polskipolak13

I recently found a 1978 Corvette 25th anniversary silver with 102k miles, T-tops with the 4 speed manual. Seller says no rust or rot, paint isn't show car quality, no extras, regular maintenance, electrical works except for the tach working when it wants to, from the pictures the interior is decent. I have some pictures that I'll upload later tonight.


He's asking $6k, this would be my first Vette therefore, pardon the ignorance please.


It's a 4 hour drive for me to see so just trying to save a trip if it's not a worthy deal.


Good price? or pass? Anything I should be checking for?







Thanks in advance.

Tonio

I'd first ask the seller for much better photos. Looks like crappy cell-phone Craigslist photos.

Easy Mike

FWIW: this car has been repainted. You may want to ask for a picture of the trim tag.

polskipolak13

Thanks for the info! How did you possibly know that??

SeeYah

There should be a pin stripe above the charcoal gray paint and the arch over the wheel well/transition to the other areas is not correct. Looks like the hood is also missing the pin stripe. The painter took some shortcuts-if it was an original silver anniversary car, he would have known how it should appear.

Priya

Interior looks pretty nice other than the steering wheel. The lower paint colour also appears a little darker than a factory silver anniversary would be.

If its in the kind of condition it appears to be I think that's a pretty good price.

raydog9379

Color is off for sure as Priya states. Also, by the wheel well there is no straight corners. They should be rounded. Take a look at the pic in my Avatar if you can, it'll give you an idea on the wheel wells and pin stripes.

I think the carpet has been replaced at some point as well (though it's torn by the drivers feet area). My oyster carpet is well... oysterish/beige not black. Though if anyone sneezes the wrong way, my carpets show dirt so black isn't bad but is incorrect. Also looks like they tried to spray the carpet portions of the door panels to match. I'd ask for more pictures around that. Dash also looks to have a big crack on the pax side. All is replaceable but door panels are a few hundred, dash is around 500 I think, carpet, etc... Some of the "fixes" or changes would lead you to believe there might be other things broken/bubba'd or whatnot especially by someone who doesn't know Corvettes.

Ask for pictures of the frame, also look for rust issues around the birdcage. Seller should be able to send you pics of all of these. If it's rusted and rotting, take a big pass.

Ask them about the tires and how old they are (pretty sure those tires are pretty old since I don't think they've made them in a long time) They should have a date code. If so, count on replacing those so you don't have a major blow out (you can price out Cooper Cobra's or BFG Radial T/A if you stay with stock rims).

So here's the deal, it all depends on what you want to do with it. If you are eventually going to replace those things and end up spending in the neighborhood of 8-12k in the car, parts, time, etc... then just buy one that is almost all there. There was one on here not that long ago that was pretty darn nice for $8k (correct paint, newer interior, L82 engine, etc) with the only exception being the A/C didn't work.

If you decide to repaint some day, I paid over $6k back in 2005 for paint from a quality body shop (and was told it was a deal at the time). I'll most likely never recoup the cost I've put into the car, but I dealt with it and not looking to sell now so it doesn't matter much to me at this point. I'm probably at $15k+ into the car I'd say over the past 12 years, and probably get around $10-12k tops on the right day with the right buyer.

polskipolak13

Thanks for all the replies everyone, just found today he sold it. The hunt continues, thanks again!

-Mike

SeeYah

That one is now for sale at a dealer for more than double the $8k. It was a deal.

polskipolak13

That's about the max that I can spend, so I'll definitely be on the lookout, in the mean time trying to get rid of a project 71 Skylark.

cv67

Keep looking those come up more often than you would think

Hard to nitpick or expect much from a 6k vette but the few things they did do were cheap shortcuts not a great sign;borderline project car

You can get one thats nicer shape, less miles or better yet lots of rebuilt stuff if you wait til you sell your Skylark, these arent real cheap to "fix up"

Apeman208

Due to extreme circumstances I have to sell my 1978 25th anniversary 4sd L82 T-top that my father left me after he passed. It hasn't been driven in a couple years, sprayed some started fluid and it fired right up. Interior is crap, but the body is all original, all emblems and lights, etc. I have multiple pics on profile, asking 6500.

LT-1 kid

I would image that he has found something being the thread is 6 years old
why don't you start a new for sale thread instead of clogging up all the old threads