After searching on this topic, I didn't see a recent conversation; I'm posting this as a reality-check since i'm midway through my resto-mod.

The project is a 1974 base model coupe, Dark Brown (code 968), L48-350, Auto (TH400), Saddle interior, AC, Power steering, Power Windows. 3.08 rear. It had the tail cover with spoiler of 79-82 when I got it, and I kinda like that better than the original. (Have original motor, exhaust manifolds, but not using them. selling TH400 trans.)

My application is spirited driving, cruising, occasional long rode-trip, track time for SOTP enjoyment and to see what it can do.

First and foremost, I'm not doing this project as an investment. I enjoy every aspect of the restoration/modification process and plan to thoroughly enjoy driving it. This post is to get your feedback on some of the modifications I have done/plan to do and its effect on value of the car. (I'm a project manager by trade, and am trained to be prepared for low-probability scenarios in addition to expected outcome. ) So if I HAD to liquidate the car, where do you think I should set expectations? The approach I'm taking for this project: upgrade tech to 1990's. Fix known problem areas. Keep 'look close-to-stock both inside and out.

Here's the list of mods:

• motor: 355, 400hp/400tq, alum heads, 195/64cc, Holley 750 DP, Performer Intake (port matched), HEI, CompCams 12-601-4 (***** Thumpr), 10:1cr
• Exhaust: 1 3/4" cermic coated headers, 2 1/2" stainless exhaust-rear exit
• Engine bay cleaned & painted. New wire harness for Engine, Cowl, turn signals. 2/0 AWG battery cables with jumper terminals in engine bay.
• Serp Accessories upgrade, R134 conversion
• Aluminum radiator, trans cooler, electric fans
• 700r4, 2800 stall, 3.08 out back (may change that to 3.73, not sure yet)
• Cabin underside/trans tunnel covered with DEI heat shield. Add trans collar.
• Suspension: rear completely replaced (stock) Front: 550 LB springs, BilsteinHD's, Borgeson Box upgrade. Going to get spreader bar for front, Heim joint struts for rear. All bushings poly, including body mounts.
• Frame painted
• Interior: Cabin insulated on floor, tunnel, and storage. Firewall plugged up tight. Gauges upgraded with Autometer gauges. All incandescent lights updated with LED. Update radio & speakers. replace seat belts. Other than that, interior is stock.
• all hvac duct joints sealed with tape. New heater core & diverter valves...anything to avoid the hot cabin in summer!
• Body mods: removed stock radio antenna, replaced with modern HD antenna on roof above rear window. Keep 79-82 tail cover, add 3rd brakelight.
• LED headlights.
• Body: when the paint is finished this winter, it will be British Green with white cowl stripe and tail. (I'm a big fan of motion/yenko paint scheme!)

There's more, but you get the idea. Even with doing most work (except glass&paint) myself, I'll probably be all in for about $16k. (Paint & body alone will be $5k) Yeah, i acquired the car for a g-r-e-a-t price; 'couldnt do this otherwise.

It's not an LS upgrade/protouring with gobs of money thrown at it (but I would if i had the $!), but updates that I feel would be appreciated in a driver car with plenty of guts. I'm building it for me, but am curious about your thoughts on what the market might be.

 

On the bright side, if your budget keeps you around $16k, you should be able to sell it for around that, no problem. The buyers will likely appreciate the power and comfort modifications over keeping it a stock restoration. Honestly, most people that care about matching numbers and keeping a car stock aren't going to be shopping for anything but a chrome-bumper car. A clean interior and nice paint job will go a loooong way when it comes to a car's perceived value. Since you got it for a good price, you shouldn't have to worry too much about getting your money back if you have to sell it, unless you get too wild n' crazy with your mods or damage the car. Good luck with your build!

 

The biggest trend is c3's is no longer factory stock and chalk marks,

While true this is mostly in the 74-82's we are even seeing a lot of chrome bumper owners doing some light day 2 custom touches,
( even if some people get up tight over the word "custom" lol )

In the case of a driven basic 74-82 in other words the car isn't a rare factory car and or low, low miles then modifications especially the kind you listed will actually make the car more desirable and worth more to a lot of people.
so doesn't really matter if a die hard purist thinks you might loose a few buyers and a few 100 at sale time, you already have the right idea to build your car for you not how some cat says you should....

 

I would definitely gear it with a cam that size it wont like the 3.08
A 650 DP could get you by also, leave 1-5/8 headers as an option depending on cost

Not sure theres such a thing as investing in these just spending money to have fun with.

 

There was, at a time, people would discover a so called "barn find" restore it or even have it restored and flip it for a big pile more than invested, those days are long gone and I doubt they will return for lots of reasons ranging from there is after all a finite amount of those rare jewels to be discovered, most already have been and now a person who has the $$$ can buy a sweet resorted c3 cheaper than it can be restored to the same condition for, When I bought my low end 69 around '09 I saw prices going down and I see some real bargains with the 74-82's far better things to invest in than c3's unless like myself your return is that fun you get from your c3....

 

It sounds like you won't have that much into it and that you have realistic expectations so I think you will be fine. If you never sell it, who cares. If, for some reason, you decide to sell it, I think you will do okay. Even if you lose a couple of thousand, I would think you would have gotten that much fun out of it. So go for it, make it yours, and have some fun. That's what it's all about.

 

Cant worry about the market if youre personalizing it.
Its not a collector car, its a toy you dump money in and have fun with.
Worry about it come sale time never know what a cars gonna really bring

 

I think you're doing the right thing.

The 70s cars even late 70s and early 80s are among the fastest appreciating age of cars right now; late Gen Xers (we were called Gen Y for a while, now I don't even know) are getting fully established and more and more looking to buy the cars we saw and liked growing up. We didn't grow up with technology but we certainly appreciate it and see its benefits. When it comes to a car it can result in improved performance, fuel economy, and comfort; you'd have to be nutty not to want those things, IMHO.

I only see well-done modernization / restomod work becoming more and more desirable for the non-highly collectible years.

I've got the least collectible year ever 1979 (eleventy gazillion made, ugliest front bumper C3 period, "meh" performance, and 3650 lbs curb weight) and although my parents originally bought the car and kept it completely original as if it were a sought-after classic, I'm going to jump in with both feet in the direction that you went and go resto-mod / modernization all the way. (My dad's going to freak for a little while, but I'm not going to tell him until it's all done; lol!)

I'm not going to hang on to the original parts "for the next owner". The next owner can do whatever they want with it. The next owner of this car is not going to care about originality; if they did they wouldn't be the next owner, by definition.

Keeping the original engine or anything else is just a crazy waste of space and assets that can be sold and used to modernize and improve my car. I want them out of my garage and in my car's budget.

-I'd like to know more about this modern HD roof antenna...



Adam

 

Some might sigh or even flame at that remark you made but I find it one of the best well said comments on that part of this subject I have seen on this forum....

 

Speaking of non-original mods; Brent, I feel like I've seen your car somewhere before... Has this car been @ Custom Image Corvettes?


Adam

 

My guess is you should be able to get your money back out of it if you sell it.

If not, so what? You're doing it for your enjoyment. That's got to be worth something.

I have a friend trying to sell his 71, with around $50,000 invested in it, and so far hasn't had any offers anywhere near that figure. You never know. It only takes that one person that wants it to buy it.

Do what you want and have fun with it.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that there are people who turn their cars into time capsules and keep them in an original state for decades for people to see; what I can't understand is the sheer number of people who fall into that camp.

Maintaining the car in it's original state doesn't make me, personally, enjoy it any more. Having it ride better and giving it an extra 150-200HP, making it quieter and dropping the cruising RPMs, adding a stereo with BlueTooth, these things make me want to drive the car more, they make it more pleasant and fun to drive it.

I know some people are different and DO enjoy seeing it restored to it's original state; it's just that the sheer numbers of people in this camp seem to defy logic and I can't help but think some people do it out of some weird sense of obligation. (The idea of my car being an obligation just sounds terrible to me, anyway; I have enough obligations- this car is supposed to be a getaway from obligations- an obligation-free oasis. Getting an incredibly impractical car finally and being able to do to it what I want just so I can enjoy it, I think is an equivalent to my wife going for a spa day or getting a pedicure; it's technical unnecessary and bordering on "pampering" myself, but I'm ok with that for once.)



Adam

 

Not sure where you get the idea that there is a huge number of people who have the factory correct 100% stock c3's,

I even did a poll a while back that proved of the people polled that more c3 owners have modded cars...over 80% at that point

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...like-best.html

I did do a choice for heavy or light mods only because I run into some people who do little custom touches and do not want to be grouped into heavier modifications...but for me if the factory didn't turn it out that way...it's a modification.

Many people on this forum take a c3 that isn't rare, isn't ever going to be some collectors item and "resto mod" it ( the modern term for customize ) the investment might be about the same to get the same car back to factory correctly restored ( factory correct isn't easy or cheap ) yet where even in pristine stock restored condition the car would never fetch the investment look at what some of these resto mods sell for....

And don't get me wrong either I do love the time capsules and if that is what a fellow wants I support it, even if I can't fathom never driving some car because it's such a show piece of art now, and I admit I get bored with that pretty quickly.

I also fell badly when I have heard so many so called purists settling for less than they want, meaning their car isn't the color or engine or whatever they would "rather" have but it has to stay the way it is because that's how the factory made it....

 

A 5 speed might make it more desirable to the next person if and when that time comes.

 

They`re out there.... but I don`t think there are that many left. After reading several threads on this topic, I see more and more younger guys (under 50) buying C3s... (mostly later C3s from 73 to 82) who couldn`t care less about "numbers matching", or "originality". And an even bigger group like me, a little older, just getting into their first Vette, and making it what they wanted way back when, but for some reason, couldn`t.

Like most other groups, "Purists" are like bees... if you stick close to the hive, you`ll find a bunch of them all in one spot.. But once you get out and away from where they converge, you find there`s not that many at all.

 

I guess, they're just a very vocal / influential minority so it FEELS LIKE their numbers are much higher. And of course my exposure to the corvette community is almost solely through CF so if this is the "hive" that's at the center of purist culture, again the influence would be larger than the #s suggest.


I'm surprised / reassured by the poll, but even 20% is a huge number give the cost / effort to stick with "factory".



Adam

 

adam said it best
A collector type buyer will find from photos or phone if hes going to look at a stocker/#s car and wont bother. There are plenty of buyers for both types out there dont sweat it

back in the 80s early 90s wed buy these and flip em all day long then they got crazy expensive..lost $ on the last few I did and stopped.
New ones got faster, better mpg market got weird.

If the C3 werent so darn cramped I might consider another just as a driver. Go back and forth but know they will require some wrenching;the ones that look tempting still need lots but asking Mecum prices lol
Driving something and leaving it stock is tough.

 

Influential ?
Some of them really want to be or think they are,
Sorry not in my world, If a purist has nothing better to spend time on ( and it's not all purists who do this only a few ) than to spew disparaging terms at anyone who doesn't build THEIR car just like they tell them to, like it left the factory more power to them...does their inflated ego really have them believing I care if they say I ruined a corvette?
I will just chuckle and move on.


and well said,


The hive of bees analogy, I love it,
But if WE all members are the bees, I do not see all that many purists bees here any more...,.but the ones who are here do have the loudest buzz so it might make it seem like there are more of them...

My reply could be misconstrued as purist bashing, I am not doing that some purists show me the same respect I show them,
My reply is however poking a bit at the type person who wants to tell me and others how to build our car and if we do it our way tell us we ruined it....

 

Thanks to everyone for weighing in; have I said I love CF lately? Your responses mirror my thinking which is encouraging; I was trying to balance effort/investment with as much as possible, practical market. It becomes a qualitative discussion, but that's where just driving it comes in. (man o' man, i can't wait to get it on the road!)

@3JsVette: a 5 speed was my first choice! The daily driver car is a 6 speed-diesel and I love it. Maybe when VW buys it back the proceeds can fund the next mod. But for now it wasn't in the budget.

@cuisinartvette (awesome username, btw) Agreed on gear. The engine will be re-assembled in Aug and I have to make the decision so we can decide how to degree the cam. 'been scouring CL for a ring, pinion set & rebuild kit. 3.73 is first choice, but would go 3.55. If a 3.90 showed up, i'll go with it. Yep, you got it: just spending money to have fun with!

@newbvetteguy: Yep, i'm one of those gen-x'ers and doing this vette project has been on my bucket list since I was about 10; more specifically the bucketlist item is to build (not buy) a 12 second 'Vette. (Big smile goes here) On the topic of saving parts for next buyer, I totally agree. I don't have the space. But I have the original numbers matching engine and plan to make a stroker. For now, the other engine will be in it to get on the road and get some driving enjoyment. (this project just keeps growing...I love it.)
Modern Antenna: I'm removing the stock antenna and closing up hole with body/paint work. Do a search on "replacement auto radio antenna shark fin" ('get it...'shark' fin??). that's what I plan to roof-mount above rear window and paint to match car.

 

Correct. Brent's car was done at/with/by Custom Image.