Hello, due to the passing of my grandfather recently my family is struggling to make decisions about what to do with his 15 corvettes. Most of these cars have either 100 or 200 miles on them and range from a 54 up to an 89. The car with the most miles is an 81 and it only has 3500. How much are these cars worth. They have never really seen the sun. Many have plastic still on the seats and the dealer invoice in the window. In this group there are also many pace cars and anniversary editions. I was going to just drive the 89 convertable but looked around and I don't think there is another 89 with 100 miles in the country (at least for sale). Should these cars be sold. Does there value justify that. Or should they be kept in the family and driven because of lack of value. All opinions welcome. Thanks

 

You might want to contact Barrett Jackson or some other auction house. You don't give much in the way of specifics but the collection as a whole might be worth more than the individual cars.

 

Don't let anybody talk you out of any of those cars without some sound advice from a knowledgeable source first.
Sorry to hear about your grandfather

 

Man, you have a problem! If what you're describing is near true, and there's nobody who's "'vette smart" in the family, your family is gonna need a lot of help! At this point I wouldn't drive any of them. Extra mileage generally means lower sale price and if they've been sitting a long time, a knowledgeable checkout may be in order before running any of them.

You need a person whom you can trust, either by personal knowledge or legal contract who can realistically evaluate the value of each car in the current market and, ideally has a historical knowledge of 'vette values. Then a decision can be made within the family as to what to do with them. Factors such as each cars' depreciation or appreciation with time and mileage, storage conditions required to prevent depreciation, and costs of sale need to be weighed. Unfortunatly, you're gonna need a good civil lawyer to ride herd on the people you get to do evaluations, brokering or sales.

I think I'd contact the National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS), www.ncrs.org for leads to reputable people who could help you. I personally think major auctions are a very good way to get the closest to maximum price for items like these. And, with E-bay's reach, it might be best to contract with someone to administer individual auctions over e-bay. Generally with auctions, the more people at the auction, the higher the sale price and it's hard to beat a world-wide net to get the word out. Beware, depending on what's there you could be starting a feeding frenzy. Beware of the sharks!

Good luck with whatever your family decides to do. I'm already getting a headache thinking about all the problems you could face!

 

Definitetly suggest professional assistance. I agree, the collection may be worth more as a whole, rather than individually - to the right person.

Sorry for your loss. All my grandfather has is a 91 Dodge Shadow. I hope he leaves it to my cousin.

 

Sorry to hear about your Grandfather. Heed the warnings to get expert assistance. If done correctly you are sitting on the Mother load. Obviously your grandfather loved cars and I am sure he would want to see his treasures go to good homes,so to speak.

 

 

my wuestion is why does he have 15 vettes all under 3k on them? why buy a car to let it sit? That trashes a car even more if you let it sit, than to drive it.....if they r in good condition though and not rotting, then you have some pricey cars there though

 

I'd contact the National Corvette Restoration Society www.ncrs.com
and find the contact details for your regional co-ordinator. He or she should be able to put you in touch with someone very knowledgable in your area.

the previous advice on contacting Barrett Jackson auto auctions is also very solid. As an indicator , I saw an '89 convertible with 18,000 miles and in mint original conditon advertised for $24K. The '54 could get you $100K or more from the right collector

 

Good advice...

As for the values of the cars... making a package auction of a couple of certified low mile cars brings the royalty out of the woodwork.

I can't say this loudly enough.

THESE ARE NOT E-BAY CARS.

Christie's/Southerby's in NYC should market some as a matched set. Drives the prices unreal. Some of the early cars (and you say some have all the original papers/packaging) get $275k from these fellas.

 

A definate collectors item. Get more than one professional appraiser for the cars. Maybe I'm paranoid, but two or three opinions is what I would do. Barret/Jackson, Sothebys etc. etc.
I wouldn't drive any of them until you get them appraised, especially if they have been set up for storage with plastic and whatever else he put in the motor. Good Luck!

Joe B.

 

alot of good advice your gramps might not mind if you kept one

 

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but this doesn't sound right to me. Has all the earmarks of a good troll.


Why would someone have 15 Corvettes and never drive them? That's an awful lot of money to just let them sit. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.


Like they say in Missouri "Show Me"

 

Hummm, good points to ponder.

 

As stated above seek out your local NCRS and also why not send Mike Yager(from Mid America), Lance Miller(Carilisle Productions) and Roger Judski(Rogers Corvettes)an email. They are all serious collectors and have the money to buy anything. Even Pro Team out in Ohio(I think?).

 

I can see that, but how many collectors actually get to drive every car they own. It would be more important if there was some historical signifigance to these cars, but it seems that he had too many cars to drive.

As it is, as much as I talk about driving driving driving, my '93 sits in the garage more than it's driven, mainly because it's a girlamatic and the six speed is much more fun to drive. But the '93 gets driven hard when it's driven(sadly only once a week during race season).

 

Is there anyway you can post a complete list including major options,colors etc?

 

Alright......First off this is no joke for those of you wondering about that. The cars were driven little because my grandfather lived in Idaho so you can only drive them in the summer. That leaves only 3 months to drive and of those you are going to have rainy days. When you are getting a new car a year and driving each that little you get very low mileage cars. In addition once he got to a certain age he stopped driving them all together to preserve them for the family (in other words hold their value high). These cars were bought because my grandfather loved them but also for an investment. These cars have had the oil changed once a year and started every 3 months or so and allowed to run for a good 30 min. I realize the mechanicle problems which could arise from these vehicles, my uncle is a mechanic. Every one of these cars will start right up and run fine. Half of the cars on the other hand have never seen the road. My grandfather was a pure collector. These cars were trailored to shows more times than they were driven. I will post the complete list of cars by morning. Thanks for all of your advice so far. I like the idea of car auctions and will bring that up with my dad tonight. He originally had 17 corvettes,two deloreans, and 6 volks wagon bugs. Don't ask about the bugs because i don't know why he had them . Anyway we are down to 15 vettes and one delorean after selling off the others. The whole reason I posted was I felt the sales we have gone through with have been a steal for the buyers and so I'm searching for advice. Anyway, thanks again for everything so far and I will post a complete list of what is left in the collection by morning.

 

15 corvettes, 1954 thru 1989 with less than 3000 miles on them, all I can say is WOW. thats one problem I wish I had.

 

Ist post and no information in his profile. But he could be serious. The 54 if what he says is true could bring high-5 figures at B-J or some of the other big auctions. More information please!!

And if this is all true, definitely contact the NCRS and if you have need to sell all or all, the big auctions houses should help you out. This month's issue of Corvette Fever has contact information for 6 or 8 of the big car auction places.

Having 15 or more cars that are collector items are commo with big car collectors. Just ask Jay Leno or Reggie Jackson!