Hey guys, Watching the forum for some time and have found some great info. I'm currently doing a frame off on a 1975 coupe. Everything is going quite well. My question is the original paint color is red of which I am not a real fan. I was thinking of painting the car black, This is also a matching # car. Reason for black, I don't see many C3's in black and everything I own is black. By painting it a non original color really effect the resale that much or having something a little different give it an edge. This will not be a concourse car, Just my own personal preference

Thanks,
Ed

 

If someone is buying it as a numbers matching all original car then yes the paint can hurt the sale value. But you have to ask yourself how many other things are no longer stock? Also, being a 1975, the market for numbers matching and all original is a bit thin and most guys will want to buy that year car to have some fun with it just like you are. In that case the new black paint might just help reel in the big money if the buyer is looking for a black rubber bumper Vette.

What it boils down to is you should do what you want because it's your car and you shouldn't hamper your spirits over what someone ten years from now will think.

 

Durango, Thanks for your reply. I need to go a little further with this. I'm replacing the rubber bumpers with fiberglass which I fell will give it a much cleaner look, also adding the newer style seats which came with the car. Also rebuilding the motor and adding some HP which these cars certainly lack. ( keeping original parts) Other than that it should be pretty much original. Like you say I'm building it for myself, I should build it the way I'll enjoy it.

Ed

 

I'd like to wish you good luck in whatever you do to "your" car and I say your car becasue while asking for thoughts and opinion here is always a good thing, it is like asking which do you prefer? a blonde,brunette or redhead? you'll get many different opinions and while looking for advice and getting so much you might even become more confused in the proccess ya know?

I don't think you can go wrong with what DB says....he's insightful,honest and not like the many very **** guys who are all caught up in the #'s matching stuff. I think unless it's a truly rare car with loads of options maybe you should play it close to the vest but seeing that you're looking to have fun with it (and we all are) I'd say do it up the way YOU'D like it to be done and enjoy driving her

I applaud anyone who is will to take the time and restore an American classic.

 

I agree with you guys 100%. Being this car is not a high value car to begin with any upgrades can only make it better for me. I bought this car about 8yrs ago, It was wrecked and needed a top surround but I have had a few others. 71LT1, 1999 Coupe, 2006 Z06 Commemorative,Sold them all and went Stock Car Racing at Wall Speedway for a few years. Retired from racing and now back to my first vette because I love these cars. Been buying parts for it all along so felt it was time to put it together. Been restoring cars for a number of years and being in the boat business all my life the fiberglass part is quite easy.

Thanks for the great imput
Ed

 

The answer is more complicated than you might think, and you'll get a lot of different opinions on this. As someone who buys both original collector cars and resto mods, here's my take on it.

1. Listen to what actual collectors tell you.
2. Don't listen to what non-collectors tell you about the mindset of collectors - often I see people on this forum think "it's more valuable if this" or "it's less valuable if that", and while you can see how logically they came to that conclusion, it's still usually not correct.

If you hope to sell this car to a collector who is going to pay you the most for it, then it needs to be the original color, because it's not a highly sought-after year by collectors. You're restoring a 75, it's going to cost you top dollar, so naturally if you sold it you would have a high price tag on it. So before you even get into color, you have to first think about how many people would pay nearly as much or more for your fully restored 1975 than they would pay for a similar condition 68-72. This is, unfortunately, a small number. Then, from those, you have to consider that there were ten colors produced in 1975 and black wasn't one of them, so of the few collectors who will be willing to pay that much for an all original 75, how many will want one that isn't the original color.

Now with that said, you also have to keep in mind that those who demand the original color are probably looking for a specific color. Red is popular so that helps, but with ten colors made in 1975, the odds that someone will want "your" color are one in ten. So if there were potentially 100 buyers who were willing to pay top dollar for your restored car, only 10 of them would want it in the color you have anyway, whatever color that is.

So you have to ask yourself if it's worth driving a car that isn't the color you LOVE, so that MAYBE one day IF you sell it, the ten people that MIGHT consider it would like it better? I say NO.

So in your shoes, I'd say paint it the color you want. I'm of the mindset that resale value shouldn't be your primary concern - your primary concern should be enjoying your car. Cars aren't an investment. Only extremely rare cars go up in value - the fact is that when you factor in inflation, any C3 that sells for less than $35,000 has lost money. And I guarantee you the ones that sell for more than $35k have been through at least partial restorations and have at least another $10k-$15k in them, so the truth is that with exception to L-88's and the occasional immaculate unmolested 427, still sporting all original rust-free parts, all C3's go down in value.

You're going to the trouble of restoring this car to make it the way YOU want it, so why try and anticipate what the next guy wants? So I say screw the next guy... you don't even know if there will BE a next guy. If the next guy wants it a different color, let him paint it a different color.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Ed,

take pics of the process and keep us up to date with pics will ya

 

Ronnie, Well I guess you put this to bed. Going with my heart. I was down in Tampa-St Pete last week on business. Stayed at the Vinyo what a beatiful area. Love to move to FLA.

Thanks,
Ed

 

Don't want to write as much as the other experts, but red is a good resale color, but a '75 coupe isn't the most collectable Vette, so I'd keep it original if I could. Might add a little when you sell it.

 

The reason you don't see many black cars in that era is because they stopped making them in 1969, and didn't start up again until 1977.

That said, those in the market are conscious of the fact that mid 70's black cars are wrong colors without even looking at the trim tag.

Not sure if you really wanted input or just support for what you wanted to do, but both realities are this:

-if you want support on changing the color, you came to the right place. The vast majority of posters on this forum, especially the C3 generation, will tell you to paint the color the way you want it. Many will even try to argue it doesn't affect value. They are wrong.

-changing the color, especially on a body-off project, will detract from the value. It's very possible you will bump into a buyer that doesn't know what they are doing; it happens all the time. However, if your question about whether changing the color affects value was sincere, the answer is yes.