scondon

so I am watching a car show on TV the other day, a guy brings in his 77 corvette to get a total restore done. the owner or the shop says why would you want to restore a C3 corvette. the quote i believe was you can sink 100,000 dollars into a C3 and you would still only have a car worth 20,000. seemed a bit harsh to me. so being a C3 owner myself and wanting my car to look better then it is, so as i can drive it more and enjoy it better just hit me kinda wrong. like is it really worth it or not to put money into a car like a C3. i have two actually one that i will never sell and one that i might in the future sell. so do i put money into the one or the other.

derekderek

You have to be wealthy enough to not even think about the cost if you are going to take a car to a shop and say complete restoration. And people that wealthy aren't stupid with their money. If they are gonna spend 6 digits on a car, it will be worth more than the resto costs when done.

Easy Mike

May have sounded harsh, but there are folks who over spend on a restoration, especially when not doing any of the work themselves. It is not impossible to end up spending more on a car than it's actually worth.

scondon

so i have a 73 coupe i got it for 10,000 i have already put 10,000 into all new interior and paint. it still needs front suspension and rear suspension up grades and more then likely all new body mounts. so you can figure around another 10 to 15 thousand in those fixes. that puts the car at roughly 35,000 and the market says its only worth around 25,000 above average looking. so then its not worth it to put that kinda of money into it unless its worth it to me.

Easy Mike

Before any restoration, the owner has to decide what's worth it to him/her. It's a personal choice.

calwldlife

if you are looking to make an average c3
pay for itself after restore, forget about it.

a rare one? tight margins.

resto? still tight.

there are rare c3s.

Aerovette

Is the car on the right in your avatar "steel blue? What year? 75 by chance? The picture is too small to see clearly.

7T1vette

If you can't do the work yourself, you need deep pocket$ to have a car restored/refurbished "correctly".

Otherwise, just buy a car in good condition (you know...one that someone else has laid out too much money to put it back in good condition.).

hicswa

The car was his father's. Thats the only reason he wanted it restored. If its the same show I'm thinking, Dan always tell the truth up front so there is no big surprise.

scondon

its the light blue one. the 75 is on the right and the 73 is on the left. wont ever sell the 73, might sell the 75 in future.

scott

scondon

yes it was that show and i love watching the show, and i agree that car had a special place in the owners life. and it did not matter on price. i think all C3 owners have one, for a reason whether its the looks of a C3 or the time period they came from. i do a lot of work myself on my cars to save on cost just not sure about lifting the body on mine to replace the body mounts myself, so that will cost me i guess.

scott

ignatz

This guy?

https://wisconsinhotrodradio.com/whr...s-hit-tv-show/

It says in the above he was a test pilot. Definitely doesn't sugar coat anything.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...1&&FORM=VRDGAR

7T1vette

Well, then it will be a labor of love and $$$. We dump money on new cars that don't hold their value. A piece of family memorabilia is worth significant 'change', I would think.

doorgunner

Rookie here: You only need to raise the body 6" or more to replace body mounts. I cut wooden blocks to fit into the body "slot" where it normally would rest on the frame......and supported the nose and tail while lifting in 1" increments to prevent stress cracks. You can go higher if you wish.

Primoz

Primoz

I watched this show!
There were quite some cases where the guy told their customers the straight forward way that it will cost this and this but the customer still went through with the restoration.
Their money, their decision!

calwldlife

if that was the ppizza shop owner,
that car was in bad shape.
made it an impossible build for any value in the end.

oldgto

Judging by the way "those guys" handled the "rivet bumps" on a C3 before.... I`d say they don`t know much about fixing Corvettes!