It will depend on what you plan on doing with the car.
If you want to make a show room car to look at forget about it.
If you want a car to drive I would be driving it home right now.

Some people buy a car to look at and some buy a car to drive.
It will depend on which group you plan on joining.

 

A chrome bumper car that starts for $6000? Unless there are holes in the frame, I'd be all over that. You'd have to be up for a project for sure, though.

 

 

You guys got me thinking, It really does look good. It would be a driver for me, I would take it to my mechanic to ensure that it was safe and I would drive the heck out of it on the weekends. I would never put the money in to it that would be needed to bring it back to show room condition. I honestly think if I pulled out $5000.00 cash he would take it. The question to me is if and when I tired of it would I at least be able to get most of my money back?

 

I think for a chrome bumper that is in running condition you'll get $6k+ all day long if you wanted to sell it again.

BUT

It just depends how much it'll need to make it a reliable driver as driving condition and Safe driving condition are two different things. tires, suspension bushings and joints?, motor and radiator work?, Battery, fluids, do all the things that need to work actually work(lights, wipers, blinkers, ...) All those things add up if you don't plan on fixing any of it yourself and even if you did can sometimes snowball into greater issues.

not that it matters but a matching motor/trans seems to be a nice selling point to some. Might make selling it later on way easier if it did.

I'm definitely NO expert on the subject so hopefully more chime in to help. But if you plan on driving it and never working on it I'm not sure this would be the one for you. Too much potential for things to break and you end up coming out on the short end of the deal.

 

Too many folks on here that think they can find a rust free Arizona type car complete for that kinda cake.

 

From What I could see from the pics, $ its worth $6,000 easy. Just inspect the frame and the birdcage betta. If they are not all rusted out, you should consider it.

 

Why do people assume one has to make a Corvette better then when it was new, when purchasing one? I'm thinking there are some (like myself) who just wants to drive a nicely refreshed C3... AND not dreaming of a show car...

 

Good point. I think it's just habit that makes us want to rebuild these cars, and any other project to as best condition as possible. Even better than how they came of the showroom. But I can also see what you're saying and I don't disagree.

Based on the pics, if the rust checks out, with another 5 grand or so he's got a driver that he's not buried in and could actually even make money on. No real need to spend 20-25k to make it perfect.

 

I agree with many of the comments here and, yes it's a good deal in my opinion. But... The OP is going to be using a mechanic to do much of the work, and combined with the parts cost, that could be a lot if money. I'd say that most of us, do our own work, on these finicky, complicated and tough to work on, cars. If I had to outsource the labor, on my Corvette, I believe I'd have a hard time justifying owning it. If the OP has that kind of deep pockets, more power to him, but in the end, he'd probably be better off, buying a restored car.

 

Based on what I've seen, I like that car a lot. A lot of fun for the $$.

 

$20k-$30k won't make the car better than when it was new....it might get the car back to what it was like back in the day...but not if he's having all the work done by someone else.

If the car runs he could buy it and drive it right away for all I care. BUT! Knowing the issues my car had with rust I'm glad I went and fixed things before they broke and caused harm to me or the car further.


Rust repairs depending on how sever they are could turn what seems like nothing into a mountain of an issue. You can't dream of driving this car like it was stolen without assessing things more...which his pictures don't point out at all.


My car was equally as rusty and I'm glad I didn't drive on these trailing arms, frame rust in a critical area, and seatbelt/body mount reinforcement plates completely gone. And that doesn't even get into issues related to the birdcage(luckily mine wasn't in terrible shape)

Most here focus solely on the birdcage to try and spot rust issues(which is good but don't just look there)...my car had zero rust behind the kickup panels yet all the rust you see in the pictures and upper birdcage.






This car is a great deal for someone and I don't want to discourage anyone from passing up something like this just due to rust(as all my rust looked bad...but was fixed with not too much trouble). I'm just warning if he's not going to do the work himself it has the potential for him getting hosed by a mechanic.
$3k-4k for tires, battery, fluids, wearable parts just to get it on the road if nothing else is broken.
rust issues like mine and he's looking at many thousands for someone to fix them.
Need new bushings or shocks?....bolts likely seized and will need cut out(PITA). frame and birdcage rust making it not safe?($$$).

If he doesn't care how safe the thing is then drive it... nobody will stop him I guess.

 

WOW!! You guys really made this decision very difficult!! You all taking the time to help a complete stranger is overwhelming! I would be paying someone to do all the work and as was pointed out by many could get very costly. I am 100% going to pass on this one. If anybody is interested please PM me and I will make the connection to the best of my ability. I would love to help the old man and help another more skilled collector get this beauty. Thanks again for all your input, Charlie

 

Well now I feel bad. I hope I wasn't the one that scared you away. Drive it or not it's a good deal lol. You can always just look at it if it makes you happy

 

For 6K and a chromed bumper car no less? I'd probably jump. I bet if he lists it at that price it will be gone the same day. Just saying.

 

Perhaps source a good local mechanic (someone familiar with these cars) and have him evaluate this car. I believe this investment would be $$ well spent.
People have paid much more for less car.

 

A chrome bumper car for $6,000. It's a great buy for someone looking for a project.

 

On second thought. Even though I'm on my first C3, I have always pretty much assumed anyone who OWNED a C3 pretty much WORKED on a C3. Point in case, think of it as a life-sized toy model. Buy some stock in the Ziplock bag company and start bagging and tagging. You'd be surprised at just how much you can do on your own, and not only have fun with it, but have a pride of accomplishment that is achieved that only a few scrapes and busted knuckles can give you. Just prepping the car before handing it over to a pro can save you BIG bucks. In closing, there is so much time saving information on the forum, and you can bet whatever the issue is, someone before has probably already experienced it. I'll be following to see where you end up!

 

If it were me, I'd seriously consider buying it for $6k as long as the frame isn't badly rusted.

 

$6K yes..less even better.
It's a deal.