look at it I will have tons of questions. It will be a nice family thing.

 

Customize.......and make sure you show us the pics!!

 

It really depends on what your daughter is going to do with this car. I have a 16 year old son who drives a 78 Trans Am. He loves old cars but after nearly a year behind the wheel of it he understands fully that older cars are not reliable, not fuel efficient, and nowhere near as comfortable as Mom or Dad's new cars in the driveway. But, OTOH, it is the coolest car in the school parking lot - or so he says. Anyway, my point is there is no way to be able to predict how your daughter is going to accept that car as a daily driver for herself unless you have gone through it and experienced this already. How will she react the first time it overheats, or doesn't start at the gas station? My recommendation, and it has worked very well for me, is spend the minimum amount of money on the car to get it in good running condition and presentable. If the motor needs overhauling, buy a crate or a good rebuild and store the original motor someplace so you can come back to it later if she ever wants to fix the car up to original condition. I don't know your daughter, but I know my 16 year old and all of his friends and there is no way in the world I would sink a lot of money into a daily driver for him or any of them (if I were their parents) until he has 3 - 4 years experience driving. There's too many mailboxes, sign posts, and houses that are out there in his way when he's driving. Our insurance company confirmed our worry when we added him to our policy.

 

Looking forward to seeing some pics.

Glad to see another 76 join the forum..welcome aboard.

I fully agree with the above.

 

Thank you very much for the warm welcomes. I will definitely be posting pictures---once I get some and maybe some of my husbands car to.

I completely agree about letting kids drive. I am a TA person to and I remember how fun driving a fast car was. We are really interested in just being able to take it to shows. As a daily driver---she has no choice but to be stuck with my nice little 4 cyl. When she can afford the insurance on her own---she can drive it.

 

I'll try to approach this from a slightly different angle. Forgetting about the side issues for when she can finally drive it such as the cost of insurance for a 16yo in a Vette, the general idea of a newly licenced and inexpeienced driver in a classic Corvette, etc here are some thyoughts about your question on the car itself and what your goals may be for it......

first determine when you get the car home if it still has the original motor or not. Granted, at current market conditions '76's are not exactly the highest value vettes out there BUT as the prices on the C2's, C2's and early chrome bumper C3's keep escalating the values on the rubber bumper C3's are going to climb also. One reason being if nothing else the other cars are going to become so far out of the budget range of so many people that the "more affordable" models like the rubber bumper C3's will be in more demand and therefore prices will rise. It wasn't that long ago that even the chrome bumper C3's were much less expensive.
A car with the original motor in it typically has a higher value.
If you determine it still has the original matching numbers motor than you will probably want to strongly consider just restoring it to an excellent stock condition. A second option would be to remove the original motor and KEEP IT - just store it away in a corner of the garage and drop in a nice crate motor so the original motor and the added value of the car associated with the original motor is kept with the car. This way the car can be driven without worrying about damaging the original motor and if you ever needed to sell the car it can always be reinstalled and the car returned to a correct stock condition as long as no irreversible modifications were made elsewhere on the car.

If you determine after inspecting the car that it no longer has the original motor than at that point decisions are much easier. worries about keeping it stock are gone as it's already lost the original motor so that added premium on the vale is gone so I say do whatever you want to it. drop in whatever motor and tranny you want or rebuild what's already there anyway you want. upgrade the suspension for better ride and handling. even customize the interior and/or body if that's what she wants.

Everyone has a different opinion but mine is this: I hate to see a classic car that is still lucky enough to retain it's original drivetrain taken away from stock - there are fewer and fewer of these cars left so "*my* preference is to leave it stock. If the original drivetrain is gone than it's gone and those are the perfect cars to get as mild or wild as you desire.
than again, my opinion, just like everyone elses on here, means exactly one thing - SQUAT! the bottom line comes down to the decision and desires of the person who's name is on the title of the car. Whether it's an original motor car, a replacement motor already or whatever else the car is or isn't, if it's your daughters car and she decides she wants to paint it hot pink with bright yellow polka dots, put 20" "pimpin'" style rims on it, a huge 'ricer" wing on the back and drop a 4-cyl motor in it or if she wants to restore it to NCRS stock show condition or anything inbetween it's her decision (or who's name actually appears on the title).

 

I know very little. the car used to be my mother's. From what I was "told"---all numbers match and it is all original still. My husband painted his 84----96 Radar blue---which is basically purple and my daughter loves it (he-- she IS only 14). From all that i have read---it really doesn't seem to matter if I leave it original or customize it---I just think original is nicer for that year.

I'm actually scared to see what kind of work we are going to have to do to it.

 

in current market conditions it probably isn't going to make too much difference if you leave it stock or cusomize it - but in another 5 years?????? who knows but again, if it really is original numbers matching motor than typically the numbers matching cars are worth more and the ones that appreciate in value the most.

Again, just my opinion and way of looking at it but bottom line is what you (daughter, whoever) wants to do with it

 

I appreciate every opinion. Again--this vet fun is all new to me. My daughter really doesn't mind leaving it original--sentimentally that is what her grandfather was going to do for her---so she is fine with that and I truly agree with you that if it is this old and still original---it should stay that way.

Without the opinions of people who know what they are talking about I would be totally in the dark.

It also helps me and my husband. We went to Carlisle the first year his vet was finished and he had a blast--now we will be going to see what we can get done on the other vet. He can't wait to get back there.

 

Hi There! Welcome to the board.....the 76 is a nice car for chassis and options. The issue is production day oppression by the man and insurance industry, pushing the low power and performance.

I believe making selected performance modifications to this car and otherwise restoring it to stock appearence makes for good strategy. Educate your child to the mindset and skill of maintaining control at all times, and have fun with the cars.

There are great folks on this board and the knowledge is endless. Enjoy!

 

Thank you. Everyone has been so nice.

I will really enjoy it when her car is done and we can all go to Carlisle as a family. Right now she won't go with us but I think she might feel differently when she can show off her own car---even if I am the one driving it...

 

a last suggestion - if possible get the car back home NOW or at least go to where it is and study it closely.
write down a good list of parts you will need.

since you are going to Carlisle it would be a good place to start the parts shopping............

 

Hopefully the car will be here and in my garage on Sunday. I have a friend coming to pick it up with a roll back for me. I'm sure I will have tons of questions come next week.

Thanks to all...

 

Congrats to your daughter on her '76. Welcome aboard.

 

Thank you for all the warm welcomes from everyone and all the advise. Keep your eyes open---I'll be spitting out questions soon.

 

Prioritize it....

From a maintenance standpoint, it makes more sense to keep the mechanicals as close to original as possible.

Example:
I bought four 5.0 Mustangs over the last few years... 2 of them were for my daughters. In my search, I stayed away from the sellers who listed a zillion "upgrades". I bought four bone-stock cars. Now, when I need to buy a set of brushes or a bearing for the starter or alternator, I can go to any autoparts store and just tell them year, engine etc, and they can look up the correct part number. If the cars had aftermarket go-fast goodies on them, this would not be possible. It would take a combination mechanic/detective ($$$) to figure out what the correct replacement part would be... and this takes a lot more time and resources. If the starter is an aftermarket light-weight/high torque model, then an autoparts store would not be able to look up a bushing for it, and this would most likely mean replacing the entire starter instead of $1.50 bushing. This is just an example.

I have a 1966 Vette with fender flares and a lot of other "go-fast" goodies. It's not stock. But I don't have to hire a mechanic to work on the car, so I can deal with it being non-original and it's not an issue for me. But with any car that you have to deal with in terms of maintenance on a regular basis, it saves a lot of time & aggravation at the autoparts store if the mechanicals are stock.

It depends on what your priorities are.

Tom