Why is it that Chevelle LS6s are more expensive than Corvette ones? I mean a real sports car like a Corvette vs. a heavy, bulky sedan? I don't get it.

 

Probably for the same reason many steel body muscle cars are more expensive than Corvettes. People can take more than one passenger out in other cars, nostalgia, etc.

 

What LS6 Chevelles have you seen and at what prices? I have seen several real nice Chevelles coupes around $70-80k. Some even less. The Chevelle convertibles are very expensive because there are very few maybe around $140k like the dark red one listed on Hemmings. The least expensive LS6 Corvette I have seen recently is $130k and its an automatic coupe, the least desirable combo. The LS6 ZR2 Corvettes are around $450k.

I would say the vettes are blowing them away in price.

 

This is one, seems more expensive by $10-$20K than some LS6 Corvettes I have seen:
http://www.rkmotorscharlotte.com/sal...r-Sport/135615

While ProTeam (Terry) has this one at $130K
https://www.proteamcorvette.com/Corv...22F/1022F.html

 

What do you think a quality 1971 LS-6 (with good documentation and in a good color) sells for? The same 1970 LS-6 Chevelle?

Regards,

Stan Falenski

 

That's just one example by a seller (RK) that ASKS about twice the value of what a car is really worth. It will not sell for that price anytime soon. Terry has some LS6 Vettes at about half million dollars. The gold one for $130k is the cheapest one I've seen. The other is Corvette Mikes which is an auto. Try to find one cheaper than that. They only made something like 188 LS6 vettes aa oppsoed to 4000+ LS6 Chevelles. The Vettes are more expensive. RK is a joke. Look at the vettes they try to sell and the prices attached to them.

Look on Hemmings and you can find a dozen LS6 Chevelles for between 60-80k

 

Yes, RK lots way too expensive for cars, like this '71 LS6 auto, way too much, but about $25K less than what Corvette Mike NE wants for the blue auto one they have.

http://www.rkmotorscharlotte.com/sal...orvette/135500

 

I am surprised RK isn't asking 200+ for it.....anyway, the green car should be less, well, because its green. The blue is a much more desirable color and it also has a build sheet. Is it worth that much more? Don't know. Any car is only worth what a buyer buys it for. You have to also realize you are comparing prices of cars that have NOT sold but are for sale. Asking prices do not make any car worth that price. Sales prices matter. They could ask a million for it, doesn't mean anyone will buy it or that the car is actually worth it or anywhere near it.

Besides, your original question is why are LS6 Chevelles more expensive than LS6 Corvettes. If you look at Hemmings you will see many LS6 Chevelles with far less asking prices than what these LS6 Corvette are going for and you can most likely get the those asking prices down further. That basically says LS6 Chevelles can be had for far less than any LS6 Corvette that's available anywhere right now.

Cheapest LS6 Corvette I can find right now........130k (Proteam)
Cheapest LS6 Chev I can find right now in same cond...60k (Hemmings)
Most expensive LS6 Corvette (Zr2)...................450k (Proteam)
Most expensive LS6 Chevelle (convert)............150k (Hemmings)

 

Not to mention that both cars are automatics...

Wondering if the blue car is the one that the garage collapsed on or if it is the one that was caught in the fire... The list of previous owners would sort that out...

Regards,

Stan

 

There is a Green 71 ZR2 vert,all original in Hemmings for 1.2 million and. a LS6 vert for 250k.That green LS6 at RK Motors is on eBay and has been the past few months at 149k.

 

Popularity with the general public. Folks pay more for the Chevelles. Don't ask me why. I guess they think they are 'cooler' .

 

Except that they don't pay more for Chevelles as indicated in the posts above.

Has any Chevelle gone over a million yet? Corvette prices are way higher.

 

That may be true for the very rare, desirable Corvettes, not the majority. On average it appears many Chevelles sell for more than Corvettes of the same year.

 

Yes, one in particular. An LS-6 convertible with a race history sold for over $1.15m in 2006 to a noted Colorado collector before the big financial collapse in '08 ( )

I recall a couple years back that the collector had to cull his collection and the market adjustment took the car down into the low six digits...like around $300k.

I know it's hard to gauge how much value the race history added to the car, but it's not like the car won LeMans or anything like that.

But all things relative. There was a time in the late '70s when split window and L-88 prices were stratospheric, making today's prices seem like a blue light special. That's just how the market works. And some words of wisdom I read some time back: "Cars are not investments. They are toys."

 

I disagree.

Like which ones? Be specific like I was. Generalities mean nothing. The majority of what? The same can be said of the very rare Chevelles which is what the original poster talked about. When you compare LS6 Chevelles to LS6 Corvettes, Corvettes are higher priced except the very rare LS6 convert Chevelle which ar3 around the same price as the most undesirable of the LS6 automatic Corvettes.

You have to compare like examples. If you compare base corvette prices then compare it to base Chevelle prices.

If you compare a big block Chevelle compare it to a big block Corvette.

If you compare a rare Chevelle to a common base Corvette then the Chevelle will be more money. But the comparison is useless. Its like comparing a restored car to a project.

Are LS6 Chevelles worth more than a base 350 corvette? Yeah. But what's the point of that comparison?

You can take all the 70 LS6 Chevelle converts and they still would not collectively add up to the AIR Garner L88 Corvette race car selling price.

No Chevelle has even come close to what many Corvettes have already sold for. Many vettes have hit the 7 figure mark.

So how do you make any comparison? Common Corvettes to common Chevelles? Or common Corvettes to SS Chevelles? That would mean comparing common 350s to big blocks. You need a baseline for comparison like the original poster used. In his case the LS6.

I'm seeing some 70 LS6 Chevelles only a little higher priced as the essentially considered base 390hp Corvettes for the same year.

Since the LS6 was a 71 only option for the vette it was necessary to compare a 70 Chevelle to a 71 Vette.

All things being equal, the Corvette is higher in price.

I can find Ferrari's that are cheaper than Corvettes. But what does that mean?

It also goes to show that threads like this are almost as useless as worrying about prices of what these things are worth.

Can we agree on that?

All the best,
Ed

 

FWIW, I was "cruising" E-Bay motors last January, and stumbled on the first brand new car I owned.....and sold after two years of ownership.

It was a 1971 LS-5, M-22 backed, Chevelle SS454. It was being sold by a HP used car dealership in Maryland. It was in VERY good "day two" condition (some mods under the hood, updated stereo, things like that), but they didn't know what, if any, restoration work had been done to it, body wise. The engine was a 454, but since it appeared that the block had been decked, they couldn't decipher the stampings, hence the question of originality.

They sold it for $34-35,000.

 

Hi Ed,

There are a few very special Corvettes which sell for big $$. LS6 and L88 come to mind. What I was referring to for comparison is an LS5 Corvette vs a 396 Chevelle. Owning a 70 LS5, I have been keeping tabs on what the average market value is. According to Hagerty the average sale price for a 70 LS5 Corvette is $36,700. I believe this is consistent with prices I often see. The average price for a 70 Chevelle 396 L34, not even a 454, is $43,000. If I move up to the 70 Chevelle LS5, the average price goes up to $48,000.

Average price for a 70 Chevelle LS6 is $166,000 vs $146,000 for the 71 Corvette LS6.

So far as worrying about prices of what these cars will be worth one day, I agree, pure speculation, not very useful. I bought my 70 many years ago for it's functional value rather than investment. They weren't worth that much in that day. Love to see it worth more someday when one of my kids inherits it but that's not terribly important.

 

The 70 LS6 Chevelles that I'm seeing for sale on Hemmings are in the 60-80k range with a convertible for around 140k. Your saying they are much higher? I admit I'm not looking further into them other than just to look at and do some internet window shopping, maybe they are not original? But the ads are saying they are. That's where I was getting the values.

I have been saying for awhile that prices for the C3 chrome bumper cars are still pretty low (which is fine with me as I still want to buy another within the next year) but I don't think that other cars are too strong either.

Regardless, I also like the SS Chevelles and would not mind having one.

Or an LS5 Corvette....the value is in the fun owning it and the enjoyment of restoring them if you like. I only pay attention to the current value when I am looking into buying one (or selling but I haven't sold a car in many years)

Enjoy your 70!

 

An L-88 Corvette does not have a respective counterpart in the Chevelles. So that comparison for price is 'apples & oranges'. Take a look at the average selling price for LS6 Corvettes and for LS6 Chevelles. The Chevelles are higher on average. You can't compare individual cars on this scale as all have strong/weak points for what collectors are wanting. So average SELLING price is what you want to compare.

You could also compare LS5 Corvettes to LS5 Chevelles.

'Asking' price is irrelevant in this discussion.

 

That's like what I said in post 15.......

Except Im not sure you can really average the price. You HAVE to go by individual cars. There is no average LS6 Corvette. What would you do? Average a poor car needing a resto with a good finished car to get a average? You have to compare LIKE cars. Restored cars with restored cars etc. I think you know that. But with only 188 LS6 Corvettes that's not easy. With low production cars you really can't average. In fact, every car needs to be based on its high and low points. That's why you give a RANGE of prices for cars, like I did. Which is 60-80 for the Chevelle coupe and starting at 130 for a Vette coupe which is what I see as average 'asking' prices. What they sell for? Don't know. But it will not be higher than that.

You could compare the LS5 with the LS5 but that was not what the original poster asked about but even if you did I think those prices are closer as BBCorv70 has already done in post 17.

You have to also consider the LS6 was offered in the 70 Chevelle but with the corvette only in 71.

If "asking prices" for LS6 Chevelles which I'm seeing are in the 60-80 range and asking prices for the three LS6 Corvettes are in the 130+ range it might give you a clue to what is valued higher but I don't have any other data on what a LS6 Corvette sells for since there are so few but the lowest price one is DOUBLE a Chevelle (except the chevelle convertibe). I doubt that someone will pay twice the asking price for a LS6 Chevelle just to be nice. So how can the Chevelle be considered higher? Are they selling higher that I'm not seeing?

Someone show me examples of sold cars. They have to out there on reported auctions.

As for the L88 comparison. You could make the argument of what's the highest price for the top dog Chevelle versus the top dog corvette. If the Chevelle doesn't have a car to compare it just further shows that the Corvette is a more desirable car overall. But like I said, its all meaningless. You like Chevelles, you like Corvettes, doesn't matter.