I have a 1985 Corvette that I want to sell but I have no idea what it would be worth. It is a two-tone bronze with bronze leather interior. It has a little over 32,000 original miles on it and a 4 plus 3 manual transmission. It also has a removable smoke colored T-top. Would someone be able to give me some assistance with the value of this car?

 

Kelley blue book. NADA..... then average out the values....

 

My neighbor picked up the twin to that car about two years ago for around $6000 from a local dealer. I think it had 34,000mi on it. Nice car, the only trouble it has is that the overdrive unit went out about six times so far. He finaly gave up on it & drives it as a four speed

 

Post some pics. Otherwise it's "how long is a piece of string?".......very subjective. Show it to us and we'll give you an idea.

 

One of the things KBB takes into consideration is the location. Some states and cities have higher/lower prices than others.

I also found when I researched prices back in 1999, that lower-mileage cars sold closer to retail (NADA) value. Then, as they get older/higher mileage, the price drift closer to private party value. When mileage gets above 150k, the price may only fetch trade-in value.

What that says is you can sometimes find a person to pay close to "retail" for a really pristine car. Not that many people are aware of the age issues in buying an older car. They only see the visible condition and what's being sold.

Price accordingly. You can always drop the price. Kinda hard to raise it.

 

It just so happens that 1985 two-tone bronze c4's with a bronze interior are the best and most sought-after Corvettte of all.

So much so that, last summer, I bought not one but *two* of them!

You really shouldn't sell such a coveted vehicle, but if you must, here are the prices I paid as some data points for your comparison.

The first one had 59,000 miles and was a three owner car from a small town (since the early 1990's it was owned by a local CEO and the town bank president). There were receipts for $3000 in maintenance work done in 2001. It included both the original wheels and chrome c5 wheels. It was completely turn-key and ready to roll.

Owner was asking $8400 for the car only, I offered and paid $7000 for both the car and the original wheels.

The other one had 29,000 miles. I had no idea of the chain of custody. Everything worked and it was pretty much turn-key, but I could tell that it had pretty much sat over the years and not been maintained. On the other hand, it also had not been driven so it hadn't reached the first big maintenance point of 30,000 miles yet, so unclear how much maintenance should have been done.

The dealer was asking $7900 for the car (down from an initial asking price of $11,000-- he had had the car since February), I offered and paid $7000.

I didn't feel like I got a killer good deal on either one, but not too bad either.

I thought $7,000 was at the upper end of a *good* deal, so my offers were firm-- I would not have paid one penny more for either. I would say a *very good* deal on either car would have been between $6,000 and $6,500. But I wanted the cars and plan to keep them long-term, so I paid the $7,000 to get them.

Frizlefrak is completely right (and a good one to listen to for advice)-- it's very subjective and dependent on many variables. My story is simply that-- my story. It gives you a reference point, but that's about it.

Hope it helps you-- good luck with the sale.

P.S.-- you might want to also look at this recent thread:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4s-...-corvette.html

This was a beautiful 1985, well maintained and tastefully modded. It wasn't being snapped up and he was willing to let it go for $5,600. Now that is a *killer* price! So despite my opening joke, yours is not a particularly valuable car-- especially in the bronze color (although I love mine!).

 

Checked my NADA book, Spring 2011 edition
Low 5650

Avg 9400

Hi 12200

 

Post a pic. You just might get some interest here.

 

Thanks to all of you for the input on the car. As soon as I can get some decent pictures of the car I will post them. It is currently in the shop having the clutch worked on. The car sat in storage for some time after my husband passed away and I have just spent about $4,000.00 getting it running again. It runs great but there is an issue with the clutch that they are trying to narrow down now. It keeps losing pressure and has to be pumped to engage. The shop can't find any leaks and they have even pulled the transmission to look at the pressure plate and everything looks good.

 

not too many are paying KBB or NADA these days.
Got a major recession going on you know?


The "right guy" will pay more for it though. Sounds like a nice low miler.

 

Sorry to hear about your husband.

With this recession and a low miler, don't be surprised if you don't get much. Especially after spending 4K of your money to get it back to running.

If it's in excellent condition along with the low miles, you'd be LUCKY to get around 10K for it.

Subtract the 4K you've spent, you're not seeing much in the long run.

The car is probably not worth selling after the money you've spent, but if you still want to sell it than there's nothing wrong with putting a high price on it and lowering that price every few weeks if no buyers are interested.

These are great cars, but the value on the earlier C4's is just not there.

 

Totally agree with xsalvioutlawx's comments and would add that if it's possible to wait until the spring, that's usually a better time for sellers to get a higher price.

Of course with the trajectory of the economy, this coming spring could be substantially worse, but generally speaking spring is the best time to sell, fall/winter best time to buy.

Good luck with it whatever you do.