I have a 1979 corvette i bought a little over a year ago. i now plan to sell it because i no longer have time to finish it. the car was bought back as salvage from my insurance (the deal is after the heavy rains from hurricane gustave i had my msd ignition box short out from getting wet even though the car was covered, a limb also hit the hood and made a small crack. when the adjuster came out she said that they total cars for electrical damage.....i was like i dont want that and she said it was that or it wasnt covered and that i would be able to get the car back). soooo i sunk a crap load of money in the car trying to make it one mean machine. my question is should i try to sell her as is or should i part her out. currently the shafts are out to put in new u-joints, and the new linkages for the tranny are not hooked up. i dont have time to do these. the rad isnt in either, but ill do that so they can hear the motor run. the upgrades are as follows

freshly built 383 using eagle rods and crank, 210cc procomp heads with roller rockers and stud guirts, a comp cams hydro roller (need to find specs) a new high torque mini starter, new edelbrock rpm air gap intake(polished and coated) a new 950 carb custom built by BIGGS, new mellings high vol oil pump, new mallory hi-fire 6al, new dist. all gaskets and seals are FEL-PRO. and im sure im leaving somethin out.

Custom built 700r4 by maddog transmissions built to handle 700 hp and 700 ft lbs, also a custom built lockup torque converter with internal ballon plate built for 1000hp.

front and rear(dual mount on rear) adjustable mono springs.

Steeroids

rebuilt rear end with 4.10 gears

all new bushings and joints in front and rear

new offset arms with fresh trailing arm rebuild using timken bearings and mobil one grease

new rear crossmember bushings and the alum. supports by vbandp

new gas tank and sending unit

oil and trans coolers (not installed)

borla xr-1 cans with magana flow X (not installed)

hooker supercomp ceramic coated headers (not installed)

the trans uses the custom tube crossmember

new drilled and slotted rotors

im most sure im leaving other stuff out, but you get the picture. the car needs paint and body ( the body is limited to the hood, bumpers, and one small crack about one inch on the passenger fender) i have not done the interior either, but its all intact except for the drivers door panel which i started fiber glassing. im trying to be realistic about the price so ill let it go for $5000 firm or ill part it out. what do you guys think i would be better off doing in this situation???? THANKS

 

Salvage titles just kill value on vettes....
Since the car isnt a driver anyway I guess I would part it out,
If it comes to part out I know I would be in line for some of the goodies...

 

I'd be interested in the rotors/brakes and the hookers, since we're speaking of parting out.

 

Wow, I feel your pain on this one. I was staring at a similar question about five months ago and decided to go the restoration route and am currently working to that end. It will be rewarding but expensive. You already have the expenses sunk into your 79 and if you part it out you will not likely get what you paid for all those goodies. This is always tough to see and was tough to endure so I feel for you on this one. Do you have the space, time, ability to part the car out? Do you have the ability to pack and ship the parts to whomever wants them wherever they live?

I can only say that you have to do what is right for you in your circumstances. We all are at different places and our advice is biased by our own lives. I would like to see you recover as much of your money as you can, hate to see anyone lose on their Corvettes. If you part it out I wish you the best with it. If you don't you may post it for sale in the forum and show pictures of what you have done and where the project stands. You might find someone willing to pick it up and finish it.

Either way, good luck to you with this and best regards,

David

 

If you have time to part it out, you have time to finish it. I would finish it and sell it. No way I would buy an engine like that without driving it. You will take a bath on the engine without being able to drive it IMHO. Salvage title kills value, no doubt, but if you can explain the why it may not be as bad to some. I have had 2 salvage title cars and would have another if the right one presented itself. Fix it and sell it, my .02

 

 

This advice ONLY works if you have the funds to do a resto, to say "if you have the time to part it out you have the time to finish it" is just insane. Seems you left money out of the equation in your hillbilly math problem. Most people have all the time in the world, but when it comes to money most lack this commodity, especially now!
If it were me, no money and tons of time, I would part it out and place all items on ebay, you will have a nice payday, people on here will try to get all parts for bottom dollar, whereas ebay is a little more accomodating to the seller..........................JMO (resident A-Hole)

 

It will take more time to part it out, then to finish it off so it's drivable.
Let the next owner finish the body. Sell her, don't kill her!

 

its really an issue that your saved the biggest expenditure for last.. paint and bodywork..

 

So much hostility. Did you read any of his post?

"I have a 1979 corvette i bought a little over a year ago. i now plan to sell it because i no longer have time to finish it"..... but later he asks if he should part it out. I said if you have time, I never said anything about money. But of course money is important. I would call some of that opportunity cost, some "it takes money to make money" math. He lists a bunch of the expensive parts that he already has.
1) Would you buy an engine with no warranty for top dollar that was stuck in a car and cranked without a driveline to test?
2) Would you buy a transmission with no warranty if you couldn't drive the car?
3) would you pay top dollar on some of the other stuff like Steeroids or rebuilt diff with no warranty?

I doubt it. It is my experience that to get top dollar for a hot rod you have to have it drivable. That is all I was trying to say. To call me a hillbilly is uncalled for. A forum is a place to express an opinion, not to call names.

 

I didn't call you a hillbilly, just the math system you were using, there......................

 

Lol...you refered to the type math he was doing as "Hillbilly" hence you are calling him a "Hillbilly" for using that "type" math....but your post was pretty much on target...but you come off about as smooth as shark skin on 80 grit....by the time a person starts to question if they should finish a build or part out in most cases the motivation is gone, the desire is gone and the toad pelts are long gone,
I sold all kinds of "yard art" and bought my 69 and I couldnt be happier.

The car is a 79, the highest production year of all C3's and pretty much a nothing special year...( No ofense to 79 fans ) sort of that middle child in between the Silver 25 78's and new style 80's
Then your 79 is a salvage title...I am no purist...I love modded and custom but that is really a big old kick in value....all that adds up to part it out to me....

As far as selling on fleabay or helping out other vette owners here, I recall Corvetteload making a rather huge horses patoot out of himself bashing the "pay it forward" thread, ( if you do not like it avoid it )

A person can post a part in the sales section asking whatever they desire and no one is allowed to diss or lowball...so at the very least try it there first with fair prices...what I did was priced my custom front clip on the high side with a big old OBO....

corvetteload..tell me something, is that weird pissed fellow with a messed up face in your avatar you?

 

Absolutely part it out. You have a '79, which will sell on the low end anyway... its a custom, another big strike... and the title problem. If someone gives you $5k, well, yes, sell it in a heartbeat and buy the guy dinner. But, given the circumstances I'd absolutely part it out.

 

markdtn, I said i would install the rad. to run it. Just so I dont come across as a dummy who would run a motor hot. Ne way i see the general census here. My hitch with parting out is shipping all that heavy stuff would be a PITA. Money really isnt an issue so much as time, I spend all my time trying to make more money, lol. The American way. I guess Im just gonna park it in the garage and leave it. Maybe ill find time to fool with it one day. Im sure in all i have over 10k in it, Id just hate to let it go for less than half of that with it all brand new. I do have quite a few items I bought and decided to go a diff route, Ive been meanin to fleebay them, but after this thread i think ill try em on here first. Thanks for all the post guys, God bless.

 

Score two for getting it running/driving, then selling whole. If time is the issue disassembly/cleaning/listing/negotiating/shipping makes assembling it enough to peddle look like a week off. Just my 2c worth.

 

Do enough to get it running and sell it. That will net you the most money. Don't try to fix it up, other than to wash and polish it. You can leave some extraneous [improvement] parts off and let the new owner install them.

Moral to the story:
Your mistake was not buying your car insurance from a "collector car" insurer and not having "Agreed Value" coverage on the car. As a result, the car was deemed a 'total loss' by the insurer and you got "Black Book" (average wholesale) value for your car. As insult to injury, you even had to buy back the car for its scrap value!!

Not trying to 'rub your nose' into this, but it is a perfect example of why folks need to purchase Collector Car insurance, rather than put it on the family car policy, and I thought it to be an opportunity to help others avoid what happened to you. Good luck with the resale.

 

This is what I was really trying to say. IMHO you will get more for a running driving car than a pile of hi-po parts.

I did see with my second post where you were going to put the radiator in, and adjusted my wording accordingly. I just think you will take a bath-especially on hot-rod driveline parts-if you can't see them work. I personally would want to buy for pennies on the dollar, basically core value, to be sure I could come out. Nothing personal, it's just if there is no warranty, I want to be sure I don't get left holding the bag. Good luck whatever way you decide.