I'm looking at getting my first c3 and ive done a lot of research but I need some advice on a car I just found. This lady just inherited this car and knows NOTHING about it. It sat under a carport with a cover and shows to be last registered in 1982. I was told the guy would go out and start the car every know and then but thats ALL she knows. It was like her Uncle's car or something. The car will start when fuel is dumped in the carb but won't remain running after that. So i'm kinda in the dark as to how if it runs and drives or if it even will. I know at the very least it will need the fuel system refreshed along with the brake system. As far as the condition of the car. Paint is orignal white color but looks to have been repainted but now needs to be done again. The interior is pretty dirty and will need new seat covers and new carpet at least. The frame is solid with only minimal surface rust. There seems to be a lot of surface rust which seems to be pretty common for a 69. The lady won't budge on the 15k price because someone told her it was worth 20k.

Car details:
69 converitble NOM 350/350 air, ps, pb white ext black int and it has both tops. It looks to have original carb and intake. I will have to verify this later.

I can do the mechanical work myself but i'm just wondering if this car is work reconditioning at this price. I'v been trying to find a 68-72 c3 for under 20K for awhile and i just figured if i put 5k into the car i could at least get the thing on the road and enjoy it whiled fixing up the rest. Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Tough to comment without pictures.

However, generally speaking, an NOM / needs paint car at $15k will have you upside down in no time. That $$ will never, ever come back.

Now- that said- the fact is some people cannot afford the car that is completed and is a great value. Some people have to buy cheap and pick away at it. And as you alluded to, you could play with it at a low entry price, and drive as you go. Most entry level cars are much later model rubber bumper coupes, so even if its not a great value and you are in the red, you still have an air chrome bumper roadster in your driveway.

Be careful with rust, look closely at the kickups and the windshield frame. The car could put you deep in a hole, but on the other hand if its the only way you can afford a '69 roadster and you know you are headed a bit upside down going in with your eyes open, it might work for you.

PS, tell the lady whoever told her its worth 20k is wrong, period, and sticking to that story wont get her car sold.

Just for comparison, I looked at a '69 roadster NOM / wrong paint that needed most everything priced at $10k and walked away last week. Some low price cars still arent low priced enough.

 

$15k is a bit high. Hard to really say without pictures, but eventually you hit a point that it is worth more in parts than together. Broad brush stroke, maybe $10k as is. As said above you really have to watch for rust in the front top bow, windshield frame, frame, core support, etc. Seller is not up on the market to think she can get $20k. Restored 2-top SB vert is more of a $30-35K kind of car. Figure $8-10k paint, $2-3k interior, $3-4k mechanical, etc. and it can get out of hand quickly. Sounds better than a parts car, but not $15k to me.

 

Sounds like a $10K car as others have said and that depends on bird cage rust or lack of it and based on your description. Easy to be way upside down on it.

If the paint was OK, minimal rust on the birdcage and frame, ran and drove, decent interior, yes it would be a 15-20K car, but as you described it will take $15K to make it a $20K car.


Print out this thread and show her what others think it is worth.

 

Hey thanks for all the good advice. I'm going to work on getting some pic's up ASAP so you guys can have a better prospective of what I'm looking at. I'm having a hard time deciding because as vettebuyer mentioned i can't afford a restored 69 so getting in on a project seems feasible but on the other hand being new to these cars i don't wanna make a bad purchase. I looked really close for rust and was able to take a lot of pic's so maybe you more experienced fella's could tell me what you see. Thanks for all your help.

 

Let her keep it. When she doesn't get any takers at $15K, she'll change her mind.

 

http://s978.photobucket.com/albums/a...orvette058.jpg

 

What you didn't get is pictures of is along the windshield trim and also the body mounts after removing the kick panels. Bird cage rust is one of the biggest issues when buying one of these. Mine wasn't to bad, but here is an example of what can be underneath.



If you look where the vin number is riveted along the drivers pillar, I have seen cars I could see through the pillar because of rust holes. Look for signs of rust under the weatherstripping.


It for sure is not a $15K car and really an under $10K car, I would say 6-8K at most and should have a body off, but looks like a decent candidate for one depending on the birdcage. Looks like it came with factory air, but not to may other options.

Add paint and 8K in parts plus a couple years of a body off restoration and it would be a nice car worth $25K

 

I looked pretty closely around the window frame but didn't really see any rust but maybe I'll shoot back out there and take a closer look. When looking for rust near the kick panels do i just remove the interior panels and look for rust in there?

 

Looks like a decent all-there car from the pics. Not a survivor, but basically unmolested. Does not look like it has been hit before, hood lines look pretty clean from the pics. I would take a hard look for rust. Assuming no rust in birdcage or frame then proceed-if it's rusty it's a parts car. A straight, never hit body is definately a good starting place. This car is going to fall into a category of lots of $$ to make completely new, but can be driven while working. From the pics, you would not be embarrassed driving it as is. It just needs a whole lot of TLC. Since it has been sitting so long; figure complete fluids change, brake calipers and probably brake lines, fuel lines (not easy), fuel tank, some interior, tires, and belts/hoses....to start. If you want to take a hard line at $6k as suggested, you can, but even in this market the car is worth way more than that in pieces. This is a 69 and is a vert, not a 79 (no disrespect intended to 79 owners). A nice 68-69 front clip complete with headlights, bumper, and wiper door is worth $4000 or more to the NCRS type buyer. Add convertible top frame core and hard top and you are already at $6k. Then there is the frame, front and rear suspensions, seats, engine, transmission, gauges, doors, decklid/rear clip, rear bumpers, a/c parts, and misc parts and you could easily get over $10k parting it out. I may get flamed, but if you want a project, this looks like a decent place to start in the $10-12k range. You may be upside down when you are done but you will have a bumper vert and know exactly what you have done to it and not have to guess. You will have the satisfaction of a job done with your own hands. To me the journey is part of the fun. Depends on how you want to look at it. My .02

 

You will see a frame mount when you remove the kick panels- It is a good indicator of the rest, but no guarantee. It would be best if you can remove the interior cover on the windshield pillar along with the kick panel view. The car apperars to have been sucking in moisture from underneath for a long time. It really needs a frame-off restoration. I bought mine with the underside and engine compartment already done, and re-chromed. All new badges and letters, Original motor for $7500. Your paint is correct for the code, but I can't tell the condition from the pictures. You are realistically looking at $30 grand in a restoration, and that is with you doing much of the work. I would offer $8500, and walk if she insists it is worth $20k. It WAS worth $20k when the original motor was in it, in good condition, many years of being stored in the grass ago. It will continue to rot, and depreciate to the point of a parts car if it is not rescued soon. Best of luck, keep us posted!

 

Since she is only taking the advice of one person which obviously don't know the market, print the responses of the forum members and hand it too her. Tell her to read it and think about it , then give you a call . Make her an offer of $10,000. if everything checks out as far as rust etc. then she may come back with a counter offer if not accept your offer, then decide from there, but you have to consider what it will cost to restore this car. She probably only wants what the car is worth but she was given some bad advice, especially in this bad economy.

 

I like this Vette. Looks more like neglect than abused. O/A it looks like a good candidate for a restore while you drive, as long as the birdcage isn't toast. That's the deal breaker on this one. The frame looks decent from the pics. If it all checks out ok, then start with the items mentioned to make it road worthy & safe. The interior can be cleaned up with some simple Green and a scrub brush. Carpet is easy enough to replace.
The engine looks like it was replaced a long time ago. Are you positive it's not original? I like that mostly all the original parts are there.
Good luck & keep us posted as to the outcome. I'd go no higher 12K, but try for 10.
Glenn

Just for comparison, here's some pics of a local 69 for sale last year. This had a nice interior, but underneath and the exterior needs a lot of work. LAst pic has the asking price.

 

Yes it does have the original motor. The numbers match the car. I'm not sure if it has been rebuilt or what kind of shape its in after sitting for so long. I will go back out and check behind the kick panels and give the birdcage another look. Thanks again for all the advice.

 

Hi H,
I, too, think it's an interesting car.
The plus side is it's a 69 convertible.
The minus side is it needs quite a bit of attention ($$$).
The question of rust needs to be completly determined.
Based on what you want the car to be you need to be careful you buy it at the right price an don't spend too much getting it to the point you want.
I think $10,000 is plenty IF it's NOT rusty!
Regards,
Alan
Your first post says NOM ... is it the original or not?

 

The bad: Looks like a lot of rust/scale on some parts of the frame. I would check the frame very carefully on this one. It appears to be an AC car from the interior, but there is no compressor installed and I can't see any of the other AC parts either. The exhaust is beat. You're in for a suspension rebuild. It looks like either the gas tank or the differential is leaking, maybe both. The fuel system is clearly dorked up if the car won't continue running, so figure you are in for a new gas tank, fuel line, fuel pump and carb. The carpeting is beat. I could not get any usable information from the stamp pad.

The good: It was hard to tell from the pictures, but the body looked reasonably straight to me, could be a "no-hit" body but needs an in-person inspection to come to an informed view on that. The chrome looked like it was in decent shape, at least something you could work with. Other than the carpeting, the interior, while definitely needing work, was not as bad as I expected it to be. Much of the interior other than the carpeting could be cleaned up and re-used. Trim tag says Can-am white and black vinyl interior, so it looks like it is still in it's original color scheme. The engine looks relatively free of some of the more common "Bubba" mods so if it is NOM, it looks like whoever changed the engine had done such a job before. And of course, it is a '69 4 spd 2-top vert.

I think to paste a number on this car, we would definitely need to have an informed view of the liklihood that the engine is original. If it does appear to be original, this looks like a great candidate for a frame-off resto, and I would probably pay close to $10K for it. If it was NOM, I think I would walk away from this one, just too much work to make it into a decent driver.

 

Yes. I'm sorry it is Numbers Matching. I was told it has the original carb and intake as well but haven't verified this just yet.

 

I also based my pricing on the NOM so it is worth a little more. I would not pay more than 10K. I looked at a similar car a month or two ago, 69 convertible, matching motor 4 speed. It needed paint and some bodywork, plus interior but a comparable car and I passed on it at $10K

 

I'll definitely print this post and show the lady selling the car but at this point she isn't budging a cent off of her 15k price. So it sound like if i had to pay her 15k price census is I should pass. All i can do is make my case to her one more time in hopes she'll come down to 10K or even 12K.

 

This is the number the carb should have according to the Black Book.
Block suffix HX 350-35- MT-AC
Carb-350-350 MT-7029207
Intake casting # 3927184 GM5 my 70 has this manifold on it.
Distributor # 1111493
Hope this helps.
Glenn