My father-in-law passed away and left everything to his five kids (one being my wife). This includes a 1978 L82 in Dark Blue with an automatic and about 88K miles located in Houston. I'd like to buy the car from the estate for my wife and restore it in tribute to her father. I'm happy to pay a fair price, but some family members may have it overvalued (brakes are dicey, flat spotted tires, carb needs a rebuild, heavy ATF leak, etc.). I would say it is in less than 'fair' condition considering it can't be driven more than around the block with white knuckles, the interior is original and very worn, and the paint has some scratches and peeling. It was mostly garage kept and doesn't appear to have any major rust. Any ideas on how to show the correct valuation of the car to the rest of the family? I don't want anyone thinking I'm taking advantage of them.
Thanks!

 

Pictures help for opinion…
but if running driving all working
10-14k

I would price it through haggerty they are pretty close. All that matters is what the other 4 say regardless of rationale.

 

Really hard to put an exact value on a 45 year old vehicle without inspecting it in person. So many variables.
Can the paint be repaired? Does it need a complete repaint?
Interior is worn? How much wear? Just seats and carpets? Dash pad cracked? Etc. etc.
Wow greedy are the other 4?
not a great situation to get a good deal.
Any Corvette specialist shops in your area?
If so perhaps you could get a repair estimate for needed repairs. That might help a great deal.

 

Ask the other family members what the car is worth to them, when one, or more, of them come back with a ridiculous number tell them they just bought a car

 

Alot of things dictate value on these old cars. These old cars leaked and subsequent rust and rot became a problem even on southern cars. I would pull the kick panels and inspect the bottom of the A pillar. See what kinda shape the metal in and around the body mount is in. If there is alot of rust accumulated in either side its a good bet the windshield frame is rotted out.

Also check the frame most notably in the rear area by the trailing arms. This is a tough area to inspect but the arches over the trailing arm pockets like to rot out.

While this isn’t everything this would give you a good idea.

Note: If your handy with electronics and such there is a pretty cheap wireless inspection camera Ive used in the past that might be handy for looking up inside the frame by the trailing arms etc. You can also use the camera on your phone and take pictures of various areas etc. https://www.nidageo.com/products/164.html

 

With bad paint $5000 might be too much

 

Additional thoughts.
Paint: Painting these cars is not a cheap proposition to do correctly if it requires an entire repaint. If the paint is indeed peeling on much of the car then to do it right your gonna need to strip it and that isn’t cheap. Do some searching and reading about guys that have had their cars painted. To approach $10k to paint an entire car is not unheard of.

Tires: Its likely its gonna need new tires regardless of how they look. Folks will debate about the exact age but its absolutely safe to assume that tires that are 10 years or older are not safe to drive on.

Brakes: If the calipers are leaking then you are looking at an entire rebuild of all the calipers plus pads and possibly rotors.

Personally based on what you’ve said anything over 8k is too much IMO if not less. Sounds like it needs ALOT.

Small rant. This is the problem with the high dollar auction TV shows. Every idiot out there thinks they have the next high dollar Barrett Jackson car waiting for the auction block sitting in the garage. The truth about it is that unless the car is actually something special or super clean they just aren’t worth that much. Now if the car was an actual 78 pace car and has Al Unser Sr’s autograph on it then yeah its worth alot but that is the exception not the rule.

 

Your big problem is that you're dealing with four other people's PERCEPTION of the car's value. Most Non-Corvette owners really have little idea of what a Corvette costs, or what repairs cost. I've seen people who are amazed that a used Corvette can be purchased for less than $10K. I alsoknowpeople who can not fathom how a brake system repair can be a four digit expense...

Probably the cleanest thing to do is to run the car through an auction - like Mecum, and you bid on it. If the price gets too high - you bow out - the downside is that between the 10% buyers premium and the sellers premium - you are guaranteed to overpay by 20%. Then there are transportation costs. But that is probably the only way that everyone in the family is going to feel that everything was on the "up and up".

If I were in your shoes - and I wanted to try to ensure family harmony - I'd probably bring in an independent appraiser, and see what they say. It'll cost a few $$$, but nothing like a car auction, and it's hard to argue with a pro appraisers opinion (although it's certainly possible some family members will feel that you had a "deal" with the appraiser - even if someone else suggested what appraiser to hire)... . Back the number the appraiser comes up with with some research on Hagerty etc. and you're probably on reasonably safe ground..

(And remember - when looking at other assets that were left - things like 401K's have taxes that have to be paid - so those taxes need to be part of the equation when figuring the value of the assets in the estate.)

 

check the dates on the flat spotted tires. most likely over 10 years old and trash. i think 1k each sounds fair. which would be 5k since it is 1/5th the wife's. or let them list it with your right of first refusal on any real offers. don't fix or even clean anything until agreement is reached.
and point out to them that it is staying in the family which i think their father would have wanted.

 

Having dealt with the estate BS for my dad I can say thankfully myself and my 4 siblings are pretty decent about everything.

Now having seen from a distance the BS my sister in law had to deal with when her parents died all I can say is most of that family are pure oxygen thieves and belong in a jail.

 

Real money in the condition you describe $5,000-$7,000.
Tired '79's are a dime a dozen and with more than 53,000 Corvettes made in 1979 they're anything but rare.
Start low and see if any family members want to stand up and offer more....or are they just expecting more of an inheritance from you?

 

An automatic with bad paint? $5K, tops. Maybe a bit more for the L82, but only if the interior is MINT, and the birdcage is rust free. A DIY paint job could get you by (my 80 has one, as do many on this Forum), but a proper paint job, farmed out, will take up to a year to complete, and $10K.

Look for hidden rust before you make an offer. Or force a partition auction and buy it back then (at true "market price"). Then, if I'm way off on value, your wife get's 20%.

 

Maybe I missed it, but has anyone even asked if it’s the original engine?

An “L82” that’s been replaced might have quite a bit less value.

Pictures would help a lot.

If you get it appraised, make sure it’s by someone with experience with 1978 Corvettes.

Maybe post it on ebay and it can show your family it’s not worth the fortune they think.

 

Have the family member who thinks it's worth the most list it for sale.
When it gets nowhere near what they think step in with your offer.
They may be happy to get rid of it after dealing with lookers. And they may be happy to get what you offer after their troubles.

 

 

Let's be honest here, what you have is a 43 year old used Chevy that has bad brakes, flat spotted tires, bad carb, transmission leak, worn interior and peeling paint. You will be lucky to get $5-7K for this car in its present condition and unless you can do all the work yourself you're looking at another $15K to make it safe to drive and presentable.

 

Well I'm thinking 15K is pretty conservative.

 

Not much, take the steering wheel off of it and the drivers seat, buy a nice one. Then swap wheel and seat. Then she can have a car like her dads with a couple of pieces from her dads car and you won’t get stuck dumping 40K into a 5K car obviously replace the parts your taking from it with new

 

That was considering a mow and a blow at MACCO.

 

If you don't buy it, what will happen to it? I imagine it will be put up for sale somehow. Then you just need to match the highest offer. I think that offer will be quite low.