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I'm new to Vettes and I found one for sale near me.
Backstory: C3's are my favorite; been playing with models since I was a kid. I know the early to mid '70s were NOT good on performance, but that can be handled. I LOVE the recessed rear window - must have. My fiance and I are budding gear-heads and we love driving manual cars (race cars are meant to be manual). At the moment, I'm stuck on 1976 Stingrays because of the mean looking lines. I love them.
Current situation: '76 Stingray. 140k. RestoMod. New engine 350 (maybe still an L84), custom heads (they were just milled down to reduce chamber volume to low 60's cc), '74 exhaust, custom cam, but not super crazy. New trans (still 3 speed auto, same as stock) w/ custom 1st gear. Comes with original engine, original trans, stiffer rear spring, some misc. parts. Owner has owned since '88. He autocrossed this car in low speed divisions (he would drive the car up to races, race, then drive home....kind of ballsy, but it means he never blew it up). He claims body came off and frame was cleaned and painted. He repainted body original yellow color.
He's asking $16k.
TLR
Can anyone here give me some advice?
1) Can I get more than $2k for the engine and trans?
2) Can you convert to a manual easily?
3) Can you really find original '76 manuals?
4) Can someone confirm reasonable prices? I'm thinking something like this should be closer to $12k w/o the extra parts.
5) It's not worth it to go back to numbers matching original now is it? These cars don't have THAT kind of value, right?
No. No. Yes. Overpriced. No. The first 76 and last 76 made may be 16k cars. The 76 has no oddball interesting options or interesting trim packages. Except maybe a Mary Kay pink one or something...
Last edited by derekderek; Jun 8, 2020 at 01:51 PM.
You should be able to buy two driver-quality 76s for $16K. How nice is the restomod job? Or is it just an engine swap. The original engine is of no value to anyone once separated from that car. That said, a higher performance crate engine is certainly of more value to a driver than the original engine.
Keep looking. There are plenty of 4-speeds out there. Otherwise, budget $5K to do the auto to manual swap. You can do it for much cheaper, but $5K should get you a TKO-600 5-speed from SST, or get you close: https://shiftsst.com/blog/post/1968-...ctfit-kit.html
He asking toooooooo much money....OFFER HALF THAT.
my neighbor...1976 L-82 TH400 3.70 gears A/C new paint, (Yellow). Totally new interior, 68k miles with A/C including TAX was $7500. 76 with 68 k that's why he bought it..GOOD DEAL
what's the rest of the story, how is the body, frame, birdcage, suspension, brakes etc
I wouldn't believe what people selling a car say its what you see, feel and hear that counts
there is a good thread on here for things to check and watch when buying a C3, wish I saw it before I bought mine, I didn't have any major gotchas but its a good list of things to check
bring a friend and a hand mirror if you go to check it out, taking pictures with your phone of key areas underneath helps too
I'm new to Vettes and I found one for sale near me.
I know the early to mid '70s were NOT good on performance, but that can be handled. I LOVE the recessed rear window - must have.
If you think the early '70s were not good on performance, you are new to Corvettes. The regularly available over-the-desk dealer versions could run circles around anything mid to late in the C-3 lineup. Then throw in a ZL1 or ZL2 and you'd be picking your jaw up off the floor.
Learn, learn, learn all you can about what changes and options happened to the C-3s over the model's lifespan. Then learn all you can about the potentially huge problems these cars have to ensure you don't buy one that will need a boatload of cash to correct - frame rust can be devastating to a new buyer and that car's future.
Go on eBay search the model year era and then hit completed listings. And you can sorta see what people refuse to buy and what people agreed to buy. Although generally they don't actually buy them in the long run you'll see one close with a winning bid four times. Not a good place to buy a car. But a good place to do market research and look at pictures.
Go on eBay search the model year era and then hit completed listings. And you can sorta see what people refuse to buy and what people agreed to buy. Although generally they don't actually buy them in the long run you'll see one close with a winning bid four times. Not a good place to buy a car. But a good place to do market research and look at pictures.
You also can check out some of the corvette specialty places That sell them not to buy from them but to see what they are charging at the high end And how mileage, engine, etc influence their prices plus what colors, options etc you might want
I happen to be selling my 76 - I got married and now there are THREE of us. It's a good daily driver, not perfect but passes NYS inspection and is safe. We just need one more seat
Let me know if interested.
If you think the early '70s were not good on performance, you are new to Corvettes.
Sorry, I guess what I meant was, it's my understanding emmisions regulations started to result in poor performance starting in like '73, which I consider early-to-mid '70s.
Go on eBay search the model year era and then hit completed listings. And you can sorta see what people refuse to buy and what people agreed to buy. Although generally they don't actually buy them in the long run you'll see one close with a winning bid four times. Not a good place to buy a car. But a good place to do market research and look at pictures.
Having bought an sold C-3's FOR DECADES....the WORST place to buy a Corvette is EBAY.....bunch of lying scut-bags. You're better off with Craigslist. We all know the problems with Craigs...but at least its LOCAL and you can get on your horse an LOOK AT IT! Ebay...it's a bunch of pictures and a pig in a poke.
Use it for research...KNOWING that any winning bidder NEVER SAW THE CAR!
So far you guys have all been extremely helpful. I appreciate the input.
Sounds like I want to be in the $8-12k range depending on how clean the car is and how desperate I am and how early in the C3 model it is (ie a '70 vs a '76).
There was some great advice to try to find what others have had problems with and what others are willing/unwilling to pay on Ebay for exampl .
If anyone's got some stories about the problems they've had with C3's, that would be helpful.
For reference, this car was clean, but far from pristine (small cracks in the body, small paint defects, chips around the door edge). stiff suspension, loose steering. The brakes and some suspension stuff could probably be just me not being used to driving a 40 year old car. Owner said the custom first gear was a just a larger ratio set. Idk how easy/possible it is to do that in an auto trans, so I just said "ok".
Is the birdcage the chromed wire frame rack on the back? There wasn't one.
It sounds like I can keep up the search and find more of what I want for less money.
On a different note: what makes the L84's so worthless? Arent they the same basic engine from earlier? Just detuned? Different carb, different cam, restricted intake and exhaust flow?
That's about what I paid for this 16,000 79 L82 car there are those that would say that was high. I think your car is priced too agressively.
That's good looking! Thanks for the reference point.
stupid question incoming
What model years had the rear window I'm looking for? Were some model years offered with either option available, like did '79 have your rear window or the option of the recessed one?
Also did the body lines change much from '70 to '79? Yours still looks aggresive like I lik .
That's good looking! Thanks for the reference point.
stupid question incoming
What model years had the rear window I'm looking for? Were some model years offered with either option available, like did '79 have your rear window or the option of the recessed one?
Also did the body lines change much from '70 to '79? Yours still looks aggresive like I lik .
79 - 82 had the bubble window. The body lines are roughly unchanged from 78 - 79 and again from 80-82. The major change to the earlier C3's was the transition from chrome to rubber bumpers over 73 - 74 production.
Need Help buying C3 Corvette
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