leeenfield57

hi, hope im posting in correct forum, im wondering, has anyone ever had any dealings with Contes Corvettes in Vineland, NJ?

I am in the process of looking for a c3 model corvette and he has a few on his website,

contes being a dealer,im wondering if he is a straight shooter when it comes to dealing with selling to someone that not fully versed in corvettes,

thanks guys

BKarol

There is a "search this forum" at the top of the General Discussion page. Type in Conte and you will get some hits.

Recently discussed in December:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...neland-nj.html

3JsVette

You will have to search long and hard to try to find something negative about Joe Conte.

jaxlt1

I have known and done business with Joe many times. He's as best as they come.

Lupigiato

Joe's a good guy and been in business for decades.

JohnRogers

Interesting, there is an 82 CE there that I'm ready to pull the trigger on. Seeing how this is an "expert" Corvette shop that does mechanic and restoration work they should be able to provide me a proper birdcage inspection, right?

qball

I have bought and sold with Joe over many years, stand up guy with a stand up operation.

Gordonm

Been buy his shop many times. He is a stand up guy as others have said here. I would not hesitate to buy from him.

ed427vette

I've never dealt with them personally but I have only ever heard positive things about them. Everyone I know who has dealt with them has been happy. They also seem to have VERY fair prices for there Corvette. They had a few 69s I was interested in within the last few years but sold before I could make the room in my garage.

JBrooke825

Joe is an honest guy. You can trust him. He will talk you out
Of buying the car if he doesn’t like it himself.

gbvette62

Conte's changed hands a few years ago. I understand Joe may still have a minor interest in the business, but he is no longer involved in operating it.

I've known the new owner Marty, for over 25 years (I've known Joe Conte for over 40), and Marty's a good guy. I haven't had any business dealings with him though, and really haven't heard too much about other people's experiences with Conte's, since Marty took over.

I don't know that Conte's does much repair or restoration work anymore. Marty told me that he wanted to get out of the repair work, and I know he farms some work out to other shops.

I use to get 2 or 3 calls a year to do pre-purchase inspections a year at Conte's, but I haven't done an inspection there in about 2 years now. I think this may be because Marty has put more of an emphasis on selling 84 up cars, while I usually just inspect 58-82's.

I'm not knocking Conte's, or Marty, I'm just saying don't base your opinion of Conte's on a Forum post from 3, 4, 5 or more years ago, because it's not the same company.

Gordonm

Interesting. I did not know this. I did ride by a few months ago and did notice more "newer" models and less of the older Vettes there.

JohnRogers

Based on the website I get the sense they have Joe in the colonel sanders role.

How did Conte's handle "bird cage" inspections from prospective buyers?

gbvette62

Other than removing the air cleaner or shielding top box, I don't usually ask any seller to start disassembling his car. Normally you can see a fair amount, with the kick panel in place. If I do see something that concerns me, then I will ask to remove a kick panel.

In the past, when I inspected a car at Conte's, I would make an appointment, and Joe would have the car on a lift, and a drop light ready, when I got there. I don't ever recall asking him to remove a kick panel, but I'm sure he would have, as he was happy to do other things, like removing paint from stamp pads.

On one particular inspection, I found a car with a rotted section of frame. It was on top of the frame, were the rear end crossmember, attaches to the frame, not a spot you usually find rust damage. The car was a consignment, and from Joe's reaction, I truly do believe he was surprised, when I pointed it out. He refunded my fee to the person who sent me, which he really didn't have to do, since that's what I was being paid to look for.

None of this has anything to do with Conte's now, since Joe is no longer running the company. Marty may be doing things exactly like Joe was. I have no reason to believe he isn't, but I just think people need to know that Joe is no longer there, and that any recommendations made based on when Joe ran the company, have no real bearing anymore, because it is no longer run by Joe.

JBrooke825

The first I am hearing this,I will have to stop by . On my way to Cape May!

DRM500RUBYZR-1

I am Joe's partner, Marty.
I noticed this post and wanted to just take a moment and respond with a few comments.
Conte's has been in business for 44 years.
Joe Conte is indeed deserving of the many accolades that he has received over those many, many years.
I have also known Joe for most of those years, and can attest to the honesty and integrity that enabled the business to grow as it has done.
I joined Joe at Conte's in January 2015 as managing partner, responsible for both service and the showroom.

We operate today the same as always.

I encourage each of you to stop in, say hello, and look around, or at least perhaps check out our website.

You will see that nothing has changed.

We still offer some very nice and high quality cars at very competitive prices.

Take a minute and read some of the testimonials from customers over the last few years.

You will see that we still operate the same way, again with no changes.

Stop in, and it may even be one of the many days that Joe is here!

If Joe is here or not, I will be here and happy to help you.

Selection?

I love them all!

Today our inventory consists of the following cars:

3 C-1's

7 C-2's

10 C-3's

11 C-4's please note 5 of those are LOW mile ZR-1's from a special collection

7 C-5's

3 C-6's

1 C-7

5 Other Collectables

About the same number of C-3 and older, as C-4 and newer. Right?.




We still conduct business the same as Joe always did.

That is fair, honest and friendly.




We still perform service, repairs, modifications, and mechanical restorations onsite, no paint or body as always.

In the last four years, I have only outsourced a single car to another shop.

It was a C-1 where the customer wanted a conversion from manual to a Turbo 350 automatic, also adding power steering and brakes. It was the middle of last summer's driving season, and I wanted to avoid tying up one of our lifts while waiting for the inevitable forgotten part. I did not want to delay or disappoint all of our regular service and repair customers at the height of the season

Used parts are something that I am reducing our presence in, and perhaps that is what Glen recalls me wanting to phase out. His company and others focus on that segment and do quite a fine job!


Inspections of our cars are always encouraged and welcomed!

Glen, why not send me a paragraph or two about the services / inspections that you do and I would be happy to add it to our website, as well as offer your number to those who are looking for a third party inspection.

Some do, some do not, but we are very comfortable with it.

Hope that this helps to provide some answers to the questions raised.

Again, you are always welcome to stop - in, call, or just enjoy the cars on the website!

Thanks,

Marty








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JBrooke825

Nice to see this. See you soon.

JohnRogers

I went to Conte's Corvettes the other day. Marty is pleasant to visit with. I was able to take a nice test drive, spend as much time crawling all over the car, all with out any pressure gimmicks.