Hi All,

Long time reader, first time poster. Be gentle.

I am thinking of buying this:

http://www.gmdownunder.com.au/compon...tte-coupe-/147

It's coming down under (Oz - or Australia for those not familiar with the other side of the globe) and I would like to know if anyone has any knowledge of this car. The guy bringing it here is Dave from GM Downunder. He is pretty much the be all and end all here in Vette sales, and only sells good cars. I have no problems with Dave or GM Downunder and would gladly buy his cars, so I'm already half way convinced, but if you guys can give me anything more that would help.

I know that this car was offered for sale by the US GM Downunder for $US 19,000 (was on this site www.gmdownunder.com). Here in Oz I expect to pay about $30,000 for it, and that's if I pay now (before shipping, etc). By that I mean I pay $30,000 total, but pay now, and wait months for it to arrive.

For those of you who don't know much about Vettes in Oz, our dollar is pretty much the same as yours right now, and these are the prices they go for:

http://www.gmdownunder.com.au/

No mistake, these cars will sell for these amounts, and the $AU dollar figure is almost exactly the same as the $US.

Not a bad time to consider sending them down here and making some dollars eh...?

Thanks in advance.

John.

 

The info says the block was "lightly decked"...which means that the original stamped numbers on the block are no longer there. It has likely been 'restamped' and you can NEVER determine whether that is the original block or not. So, you must price the car as having a replacement engine regardless of what the seller tells you. Also, it mentions that it has nice 'base coat, clear coat' paint. Well, C3's didn't have clear coat on the paint until about 1878 (when the factory moved to Bowling Green, KY), so that paint is a re-paint. Again, not a rear problem, but you wouldn't pay "original" paint price for the car.

It doesn't say how many miles are on the car or the replacement engine...that's a bad signal which suggests very high mileage. It also reads of a car that was made 'cosmetically' nice...but no discussion of condition of the suspension, brakes, etc, etc. which are expensive to rebuild.

Personally, I would be 'suspicious' of the car until I had a good look at the underside and checked out the operational aspects of the car. It could be a good buy if in good condition and at a decent price (my estimate for that car...sight unseen...would be less than $15K; if the major operating systems were in good condition, that offer might go up to $20K).

 

AGREED=this can never truly be a matching numbers car and the price needs to reflect that, a car like that in the states, I dont know, should be like I dont know 15K? I couldnt see paying much more than that

maybe ebay would be a good route, get in touch with an international shipping company stateside and say, hey I may be buying a car and need shipping services to include picking up the car and shipping to down under

 

Looks like a nice 69. FWIW: shoulder belts were standard on 69 coupes.

 

Hi John,
I'll add one thought to the 'lightly decked' statement.
It's possible that the the broached surface may be gone but the stamped information might still be visible since it was typically deeper than the broach marks.
It would be interesting to see a good picture of the pad.
Maybe?
Regards,
Alan

 

John, yes he does say "matching numbers", but he doesn't say "original" for the engine. Since he says that the pad was "lightly" decked, as Alan says the numbers might still be there. A picture of the pad would really help.

Ken

 

Yeah, might be correct dated parts etc, but that is a far cry from original, exact parts that came off the car...I would be willing to bet the motor is not the original one in the car...that should reflect in the price in my opinion

 

Thanks heaps all for the info. I have been told that the 'lightly decked' means that the original numbers are still there just somewhat difficult to read. To be honest if anyone else told me that I would assume a restamped motor or 'non-original' motor, but I do have some faith in Dave from GM Downunder. That said I am still dubious.

It states that the engine was rebuilt, but I never really understood why the numbers on the stamp pad would be machined on a rebuild given they are not anywhere near the moving parts...why would the numbers be affected on an engine rebuild?

I will try to get a photo of the stamp pad.

Its tough taking my $30K which would buy me a nice restored numbers matching big block over there and spending it on a basic small horsepower small block here...That said the process of buying a car from the US and importing means sight unseen (or pay the airfares to check it out), shipping, 10% GST, freight holding costs, compliance work for rego, cleaning at the port if there is a spec of dirt in the tyres, etc, etc.

John.

 

Hi John,
You asked "why was it decked"?
I think as part of SOME rebuilds the head mounting surface is 'decked'.
In most rebuilds it doesn't matter if the pad is decked along with the right side block surface.
I've seen a few cars that have been decked and display a distinct 'lip' where the decking process halted to preserve surface and stamps on the pad.
Again... Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

 

I can't imagine a block being 'decked' any less than .010". And that amount of machining would take all but some tidbits of the stampings off completely. I suspect that the block has been restamped and the stamping was done more lightly than the factory did them. Just my opinion.

$30K is WAY too much for that car....I don't care if Santa Claus is selling it to you. And, if you haven't been able to test/check out all the working systems and condition of the frame, take a pass rather than to regret it later. If you feel really obligated to make an offer to "Dave from Downunder", offer $20K and see how he reacts. I'd bet he doesn't even blink at an offer that much lower than what he's asking. He may even accept it.

 

Base Coat/ Clear Coat was started at the Bowling Green , Ky. factory on 1981 models and later.
Some 81's were built at St. Louis during the transition , they were painted with Laquer base as all the previous models were as well.

 

John, What state are you in ?

I'm in SA and looked at quite a few cars in person before buying one.

For the money we pay we should all have BB cars. Between LA and Australia there seems to be quite a mark up. With the dollar the same... It's umm.. Interesting.

 

Luke, I'm in ACT, not a lot of options when looking for '68 and '69 vettes here in Canberra.

7T1Vette, I know $30K is way too much in the states, but here in Oz options are limited and $30K for a base (but good quality) vette is actually quite reasonable. This one sold for $35K:

http://www.gmdownunder.com.au/compon...convertible/15

And if you check out ebay.com.au and search corvettes you won't find an '68 or '69 vettes for under $30K, and that includes cars without matching numbers, bitsas, and rusty frames. Beautiful beaches, but expensive vettes, it's a balance really.

I have now been told that the numbers cannot be read by sight, but that with some sort of magnifying (?) device you can read the numbers. I know how dodgy this sounds, but this car is going through John from GM Downunder in the States, and Dave from GM Downunder here, who I understand are both NCRS judges...

 

Well, the US dollar has taken a solid beating in the financial world for some time now, so I don't know what the exchange rate to your currency might be. I'll leave that calculation to you...my response was in US dollars, so that might be the difference. Good luck with your decision. The car still sounds 'iffy' to me, but it may turn out to be a winner for you. Here's hopin', if you decide to go ahead with it.

 

Looks a nice car. At 19K US originally, if it's 30K here in Australia the importer won't be making a huge amount on it. By way of comparison, my car was about $19K, but once you add things like shipping to port, aircon de-gassing, US Customs clearance, Insurance, Oz customs/quarantine/customs brokering and potential cleaning, import tax of 10% of value, work to bring it up to standards here and get roadworthy, registration plus 4% of value as 'stamp duty' you could easily add $8K to the total.

Azza

 

Hi

I am also in the ACT and my 71 came through Dave at GMDownUnder.

What I did was visit Dave a few times while i was looking as well as waiting for some cars to arrive from the US.

I started looking with a 69 427/390 auto coupe and a 69 yellow vert but ended up with a Blue 71 Coupe.

Test drove a number of cars and he put each up on the hoist etc to allow them to be checked out.

What I found was that some cars that had been on the way looked good to me in photos but when they arrived they were not exactly what I wanted so i was glad i waited. No substitute for sitting in the car and having a real look.

Regards

Craig

 

Why not work with a buyer here and have one shipped....30k is a lot of money for that car I would say

 

Just a simple question:
How many of you guys down under have considered moving here?
The car would be much more attractive.

 

Ask the seller to define "somewhat."

A lot of blocks get needlessly decked at rebuild. Decking the block will remove the numbers.

Jeweler's lupe or broach buster.

 

If the number pad is just lightly machined, a nital etch (nitric acid compound) can be used on the surface to bring up the image of the stamping that is now missing. The number stamp process causes the metal under the numbers to harden more than the rest of the metal and the nital etch fluid will cause harder metal to darken more. I've seen this technique used and it can be effective if the machined surface hasn't been shot peened or blasted.