Rowdy Rat

Tom,

A 1968 Corvette with a serial number of 19330 would have been built in the latter half of May 1968.

Body build dates for 1968 Corvettes coded as "A" began in August 1967... "J15" works out to be May 15 which is right about where it should be.

Regards,

LemansBlue68

I dunno......

'68's are so hard to restore because there's so many 1 year only special parts that it would need..... :cry

The fact that there was only 80 of 'em made in '68 would make it all the more difficult.....:cry :cry

Maybe if it's really an original I'd give him 5 grand or so.....:cry :cry :cry

Think he'd take a check?

:jester :jester :jester

Tom73

So A=Aug rather than the first month of production, Sept. And I see that I cannot read as April ended with 17,676 and May ended with 20,928. Time for new glasses.

tom...

PRNDL

an L-88 vert with a luggage rack.... how cool is that? :rolleyes:

I like this part:

Well gramps, we found somebody who will take the old vette off your hands for $2000!! (Just kidding, little joke, not accusing the selling agent of any impropriety! :jester )

adamdinat

looks pretty rugged. spending $30k and and still needing extensive resoration? Am I missing something? This collectable stuff is nuts! I can only imagine what would happen if I showed up at home with that on the trailer. I might bite on the pile of lumber leaning against the car though. You would think that they would at least pull it out of the shed. Cars go in the barn because they have personal meaning to someone or they need more work than someone is willing to spend. This looks like the later to me.


[Modified by adamdinat, 12:07 PM 5/5/2003]

Robert N

My thoughts:

The car is being offered by a dealer. That generally scares me.

The car might just be the real thing. The damage, neglect, missing brake power booster may just be signs that the car lead a hard life. I found my LT-1 in a similar state (though a replacement block) and I knw the second owner hot rodded her. The condition does not scare or would not deter me if the car could be documented (even if all of the numbers do not match)

The documentation is key as mentioned. Given a 68 vert L88 sold for 135k recently (article in Car and Parts Corvettes), 40 -50K would be a great deal depending on originality and documentation.

WESCH

To achieve such a high price for a L88, wouldn't it also require some racing documentation or is it just enough to be a regular L88 sold to anybody ?

Gunther

Robert N

Stan is the better person to answer with specifics, but there were only 80 produced in 68. Given the fact that it was perfectly origional with low miles, the L88 designation drives the price up.

Tom73

The ones that were raced would, more then likely, not be original as the engine would have long ago blown up or been replaced. Race cars swap engines all the time.

What could make this one valuable would be if it has complete documentation.

tom...

69L68

Well, it does have a "radio delete" plate, but it looks like it has a antenna mast on the rear deck. ???????

Steve

Rowdy Rat

Gunther,

Your basic 1968-69 L-88 convertible (that has had a quality restoration and the NCRS/Bloomington Gold awards to prove it) will sell for around $100,000 as long as there is documentation and history available... The prices have remained pretty stable for a while despite the best efforts of some to push them higher.

For a car with legitimate race history, the price will be much, much higher. I know of a 1969 L-88 race car in similar condition to this '68 that sold recently around $130,000... We're talking about a car that is going to need a complete body off restoration on top of the initial purchase price.

Looking again at the 1968 car in question... I notice that there is a radio block off plate on the dash, but there is also an antenna base on the rear deck. A radio and antenna could have been added after delivery, but it's just one more item that you take note of as being out of place on this car.

Regards,

Rowdy Rat

Steve,

Looks like we were posting at the same time...

Yes, I caught the antenna issue too.

Still, there are cases of L-88 owners adding radios after the fact... The factory wouldn't provide one, but they wanted one anyway. GM sold retrofit kits for non-radio cars so it could have been done with all the correct parts. I want to say that the Dobbins book has a reprint of the parts list and antenna installation template.

By itself it may not be a deal breaker, but it's just one more thing you file away as you inspect the car... And one of the reasons that you absolutely need to make a personal inspection.

Regards,

mvftw

2 things bother me about this car...the only thing that would make this car valuable would be the NOM engine...so why isn't there a picture of the engine vin??? If you want big bucks for this trash, you can find a way to get a clear picture of the vin. Also this car is being sold by dealers (the most honest people in the world) :smash: , if it is real wouldn't they first go to the big restorers like Corvette Mike and there are ones in Florida, have them fight it out, they have the cash plus transportation, no hassle for them. I maybe wrong - but I think it's a phony :bs

JB

That's an easy one--a fully restored L-88 can easily go for six figures.

JB

Paul Borowski

A LeMans Blue '68 L-88 roadster which had issues sold a few years ago at Bloomington for like 105K and it DID NOT have the original engine in it. It was also ONLY a Bloomington Silver Award car too. :eek: :crazy: :rolleyes:

Robert N

This is why I spent what I did on a NOM 70 LT-1. While it never wil be as valuable as the L88, it is documented and could be properly restored.

JB,

'Cars go in the barn because they have personal meaning to someone or they need more work than someone is willing to spend. This looks like the later to me.'

Incidentally. my car was garaged (rather than the barn) for the for 24 years for the former reason. Many people KNOW what they own and its potential future value. They are 'parked' for a number of reasons, including that they need excessive repairs. The previous owner of mine intended to get her back on the road 'next year'. Next year never came and he was expanding his business. The logical decision was to sell.

Based on the comments by Stan and some of the more knowledgeable folk, I am leaning that it is either not a real L88, or modified.

This collector car stuff IS nuts. It is part of the reason I am facing a dilemna in whether to ultimately restore mine to full NCRS glory or something part way.

SBR

I know that I am repeating myself but I hope the day will come when Chevrolet finally releases its records so that we will know for sure what cars had what options from the factory.
Stan, I am looking forward to Bloomington, see you then. :cheers:

Detroit Vette

I may be digging deep here but i feel like this is a hoax. I don't believe this is an authentic car. Does it appear to anyone else like the picture from the front of the car looks blurred, as if the photo was edited to hide the fact that the car was rolled into that spot????? It looks like they used photo shop to blurr the tire tracks. I think the car was put in the barn to decieve people into believing that it had actually been there for years :skep: :skep: :nono:

PRNDL

I have always recommended throwing a little dirt on a car to increase it's market value!! :lol:

That was a good spot on the antenna. I am not so good at that game, especially with such crummy pics, but I do like the rusty inline fuel filter they added (Purolator $1.79?). You gotta have clean fuel with an L88. I also appreciate that they went to the trouble to paint the windshield wiper accuator black. I hate that shiny gold look!

And... did all 68s have A.I.R? even L88? i cant remember... but this car doesnt seem to have one.

So, if you were really interested in this car do you think the seller (a dealer) would take you out to the owner's "farm" to inspect the "car" in his... "barn" ?


[Modified by MNJack, 10:16 PM 5/5/2003]

Captain Morgan

Anybody else notice that they say on e-bay that the car has 1 mile on it? Take a look at the odometer.