I'm in orlando my 69 came from ohio where it had sat over 20 years in a carage yet it had rust issues, some hiding until the body came off, I have a bats build thread on here you can check out...it took me 2 years to find this 69,
back before things were easy before the net I went to see a 68 convertible I went to open the passenger door, the seller didnt stop me fast enough, the door fell off, no kidding, it was all rusted and messed up yet it was advertised as a "Driver" and looked pretty good
Walking away until you find the "right" car is a hard but very smart way to do it,

The sad thing is some unsavvy buyer will over pay for that rusty car you passed on and it will be the cars fault and another person will hate and dis all c3's....

 

You are correct; rust is rust.

However surface rust is manageable. Deep pitting or rot is not.

So I'm safe to say my car did not have deep pitting or rot.

 

Superficial rust is in itself, harmless. When you can remove superficial rust down to bare metal, depending on the circumstances just paint primer/frame black paint. If the rust has created scales of rust, this indicates of course a bigger problem. As long as the rust hasn't eaten through the frame, you can weld in reinforcement steel.

Don't know about now, but at one time in the past Volunteer Vett sold birdcage sections. For the car you are contemplating, I don't think replacing parts/all of the bird cage is cost wise.

 

There are pictures over in my bats build thread but rust is my Achilles heel my 69 appeared to only have "surface rust" people who declared themselves more vette savvy than myself also said it appeared to only be surface,

Then I bust a strut that shows that the rear kick up a common rust area on c3's had a hole that in turn spurred a frame swap out, my wife didn't want me to tackle the swap out the tech gets the body mount bolts out fairly easy, ah, it had been done before, the #2 mount had rusted the bolt hole slightly larger, and right behind it on the bird cage rail was a hole about the size of a 1/2 dollar, the tech welded those problems,
otherwise the bird cage rails looked really clean and even light on surface rust,

Then after several months the tech calls me he said when he went to remove the # 3 passenger side bird cage mount bushing the entire mount came out with it,
It didn't "look" that rotten,

I got lucky and Mr Wilcox got me a # 3 bird cage mount repair part and the tech welded that in, the drivers side was sound,
My windshield pillars the part you can barely see through the glass has little surface rust spots, the base where the fenders bond on are not too bad, but I will need to pull the glass and repair all that correctly,

my old 69 frame went to a member on here with time it will get restored.

Under my car is a 68 rebuilt chassis.

I am a big PITA over rust, it hides it never sleeps and it's out to get us,
Was it worth it with my 69...for me it was my car will be all running driving with less than 13K but most c3 builders refuse to build a c3 as cheaply as I do so rust can and does kill many deals,

But look at that guy on here who had that Swiss cheese looking windshield pillar that he fixed, it can be done but many times if viewed purely from an investment vs end worth idea it falls flat.

 

So the seller resisted the car. Figured I'd share for the sake of the conversation. https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/h...161816562.html

 

Not always the case. Years ago I bought a 69 convertible that had set in storage in a garage for years with a leaking garage wall and the water laid under the car. The car only had 64k. miles but the frame was so bad that when the body was raised the frame broke in half but the birdcage and windshield frame were like brand new.

 

I guess I should have said "in most cases." Also to the op there are still some really good deals out there. A couple of weeks ago I picked up a really nice '75 convertible for $10K. While it has a lot of non original parts it runs and drives great, is an L82 and 4 speed. I changed my avatar to a photo of this car. So don't give up or buy the first thing that comes along. Good luck.

 

Well I went and saw another one but it wasn't right either. I really just want any year convertible c3 that is structurally sound and economically save able. This one was closer. It was a 68 with the wrong motor but a 4 speed. $11,000 was slightly more than I had so I borrowed some and went to look. The car was said to be a driver that needed body work. Driver mist be a loose term.... :/

The "driver" car was on blocks, wouldn't run unless you poured foul in the carb but still wouldn't idle, no brakes, junk top, roached interior, fiber optics didn't work, and had electrical gremlins.... This car was a long was from the road. The body work it needed was because it was in a front end collision. Someone hack jobbed an aftermarket clip on it but it was bonded on crooked, rubbed both doors, and had a bunch or cracks and notches cut in it. But hey, at least the frame and bird cage were solid, or so it seamed. He wouldn't let me remove a kick panel to check even though half the interior was out.

The hunt continues.....

Side note... The rusted out 74 is now on eBay. I hope no one on here gets screwed and buys it. He is severely understating the rust.

 

Cars like yours are what I want to find. Sometime you have to look at a lot of junk to find a gem. I'm not going to be too picky. My musts are convertible c3, and at least close to the road. I want a 4 speed if possible but am open to autos. I like both rubber and chrome bumper cars but the no emission stuff on the earlier cars has its apeal due to more power.

 

Update...


So that brown car ended up selling for $6000 to some unsuspecting ebayer. That's a shame. I did finally get to go for a ride in the nicest C3 convertible I have looked at yet. I was close to buying this one but it wasn't quite what I wanted and something seemed a bit fishy with the car. If things weren't fishy I probably would have gone home with it. It was a running driving 68 convertible with no body damage or rust. Someone had recovered the seats and replaced the black carpet. I was ok with it needing paint, some interior work and paint. The negatives were that 1)it was an automatic (not a deal breaker but still a down side), Brakes needed work, and a lot of the dash stuff didn't work like the fiber optics. All those were minor. Then I popped the hood and the original 327 was gone and it has someother engine. The guy said it was a 327 but he didn't know much about the car since he only had it for 3 weeks. The car was very underpowered so that motor was questionable. All that said, he wanted $12,500 firm and I was considering it. Hagery valueation tool is what I have been using and in that condition the car was valued at $13,400 with the automatic if it had the correct motor so the guy wasn't far off.


The real weird thing was that someone removed the seatbelts from the car... Another small issue but odd to do.


Anyhow, I walked because the car wasn't a great deal and it turned out he had "repo'd" it from a guy who owed him money and the title was in the other guys name. It was signed but still I wasn't comfortable giving $12,500 to a guy who isn't the owner. For all I knew the car and title were stolen. Too shady for me. It might have been legit but I am not that big of a risk taker. There are 3 68 convertible's with 4 speeds and correct motors in much nicer shape between $18-20K on our local craigslist right now. Although they are out of my price range they give me hope of a better car than this one in the low teens.


I'll keep you guys posted... Maybe I should start photographing these cars to share with you guys.

 

Hey, another post today... What do you guys think of this car?
http://www.vetteprojects.net/1970_Ch..._257525389.veh


This is exactly what I am trying to find locally. I bid $8000 on this car when it was on ebay this week. It didn't reach reserve so they still have it. I was willing to throw $8000 at it since he sent me good pictures of a solid frame but buying without standing in front of the car scares me, especially when he is asking top dollar for a project car and I have to pay shipping... who knows what shipping form PA to MN would cost....