Hello everyone,
I am thinking of purchasing a 1973 Corvette with about 32,000 original miles. It has a small V8 L48 I believe. All original, paint is in very good shape, interior very good, power steering, no power brakes though, all paper work history included, side pipes, engine has been well kepted. They are asking $21K. Do you think this is a good price for this car?
Let me know your thouf

 

Sounds a little (LOT) $$ to me. Find a forum member to go look at it with you. Sidepipes are not original in 73. auto or manual? A/C? pictures??

 

Sounds a little high. What are all the options? The frame and birdcage must be inspected. Low mileage does not guarantee the steel parts are in good condition. Check for fluid leaks, not certain what a well kept engine means: clean on the outside or good compression and leak down test? I have seen a couple C3 where the body panel fits were extremely poor, this was after an accident or owner modification.

Roger

 

I don't know, 21K might be a little high for the car. Only 32K miles full owner history etc. is great to have but 18-19 might be closer to actual worth.

 

The above repairs are very expensive unless you do it yourself.

 

No factory side pipes for '73. I would be suspicious of the 32K odo figure. You're talking about a 34 year old car which has averaged less than a thousand miles a year for its entire life. Possible, but would be an extreme.

I agree; $21K is high without further information on the car or pics.

 

hello again,
thanks for the replies.
I will be checking the car underneath this weekend as far as how the frame and underneath looks like.
So far the only thing I have noticed on the car is the front bumper which they will be repainting for me before I buy the car, seems to have lost its color. the 32k miles I will have to do some more research on this but for now the paper work I have seen seems to check out. i do not know another way of checking this. Any ideas?
Let me know what you all think.
Unfortunately I can't seem to be able to post pics.

 

I am going to chime in here on this one. My '73 Coupe has only 25k documented miles on it. I purchased it from a friend of mine who purchased it brand new from a local Chevy dealer by me. I knew this car since I owned a '72 Coupe in the same time period. I had to sell my '72 to go into business in 1978 since I needed the money at the time. A few years later I replace the '72 by purchasing the '73 I knew well. The '73 sat in my friends garage and was never driven in the rain or any other bad weather and only had 17k on the odometer back then and as I said it only has 25k now. My friend was laughed at since he would walk to work instead of taking this car out on bad days. Mine is a L-48 small block and the car is almost like new still. Believe it or not I am still running the original upper and lower radiator hoses on the car. Everything under the hood is original except for the fan belts and heater hoses of which I felt I should change but when cutting them off I must admit they were like new to just look at. Other then that back in '82 I put a set of '69 factory side exhaust on this car and picked up a full set of '82 factory aluminum wheels with tires which are still on the car if you look at the pictures I have in my corvette picture section of the forum. I did get rid of the original radio back then and replaced it with a cassette am/fm deck I put in back during the 80's and most recently I took the factory vinyl seat covers off just because I never liked them and put a pair of replacement leather covers from Willcox on the car but I still have the original vinyl covers. The car is a 4spd, a/c car w/ps and reg disc brakes and the a/c works perfectly. It also has a rear defroster. I feel my car is worth somewhere in the high 20's. Am I wrong to feel this way? You can almost eat off of the bottom of my car it is that clean. Its a far cry to what I can get for my '67 and to me its everybit as good of a car if not better then the '67.

Forgot to mention I have the bubbled tailights in the back of the car and an aftermarket power antenna but I still have the original tail lights and factory antenna in my possession.

 

Here are the pics. Let me know what you think.

 

Wish the pictures were larger. Car looks nice. I see it is on a corvette dealers lot. (wish it weren't) In my experience, these guys are not good historians (they lie) whereas a private "corvette" guy usually will be more truthful. See if somebody here is close to the car and will go look at it with you. Have you checked the drivetrain #'s??
I still think the $$ is high, I sold a 47,000 mile top flight vert. last year for just a little more than that.

 

The pictures sure make it look good. Be sure to check for rust in the usual places, rear kickups in front of the rear wheels, radiator support, around the windshield frame. If you can pull a kick panel and look behind them.

Like the others have said, try and get a local C3 corvette guy to go with you to check it out real good and then make your offer.

Good luck with it and keep us posted on the outcome.

 

It is not original under the hood, I have a 73 L-48 that is original and there is no chrome valve covers, or master cylinder cover. My air breather cover is also black, the one in the picture is chrome. If you feel the car is worth the $$ then buy it after carefully checking for rust issues with someone who knows what to look for. In my opinion, a car is worth what someone will pay for it, personnaly I feel that car is a little high, but again, if you think it's worth it go for it.

 

Kenney, I agree with you about those certain parts not being original. I think some one just liked the chrome look under the hood. I also remembered that the fan is chrome too.

Quick question for everyone.
Lets say the car is rust free and the car overall checks out well.
Are we talking $2k or $3k over priced?
Let me know what you think.

 

Go to EBAY completed listings and see what these coupes are bringing. Is it #'s matching for sure, have YOU checked the stamp pad??

 

This car looks really clean according to what can be seen in the small pictures. The interior looks as clean as the one in my '73 from what I can see. I like the Burnt Orange paint also. Elkart Green and Burnt Orange were the 2 most popular colors back around that time period. The '72 Coupe I purchased in that time period in 1974 was Elkart Green.

What I would do here is now get someone who knows these cars come with you to take a look. See if they will put the car up on a lift for you since it is at a dealer so you can view underneath at the frame. Try to find out how many owners there were of this car. If it is a one or two owner maybe he will give you the info on the last owner of the car so that you can talk to that person. This way you can find out how the car was used and if the mileage is correct. Looking under the car should tell you on your own if it was driven in all weather. If the mileage is true and it ownly has 32k on the odometer and it is as clean as once new I don't see you going wrong in persuing this car. Sometimes it pays to spend a little more on a nice Turn-Key car then it is to look for a bargain out there. This car based on what we know and what you are telling us should be Turn-Key. Looks like all it needs is a driver. I say go for it if it meets your expectations.

 

The pictures look nice indeed... I detect a slight discoloration of the eurathane nose (completely common) and while this car has 30+k miles on it I can safely say that at 110k miles my overflow tank from the radiator looked one hell of a lot better than this one.

 

Man you have good eyes. I must be getting old because with these small pictures it is hard to see much of anything. What did you do blow the picture up?

 

I have a '73 roadster that I've owned since 1988. It has just over 40k on it and I spent more than the asking price for this one doing a frame off restoration about 3 years ago. I have more than twice that in it and know it would be nearly impossible to get that for it. But it's one beautiful machine and drives like a brand new 1973.

Based on the pictures above and assuming there is no birdcage or serious frame rust, I would consider the asking price very fair. I have seen them sell for half that price and it would take close to $20k to get them in the shape of this car. This car appears to have been well maintained, or someone has spent a lot of money bringing it back to life. (Of course I would only purchase it after a careful, personal examination of the car.)

If I were buying it, and they were offering to repaint the bumper, I would offer to replace the original urethane with a new one. If it is the original urethane bumper, it is hard and brittle by now. Painting it will look good for a short time and then you'll be replacing it anyway, or wishing you had! Start with a new one and you can expect another 20 years out of it.

Good luck with your decision... GUSTO

 

Sounds like someone stole my car.... Except for the power brakes

I would certainly take the car to a Corvette expert for a complete inspection before I shelled out the 21K.

I did upgrade the top end for more performance but I do have every original part stored for restoration.

 

Miguel,

I sold a '73 L82, auto, 3:55 ratio coupe in the same exterior color with black interior. Original everything except mufflers, tires, battery. It had 15,656 original miles. I sold it for $18,500 with all the original paperwork and a completely legible Corvette Order Copy sheet still on top of the tank, you could read it by removing the gas cap rubber boot.
I couldn't find anyone who wanted to pay more for this car. I think the example your looking at is way overpriced, and not nearly as rare or desireable.