.......

 

Let's look at the 78 Trans Am... The most expensive is the Special Edition which NADA says sells for $10,350, $15,800, and $27,900. The 'normal' 78 TA sells for $9,450, $14,500, and $25,600.

Just for 'fairness' I'll throw in the base-model Firebird.. It's listed at $3,550, $6,175, and $9,400.

I already looked up the Camaro and Corvette:

The 1978 Camaro sells for $3,475, $5,425, and $7,300. The Z28 sells for $4,550, $7,050, and $9,600.

The 1978 Vette L48 (base) sells for $7,850, $10,800, and $18,400. The L82 sells for $8,950, $13,200, and 20,300. The L82 Pace Car sells for $14,100, $20,300, and $29,100.

You are correct - the 1978 Trans Am sells for more than the 1978 L82 Corvette (the Corvette sells for more than the Camaro), and though Special Edition Trans Am sells for less than the Corvette Official Pace Car, I think I'd have to agree that the Trans Am wins.

To give the Vette it's due.. The L48 beats the crap out of the base Firebird!

If I'm not mistaken 1979 was the last year for the Pontiac 400 CID Engine. Trans Ams with the Pontiac 400 are very popular, so I'm not surprised that the Trans Am in 1978 is worth more than the Corvette. I just looked and the 1979 Trans Am is worth more than the 1979 Corvette too - just as I'd expect for the last year of the Pontiac 400!

Just for fun I'm also looking up the 1981. I used to own a 1981 Firebird so it's a year that has some appeal to me, and it's after the Pontiac 400 was taken out of production. The 1981 L82 Corvette lists at $12,500, $16,600, and $25,700. The Trans Am Special Edition lists at $8,600, $10,200, and $15,600. The 'regular' Trans Am lists at $6,200, $9,250, and $13,000. I'd argue that the 'regular' Trans Am is a better comparison for this year since there was no 'special edition' for the Vette in 81, but it doesn't matter since the Vette of that year beats all of the Trans Ams easily in value.

I think if we looked at all American muscle/GT/sports cars for every year we would find that sometimes something is worth more than the Corvette - such as the 1978 and 1979 Trans Ams - but that the Corvette is at or near the top every single year.

 

I never said I'd pass it off, pay attention. My comment was only to address driving and enjoying the car. Doc's aside, there are no parts that can't be had to duplicate the car and hence, nothing that couldn't be replaced if you damage/wore something out. Pizzing contest over.

 

Sounds to me like someone has more money than sense.
A never been wrecked Trans Am is worth more than a wrecked and repaired Trans Am, so your saying a money loss like like wouldn't bother you?

 

How about you go out for a cruise in your matching numbers 69 TA convertible and you throw a rod through the side of that RAIII block. Now your $1MM car is worth maybe $750K. That's uber stupid to me even if I had FU money And your $14k annual insurance policy wouldn't help squat at that point.

 

As said by multiple posts, the C3s are the bargain muscle cars from the 60-70s. I don't know where you live but if you can find Chevelles and 67-73 Camaros that are cheaper than base model 68-72s, you need to buy them all and then sell them for profit on eBay before everyone else figures out where you are.

Seriously, Every 1/2 *** restored, GTO, Chevelle (SS clone), Camaro, even late 70s Trans Am has a higher selling price than a 68-72 350 even if the 68-72 is in better condition. I regularly see nice driver condition chrome bumper vettes sell for mid teens. A Camaro or Chevelle in similar condition is $25,000+ and is usually a 307 car that's been cloned.

I'm a late model Camaro guy but have owned quite a few Chevelles and Camaros from the late 60s-early 70s. I sold them all when Barret Jackson caused every hoosier with a rusty shell to think they were made of gold. Now the prices are permanently out of reasonable range for what the cars are. If I was to get another muscle car era car, it'd be a 69-72 350 4spd Corvette hands down simply because of what you can get for the money versus the other performance cars of the era.

 

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3s-...-for-sale.html

 

I prefer real numbers to made-up ones. You don't like the 69-72 Vettes. Let's look just at the 1971.

Here are the NADA 1971 Corvette prices.

ZR2s are listed at $275,400, $377,300, and $521,300. The base Corvette is listed at $21,800, $31,100, and $40,100.

The Chevelle SS 454 is listed at $16,700, $26,700, and $36,700. The Chevelle SS 350 is listed at $14,100, $24,100, and $33,100. The base Chevelle is listed at $4,425, $6,725, and $9,450.

For the price of one 1971 Corvette ZR2 in top condition, you can buy a little over fourteen 1971 Chevelle SS 454s in top condition. How then is the Chevelle worth more?

 

If you're going to pull out the ZR2 for your Corvette pricing comparison you might as well throw in the LS6 Chevelle convertible to represent the Chevelle.
Based upon your posts in this thread it is fairly obvious that you will never agree with the vast majority of people that, in this day and age, the musclecar commands a higher price (in most cases) than a similar year Corvette. Are their exceptions; of course but, as others have said, you can buy a chrome bumper Corvette for what you'd pay for a similar year Camaro or Chevelle. I'm not even talking Camaro SS or Chevelle SS; I'm talking base model cars are selling for the same prices as chrome bumper 'Vettes.

So quote all of the NADA prices you want; the real truth is that the C3 Corvettes are extremely undervalued (again not counting ZL1's and L88's) and should be considered the bargain collector car at the moment. I can't explain it and I've often wondered why but, it is what it is.

 

I did agree that the 78 TA is worth more than the 78 Corvette. I agreed because IT REALLY IS! And there will be other years where the top dollar car is not a Corvette too. But all of this crap about the Chevelle being worth more than the Corvette is just that - crap. If you want to compare a 1971 Chevelle SS 450 to a 1978 Corvette L48, does that really prove that the Chevelle is worth more than the Corvette? You are taking cars from different eras. You might as well compare the Corvette to a Cesna jet.

It wouldn't bother me a bit if muscle car's really were worth more than Corvettes. Why would I care? I've owned both... What bothers me is when people post complete drivel that might affect the opinions of less knowledgeable readers when that complete drivel is made up off the top of someone's head.

I'm just keeping it real...

 

Owning a car you can't/won't drive seems uber stupid to me. /:\

 

I'm not going to argue with you on the internet over this as that's like competing in the special olyimpics.

I will just make 2 comments:

#1; Does NADA buy cars? Oh wait....they don't? Then where do these values come from, well they look at online and live auto auction selling price lists to come up with their super wide range of grossly inflated prices. Stating that a 71 Corvette can range from $4000 to $400,000 is not an accurate rating system that can be taken seriously. The market aka buyers determine real value, not some business like KBB, NADA, Manheim, etc.

#2: I want you to look at the follow 3 car searches on ebay for 24 hours.
1. "1969 Camaro" not Camaro SS, just 1969 camaro
2. "1970 Chevelle" not SS just plain old chevelle
3. "1970 Corvette"

You'll notice that even a total **** bomb of a 69 Camaro sells for at least $15,000 and that car still needs $20,000 worth of work AND IT'S A BASE MODEL CAR THAT'S BEEN CLONED WITH A $100 SS BADGE KIT!!!!

Same goes for the Chevelle, while it's not as bad as the camaro, it's damn close.

What does a much better condition complete 68-72 Vette sell for (non big block or LT1)? Some where in the mid teens.

Now more on the 68-72 Corvette, excluding ZR2s (I can't believe you actually brought a 1 of 1000 type of car into this discussion, but I digress) also excluding the 427 cars, we are talking 350 non LT1 cars here. A **** bomb chrome bumper Vette sells for 1/2 of what the same condition 69 Camaro sells for all day long. Don't believe me? Go check the completed listings on eBay for proof.

Muscle cars are hot right now, "non-special" 68-72 Corvettes are not right now, which is awesome for a buyer looking for one, but sucks for the sellers. 73-82s are an even greater bargain as they are cheaper than late model muscle cars like LS1 SS Camaros and Trans Ams.

Check actual selling prices and you'll see that those of us trying to point out this oddity in the market are correct. How long will it last? Who knows, the time to buy a C3 is right now. C4s too.

 

Didn't I see that parade float New Years Day in Pasadena?

 

As a matter of fact, members of the National Auto Dealers Association buy more cars than any other organization anywhere on Earth - and their pricing comes from member sales prices. The numbers are EXTREMELY accurate representations of actual dealer sale prices. For private sales the numbers are worthless. But what they ARE good for are comparing the relative values of different cars.

 

Oh - and while I agree that the late model C3s are great deals, I don't think they are as good of deals as you do. They are cheap because of the lack of power. All car's during the smog years suffered that fate. The Corvettes actually hold value relatively well compared to other cars from the same era.

 

I agree, for most of us. Not so for the high dollar rare cars where the value comes from low mileage, strictly original, no accidents, etc... The very top dollar Corvettes. Those seem better suited for museums.

 

Thank goodness they never made a "Corvette SS".
........................................ ........................................ ........................................ ........................................ .......or did they?

 

........but they made big blocks

 

I agree with that statement on newer cars but not on these cars from the 60's-70's. I believe more of these are bought and sold by individuals than dealers. If that is true then the numbers they post for those would be skewed because they are dealing with a small portion.

NADA can be used to throw numbers around but mean nothing in the real world for these old cars. I looked into a GTO and Trans Am not that long ago and the real world prices that I was seeing blew me away. Even clones were going for big money. It was much easier for me to find a comparable corvette for a lower price just because of the quantity of corvettes that I was seeing in good condition.

Most of the GTOs that I saw were rusty buckets that needed a ton of work just to get on the road. Anyone that had one in nice condition was asking an arm and a leg. I do see corvettes costing more but I can find many more comparable ones for a lot less than these other two cars, year for year.