I have a goal to buy and flip several Corvette's as a hobby/potential income source. I have owned around 50 cars and there is no better community than the Corvette Community so I'm going to make a run at doing as many as I can in the next decade. I've decided to start with C3's (specifically a '76) because of their low barrier of entry and lower cost to upgrade, but will be moving to other generations as I gain experience. I'm in need of a little guidance on what is needed to reach the different retail price points. I'm going to break them up into groups of 10k to drive my point and start the discussion. Any feedback here would be amazing, what would you expect in a car at certain price points?

Here is an example of what I'm wanting to hear back from the community
Under 10k - All factory, no real upgrades, Sunday driver quality, solid motor and tranny, exterior body/paint is ok
10-20k - Closer to daily driver quality, some interior and exterior updates. Upgraded Steering/brakes, basic engine mods, nice audio, exterior body/paint is very nice
20-30k - Upgraded suspension, nearly perfect cosmetics both inside and out, more horsepower, A/C power everything, exterior body/paint is is perfect or close to.
30K + - ? Not sure what get's you here, maybe a LT1 swap, a frame off resto, or other but I doubt I will be trying to get 30k + on my first flip.

I'm fully aware I can just browse the for sale section and see what people are asking, I just wanted to dive a little deeper with this discussion.

 

Looks pretty close to me. I will say, buying and selling Corvettes may be a difficult way to make a living...

 

Not looking to make a living, just have a hobby that doesn't suck all of my money dry. I guess the other way I could ask this is what upgrades bring the most value when selling?

 

A specialized used car salesman? People are gonna have questions about the car your selling, What can you tell them that is at all accurate if you're just flipping them? Do you have any knowledge specific to C3's?

 

The 1976 would not be my first choice to purchase and try to flip. The one year steering column with the Vega steering wheel will turn off some buyers. The 1974 being the last year before cat converters and a big block, and the 1977 being the last year before the bubble back windows, would be preferred choices.

 

There is a friend of mine that does just that. He is here on the forum. He has a good time
marks them up a little and moves on to the next . He will probably see this and chime in.
he’s on the c2 forum more often. It’s a hobby to him.

 

hmm, 76 has smog restrictions.

I see the trouble is appearance is 1st and probably the make or break condition,
then in lies the problem- good body work and good paint ain't cheap/
then or in addition a motor that doesn't leak, starts easily, drives smoothly, and prob needs to be an automatic.
This takes work but not as costly as paint.
Then or maybe 1st is interior.
There again not cheap to pretty up.

This I believe will be the largest group of buyers preferences.

A smaller group would probably be all about performance. Horse power, idle rumble, and seat of pants thrill. So paint can be avaerage and interior showing age.

I wouldn't tackle it myself.
good luck

 

Might be best to buy in the 5-8k range and drop about 5-6k in them and see if you can make 20k.... honestly, it's real easy to sink cash into the c3's and do it right.
I bought mine at 5k, tore it down to the frame and body, probably dropped 15k or so into it, replaced/rebuilt most of the car... you think I can sell it for 20k and break even, probably not....
Lets not forget to add 6k for new motor and maybe 4k for trans.... so now at 30k.....
If you want to flip, maybe the old school verts/impalas/galaxies might be a better flip.... family car cruiser, seats more than 2

 

And that does not include your hundreds of hours of labor...

 

Hi Scott, first off, welcome to the forum! C3's are great cars - I really like them all, some more than others. You have received some good advice above, and will get more. Here are my thoughts:

• As indicated, it can be tough to make much money on many/most C3's. Many times it's a labor of love. The prices of the cars are going up, but so are the costs of parts, labor, etc.
• There are lots of 'hidden' items that can cost you a ton of money if you don't know the ins/outs of the cars. This forum can be a big help.
• Stay away from rusted frames, bird cages, etc. if you're going to try and flip C3's.
• Most (certainly not all) owners kind of know what they have, and it may be hard to get a C3 with much of a 'discount'. And fair is fair when it comes to buying/selling.
• You may stand a better chance of flipping 'higher payout' cars if you can make a decent buy on the right car, and fit the next bullet into the equation. By 'higher payout', I mean cars that would bring more money - like cars with good verified owner history, cars with valid paperwork, chrome bumper cars, BB, HP SB, good colors, high option cars, verifiable 'special engine' cars like L71, L89, etc. Remember, it takes just as much time, and close to as much money in many cases, to 'upgrade' a 'base' car vs. a car that has a verifiable pedigree, desirable engine option, etc.
• IF you can do body/paint and mechanical work yourself (decent/good/great work), AND you count your labor at zero, you can make some $ by flipping the right C3's.

But, when you're hooked, you're hooked! And C3's can be a lot of fun to work on, and relatively simple to work on too. Best, Paul

 

or all the @#$$%^%$#%%$ words and late night snacks..

 

I would say that if your asking that kind of question regarding buying and flipping c3s, with no real experience with them
its going to be tough to make any profit with them, they are very hard to work on and could have many hidden issues.
unless your buying and selling junk.

 

Sounds like you have experience flipping cars. In my book, if I were to do this, I'd look into detailing C3 Corvettes. They tend to be a dream for folks and must look good to sell for a good price. I'd also look into how to fix the brakes. Most C3's I see for sale tend to have brake issues. Then all the other standard old car concerns. tires, tune up, etc.

Sounds like a fun hobby!
Enjoy!
Scott

 

Exterior paint.

 

only flip C3s if you enjoy dealing with jerk offs. all the vettes I sold, while the buyer ultimately ended up being no problem to deal with, corvettes for sale seem to bring all the idiots out of the wood work.

you deal with all kinds of idiots advertising on craigslist, but of all the cars I sold, vettes have been the worst.

 

All I can say is, you better OWN the body shop. A typical LACQUER painted C-3 costs about $12,000 to paint 'decently.'

If the car has poor paint, you are going to have a tough time making any money. If the car has near 100k miles ditto...to many low mileage cars to choose from.

A business model of 'a sucker is born every minute' is not very sustainable. History proves that.

As others have said...'tough way to FLIP a car....this 'hobby' isn't for flippers.

I recently found a 76 L-82 for my neighbor. PP $7600.... Value now maybe $10,000. Hobbyists don't mind working for $2.00 per hour!

You need to do more research. Edit...YOU ARE BETTER OFF 'FLIPPING' 4 DOOR STATION WAGONS OF THE 60'S.

Cheers.

 

I love all the advice so far, I really do enjoy the Corvette community glad I'm back, keep the suggestions coming.

I really don't intend to make a lot of profit, just enough to justify buying another one and repeating the process. I make my living investing in real estate and it's been a good run lately so it's not about making money, just not blowing it and selling for a big loss. I've owned a C4 and made a little flipping it, but that wasn't like this project that was just a buy clean up and add a stereo and some rims and sell. I want this one to be a wrenching project that I can put some hours into.

Dash/Gauge replacements - I hate the quality and look of the factory gauges. I've been going back and forth on doing Dakota Digital or a fully digital cluster like One Gauge (https://www.theonegauge.com/ ). I've seen plenty of Dakota Digital builds but haven't seen anyone do a digital cluster on a C3. Does anyone have any examples they can link for a digital cluster? My latest thought is to use the universal black gauges (https://www.dakotadigital.com/index....od/prd1076.htm) from Dakota Digital because they combine all the gauges in the 2 by the steering wheel. Then that free's me up to do a stereo and backup camera setup in the center console where the old gauges are. I could use the one gauge LCD and it would give me a 2nd set of gauges and I can run my stereo and camera through the LCD, I can also add stuff like TPMS and interior lighting with the one gauge setup. Ideas, suggestions on this?

Transmission - mine is a 3 speed auto and it shifts like it's filled with gum. I could just rebuild the existing tranny but then I still have a 3 speed, is it worth it to upgrade to a 4 speed auto? I would only do it if it's going to bring more buyers to the table. But when I look at the costs it doesn't seem like its going to bring enough value back to justify the cost. If I was keeping the car I wouldn't swap it out because I just do Sunday drives in the country back roads, and I could give a **** about gas mileage in a car like this.

Exhaust - Mine came with glasspacks, when I was 20 I would have loved them, but at 45 it's only cool once in a while, the rest of the time it's annoying. I'm going to swap out the pipes and mufflers, any deals out there or suggestions of where to get cat back systems?

Stereo - No advice needed here, I've done 40+ stereos over the years, I'll just post my project pics to show my design.

Wheels - I have the factory steel with chrome ring and center caps, they look fine but I've always liked aftermarket stuff. I see many posts on this subject so I'll just bounce around, but if you have any links worth sharing here I'd appreciate the suggestions.

 

I think planning to flip C3s in the $25k+ range, particularly if they are coupes, rubber bumper cars or modified cars (not high-end restomods) is a losing business plan.

I know people who have been reasonably successful flipping those cars for a bit of a profit, but you have to buy low and keep the numbers down or you will have them forever. Having a working relationship with a cheap body/paint guy is critical.

Also, for the record, please do not flip cars here unless you become a Supporting Vendor.

 

This is 100% accurate. When I went to find a Vette in 2015......I was just appalled at the attitude of the sellers when I would ask questions.......a few I told to go pound salt but the rest dug in after I proved to them I was a serious buyer and knowledgeable about these cars......
A couple of those sellers explained to me that they got that way by having to deal with ********* and idiots.......a LOT of them.
I wouldn't flip ANY kind of musclecar anymore because the whole scene is just polluted with morons from the instant media generation.

Anyway.....if you do decide to flip cars.....your total ace in the hole is a well thought out and well worded ad with tons of pics and total transparency......if you spell everything out, it is up to the "buyer" to interpret it....and weeds out jerk offs pretty well......

The rubber bumper Vette market is a strange one.......

Good luck to you......

Jebby

 

I think you will kill resale value if you install digital gauges, I know it would be a deal breaker for me. Most guys I have seen, at least on here, prefer the cars to at least LOOK close to stock, with hidden performance upgrades.