maynards75

I posted last week seeking advise on selling my deceased father's 75 convertible. I had to replace the battery but after that was done it fired right up. I took it for a short drive and it ran great. Fluid levels were all good and no leaks on the garage floor. As the picture shows it has a manual transmission. There are few blems in the interior doors, small cracks. Other than that everything looked pretty straight. My plan is to take it to a local mechanic that specializes in corvettes to get him to inspect and let me know if he sees anything of concern. If not, I will post for sale here, craigslist and auto-trader classics and see what interest there is.

If you have anything else to share please weigh in.

Greg

drwet

Looks like a nice straight car. Don't think you'll have much trouble selling it. Sure you don't want to keep it?

croaker

The13Bats

Im A bit down already today so i will toss 2 cents out there,

Truely sorry on your dads passing, mine went at 89 in 2014 we talked almost daily so you get the idea there,

He had his buddy an Avanti that he wanted me to have but bucking from step family had him call me and ask if i could sell his car for him, he said not what he wanted and would rather not talk about it, so i agreed,

The car hadnt been driven in about 3 years and wouldnt start but was a 98% show queen,
Like vettes have rocker or bird cage rust avantis have hog trough rust which his had some which also hurt pricing,

Price was based on my looking for comparible examples and feedback from the avanti forum,

I reported to my dad about what the car was worth, going rate, he hoped for more but expected as much,

I listed it on craigslist and the avanti forum, seemed the avanti guys were closer knit more about kinship than we are here,

Anyway the car sold within 10 days, the guy offered only slightly less than our set price, dad was pleased,
He passed within 2 more weeks,

At the funeral my step mom mentioned i sold it to cheap,
( the money went to my dad not me )

When i post ads i tend to get long winded but i believe it saves a lot of time and stress to really lay it out, some will figure out the car isnt what they want which saves time,
I just sold a fiero a few weeks ago this way and my xterra is listed, the fiero buyer was thrilled with it.

Specialty cars like your dads vette or my dads avanti or even my fiero bring out the professinal pita looky lou joy riders, they seldom buy, as they will offer down right insulting lowballs, likely broke,

I am super picky who i even let come out, i might miss a sale but i find it less stressfull this way,

If you priced the car fair it will sell fast uts desirible and nice,
It's just up to you how much bs and stress you can take,
Me, i cant take much,

ps
if people try to nit pick or beat it down try not to take it personal, its not, if they are bad, tell them its not what they are hunting, excuse yourself and walk away.

maynards75

any tips on how to determine if they are still safe to drive on?

72 Project

Check the date code on the side of the tires. Follow link.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tire...hrome&ie=UTF-8

forman

My Dad always said ,,When the top comes down the price goes up ,,
good luck with the sale ,, we had a similar problem but it involved a boat

maynards75

Any suggestions on where to get replacement tires that will not hurt the value of the car?

forman

pigfarmer

Sorry to hear about your Dad.

I agree with 'forman' and would let the next owner worry about it. Just give them a careful look for dry rot, etc and make sure they are properly pressurized. I had a set that was 17 years old and looked absolutely perfect but one day I hit a rock and a big chunk of the sidewall just gave way - you could see that tire had become stiff and dry. Wasn't obvious before. Car rides much, much better on new rubber. Like getting a new pair of sneakers.

If you really want to replace them TireRack.com worked out great for me. Don't forget about the spare. There are online tire size calculators you can use to help with fit. Save the $$ and don't worry about raised white letters. Hindsight being clear I'll turn the RWL side in on mine next time.

I told my entire family that when my time comes they'll all be called into a big scrap yard for the reading of the will. All my my cool s*** - cars, motorcycles, guns, ALL OF IT - will be fed into an industrial grinder right in front of them. Afterwards they'll all be given equal size buckets of what comes out the other end. Fair is fair - no favoritism here.

I doubt you'll have a problem selling it but I'd like to (politely) suggest that there are many Corvettes out there but only that one was your Dad's. Unless there is some other compelling reason to move the car why not think about it for a little bit before you do anything?

forman

c3_dk

Looks like a nice 75, are you 112% sure you would like to sell it?

wer2xu

Maynard check your private messages.

ddawson

Nice looking C3.

leadfoot4

Firestone S/S Radials............I had a couple of sets of those, back in the day. They were great tires, HOWEVER, OP, don't even bother looking for a date code. The last time Firestone made those tires was the late 80s-early 90s. They're old enough to vote!!

shenango

I agree completely. Put some new tires on it and drive her for a couple of years. You might fall in love just like your father did. Give your Mother fair market value and everyone is happy.

RMVette

Sorry to hear about your dad. I would be a good memory to keep the car if it financially makes sense. It's a nice original car and you can't beat red!

vettebuyer6369

I have a different feeling about tires here. I know when Id go to sell a car, newer tires made the car look like it had been taken care of a little bit. I think tires on a car that have date codes from a couple decades ago give the car a different impression.

Whether it’s providing a safe situation for when a person comes to take a test drive, or making the car safe for you to drive around a little bit in the meantime, I see no downside to dropping $500 on a set of TA Radials here. There’s no circumstance where it reduces the car’s value.

mortgageguy

I totally agree! I wouldn't let anyone test drive it with those tires. Tire separation is a real issue. Drive slow when taking it to the mechanic.

Tonio

Yeah if the tires are older than about 6 years, you'd be best served by swapping them out with something new. Radial T/A's are ok, as are Mickey Thompson ST radials, or even a comparable Cooper tire. All about the same price point.