Case in point:

I was watching a corvette on ebay with a clear title, no engine, and the pictures showed a rolling chassis with a body shell, listed for $1500. I called the guy up, got the car, complete interior, 4 speed transmission, and a complete second rear clip from a 76 with another interior for $1500.

So far, I've sold the parts on ebay, and made back my inital investment of $1500 and still have the front clip/rear clip/rolling chassis, and haven't picked up the other 76 yet. Still have the 4 speed transmission as well.

The only reason I bought the 76 was for the 4 speed, but now I just picked up a 68 with a 69 four speed, so don't need this one. I'm a bit dissapointed that that guy parted the car out, because if I knew about it when he was selling it, I would have grabbed it in a minute to restore. Fortunately I found a 72 to fill my tiny 2 car garage with!

 

I meet a guy (though a good friend) over the weekend who lives near here. He buys, and sometimes restores, muscle cars. He is lucky in that he has a large (could probably hold 5 cars) working garage out behind his home.

Anyway. Last spring he bought a 72 BB Convertible car from down in Tennessee. It had been sitting in a barn with the chickens, mice, and what not, for over 15 years. The top was rotted away. A plastic sheet had been thrown over the car with a couple of hay bales to hold it down. He has a nice video of the whole "recovery" effort. It was funny watching the chickens having a fit because their roost was being taken away.

The wheels were frozen, the 4-speed would not even shift into gear. He pulled the car out of the barn with a winch and up onto a flat bed and drove back to Ohio.

The body was in very good condition, needed paint, etc, but no damage. There's a hardtop but it's cracked. The BB is original, so's the 4-speed tranny. OEM tires were rotted. The frame was cracked under the passenger side. The engine was covered in rust. Basicallly it was a numbers matching original car in very poor shape.

He paid $2000 for the car. He was not even thinking of restoring it. He tried to sell it locally for $3500. Ran an ad in the car trader mags for 3 months last summer, No takers. Had it on a flatbed for sale at one of the big car corral meets (Randolphl) here in northern Ohio last summer.

So he began parting it out. He has sold all the body panels, including the hood and cracked hardtop, most of the still good interior parts. Most of the gauges are sold. He has already passed $4500, $1000 more than his original asking price. He intends to clean up the BB, tranny, and rear end, and sell that sometime soon. He has an offer for the frame (it's been welded, aligned, and painted).

He thinks that by the time he's sold everything he'll have gotten a 6-7 THOUSAND dollar *profit* with minor labor and outlay of cash.

No wonder a lot of old Corvettes are disappearing. No one has the time or funds to do restorations anymore. Even if not going for NCRS standards it would have taken a lot of cash and time for this project.



[Modified by KenSny, 12:29 AM 3/22/2004]

 

Yup. I read an interview with a guy who runs one of the biggest vette boneyards in the country, and he basically said the same thing. They had a picture of a lot of nice cars in his parts yard, every one of them being stripped because they were were twice as much as parts as they were as restoration projects.

I gotta say I have mixed feelings about it. Sad to think of all those nice cars being hacked apart, but it makes parts a little more reasonable to get, and fewer C3s in existence means ours become rarer & worth more.

JB

 

it is sad to see all the old vettes leaving us but, at least the parted out vettes get to help keep another vettes as original as they can be.

 

The only dissapointment is that someone seeks to make a profit from our hobby and personal enjoyment. :( But as far as parts go anyone can nearly build a new corvette from the parts catalogs now as even custom frames are avialible. I guess I'd rather see these shark parts in use on enthusiests cars that need them rather than rusting away as chicken coup. :nonod: And in this way I can somewhat justify the parts dismantiler.
Just my personal opinion but a numbers matching trailer queen is not for me. I can appreciate those that own and maintain a museum quality car though - just that much effort will never work for me. :auto:

 

That's the world we live in. The proof is to take a quick look at eBay where anything and everything has a price tag to someone. We live in a country that prides itself on making a profit no matter what..... a Corvette, or any other car, is just money in the bank to someone - providing there is always a demand for the marque!

If my car ever gets damaged to the point that I don't want to spend the money to get it repaired - it will be parted out.... and something else will take it's place in the garage.