I found a 78 Pace Car with 3900 orginal miles, L-82 motor, He's says it's in mint condition. What do you think it's worth?

Thanks

 

Believe it or not.........these are listed more frequently then you think !!
Most with heavy documentation & time capsule condition are asking mid to low 20's but the market is pretty weak on those cars.........& others at the moment.

 

If you plan on driving the car this is not for you as the mileage goes up the value goes down. Also you have to worry about seal starting to leak. Guy in my club who bought very low milage cars had to do a lot of repairs. I'm selling mine with 49K L82 4spd. It is in the C3 FS section dated 10-27. Good Luck. They are fun cars and alway get a thumbs up.
IndyPace

 

A car that sits is actually much worse than a car driven regularly. Seals, tires, etc etc.....oils sitting stationary are bad news, then there is dry-rot for hoses, etc. If you want a reliable car to drive around....finding these ultra low number cars are not in your best interest.

I feel they are for collectors and show rooms only.......otherwise whip out your wallet, your paying a premium price and then have to stick money into it to put it on the road reliably.

SixPack hit on the head for your price questions. The problem you have is the person felt it was an "investment" and they are hoping to see $$$ when selling.

 

Here is one with only 13,900 miles asking $18's OBO

http://www.corvettetraderonline.com/...ale/l4010.html

 

Ask him why he's getting rid of it and what he's had to do to keep a 32 year old Corvette at 3900 miles on the odo. You can determine worth from that point.

 

I can buy it for $21000, I offered him $20000. The car would only be driven acouple hundred miles ayear. Car shows and Sunday drives. The guy owns a Standard Gas station so I'm sure it has been kept up to stuff.

 

The key word here is "asking". Most don't sell there. There are plenty(relatively speaking since there are only 6502 of them) out there under 20,000. You don't have to pay big for one. Barrett Jackson had trouble getting 23k for one recently and we all know their prices are overinflated thanks to their hype.

 

I'm talking about the 2,000 - 5,000 mile ORIGINAL owner, unused heavy documented,
T I M E - C A P S U L E S you see for sale now & then.

You know the "MUSEUM" type car.........

 

I'll speak from experience. I had a low milage (less than 3K) with EVERY piece of documentation you could ask for including some dealer only material and the Wall Street Journal L82 - 4 Speed - Cloth interior with the plastic still on the seats Pace Car since day 1 and kept it for 30 years. I was fortunate and sold the car before the market crashed and got what I wanted for it. Let me tell you the value in the car is the very low milage. What that means is you can't drive it and enjoy it. It's not a whole lot of fun having a car you can look at but not drive. It's less fun trying to maintain a car you can't drive. The car was never in the rain and never parked outside. It was always in a garage and always covered. The natural finish metal was periodically sprayed with WD40 and the rubbers with silicone. Even at that the calipers leaked and light surface rust would form on the bare metal. The car looked perfect ('78 perfect that is). Great paint and a bright clean silver interior........but the clock stopped working along with the power antenna and A/C. In my opinion this type of car is best suited for a museum not a driver. If you're going to buy a car like this and drive you have to be prepared to suffer the depreciation of putting miles on it and more so realize a 30+ year old car is going to suffer from inactivity when you start driving it. Are you willing to spend top dollar and then change all the fluids, replace the belts, hoses, and tires (old tires are out right dangerous)? Then you may have to deal with leaking seals and or radiator leak or worse heater core leak. I'm not trying to be all negative just want you realize what you could get yourself into. I know most of this has been stated before in one reply or another but thought it would be good if you heard it from experience. Good luck with what ever you decide.

 

This wouldn't be for sale by a doctor would it be? There is a scam floating around that this Dr. has a low mileage '78 and has to get rid of it. In his reply he claims to work/assoc with Paypal so that is the only payment he will take. He runs the ad on Craigslist and mentions you might see the car elsewhere on the internet cause he just has to get rid of it. The whole thing is boatload of BS and is just looking to screw somebody out of some money. Run don't walk away from this guy

 

The pace car to me is just plain gaudy. The black and silver combination to me looked worse than a circus wagon. The silver anniversary was a much better combination ( two tone grey with grey interior ) til I saw one with an off red / orange interior......ach !!!
We drove 300 miles to a dealer to pick one up. After a test drive and reconsideration we settled on a red split window for twenty five percent of the new vehicle suggested retail price. We still have the 63... not sure if the 78 would have lasted this long and the value speaks for itself.

 

From the price you describe above, its not a bad value but others describe well the issues with a low-mileage, collector type Corvette. I've included a link to an article I wrote for Corvette Enthusiast a couple of years ago so the values have some age but the content is still accurate. Documentation with the most desired options increase value...this rarely changes. With that is it a 4-speed or auto? And, what documentation will it include?

Pace Car Frenzy

 

auto

 

 

WOW that really was a smart move huh............... ???

Somethings do work out for the better !!