Greetings: I have a friend who took a job in another city, and basically gave me his Anniversary edition '78 vette. It's been in storage in his barn, and is very much in need of work. He threw a rod, so the engine's no good, however, it has a 4 speed transmission, which I'm told is worth $500. It has the original wheels, but is in need of some serious TLC. I've seen the gas cap for this model going for over $100 on ebay.... just based on the transmission, wheels, and other working parts, I'm wondering what I should ask for it. The tires are ok, it has the t-tops which are still good... I know it's hard to comment without seeing pictures... it has around 100K miles on it. Anyone out there with suggestions on what I should ask for it? I know that in another year, it will be classified as an antique...

Thanks for any advice you can give. I want to unload this vehicle, and I'm not the guy to spend the time &/or effort to part it out... just don't have the time, knowledge, or desire to do that. Any feedback you can offer would be much appreciated.

Mitch

 

Post some pictures of your '78. It's nearly impossible to put a value on the car without seeing it.

 

I'll try, I realize that totally makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

Where is the car located? Maybe someone on the forum close enough that would be interested in taking a look.

 

the 78 is in a barn about 10 minutes south of Wellsville, just off I-35. Probably about 25 minutes south of Olathe Med Center.

 

I googled 'Olathe Med Center' - it's south of Kansas City KS.

 

If you have a digital camera. Take some pictures, and copy them to your computer. There is a website call www.photobucket.com that will allow you to create a free account. You can upload your pictures to the free account. After the pictures are uploaded, when you look at a picture, look for where it says 'Share', you should see somewhere where it has the 'IMG' code. Click there, and it will say 'copied'. That copied the 'IMG' code into your clipboard, you can then go to your post, and paste the 'IMG' code into your post, and we can then see the picture.

It's actually pretty easy once you've done it once. If you have a smartphone, you can install a free photobucket app that lets you upload pictures straight from your phone to your photobucket account - that makes thing a lot easier.

 

Ok, first thing, go here and read this.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1579867198-post88.html

Then put up some pictures.

Back when prices were going nuts in 2004, I bought a '79 in better shape (everything worked but had a rear wheel bearing out) for $1000. Unfortunately, Corvettes have the problem of the whole not equaling the sum of its parts. A whole car is tempting to fix, and thus that means buyers want it for a low enough price that they are not too far underwater when done.

Being in a barn means the possibility of mice is strong. If so, you have $1000 in interior work that is needed. $3500 for the engine work. What condition is the paint? A repaint is $5000 to $10,000. Suddenly you seen it isn't worth a lot to most people as a project car.

Then again, it could be in excellent shape, just dirty and a broken engine that may not even be a rod. If so, then a few hundred dollars may turn this around.

Parting it out is often long work to get it all sold. Some items sell fast and others take centuries. The worst part is once you sell the good stuff, you are stuck with a hulk that may take a long time to find a buyer. And now it is too expensive to change your mind to sell it whole as buying parts to put it back together will always cost more than what you sold your parts for.

Pictures are needed to make any accurate suggestions.




I guess he forgot this is the Internet, open to the World, and not a local BBS.

 

Provincial:
Having or showing the manners, viewpoints, etc., considered characteristic of unsophisticated inhabitants of a province; rustic; narrow or illiberal; parochial: a provincial point of view.

There is a great, big, ole world out there, outside of Kansas. Not everybody knows where Wellsville is. If I told you I live about 20 minutes south of Worcester, right off I-395, would that mean anything to you?

I'm just bustin' your stones, man, don't take me too seriously. You have come to the right place to find out what you want to know. As far as the engine, you can get a brand-new engine from GM for 1500 bucks. And, you can get a car painted for a lot less than 5000 bucks, if you're willing to invest a little sweat equity. If the rest of the car is in decent shape, you might wanna give some thought to fixing it up and driving it.


Keep the shiny side up!
Scott

 

I would suggest you be cautious about overestimating value of individual parts...a 100,000 vehicle is a lot of miles for a Corvette and finishes fad, parts rust and unless its a specific part number with date code...there are many around. Here are a few examples

What tranny type...auto or 4 speed. And if 4 speed, type could matter. However, there were a ton of automatics built and shipped.

ebayers ask for all sorts of $ believing they are rare but what did they get? I pick up those caps for $5 and I'm sure they had less wear than 100,000.


Smart!