When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
*I want to say up front, that the restoration of this vehicle would not have been possible without the help of the awesome people on this forum, my wonderful wife, and my father. I especially want to thank Trunk Monkey Parts http://www.trunkmonkeyparts.com/. I bought over $15,700 worth of parts for this car, and they were the only outfit that treated me right 100% of the time. I simply cannot say enough about the quality of their character and the helpfulness of their staff. FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc. bust up expensive parts constantly, just for fun, and they never ever pay out, even if you bought insurance. You need to be dealing with someone you can trust.
Hello all, I'd like to submit my entry for "Most heavily damaged C7 to ever be revived."
We've been a Corvette family since my dad picked up his 66 convertible in 1972. It was hit by a tornado in 1991 and I spent my high school years learning to work on cars by restoring it. The C6 never did anything for me, so I wasn't even tuned in enough to know the C7 was coming when a co-worker showed it too me the day GM debuted it. I remember thinking "that's the most beautiful car I have ever seen" and "I have to find a way to get one." Since I promised myself that I'd never take out a loan on a car, that left me in a bit of a pickle.
In Spring 2016, I finally had enough cash on hand to complete the project and I found this beautiful little 2015 Coupe 3LT with every option I wanted. My wife let me buy it 2 weeks before our first child was born.
I was able to contact the previous owner with an address I found inside the car and we have been in contact ever since. He was stopped at a light when he was hit from behind. The car jumped a median and was hit by oncoming traffic. Being an incredibly awesome guy, he sent me the original window sticker, all the paperwork from when he ordered it, a set of stingray floor mats, and the spare key. All for free (gotta love that corvette community).
So, that brings us to today. Approximately a year and one week later. Total cost of the project was $34,317. I know there's a lot of debate to be had about salvage cars, but I now know every nook and crannie of this car, I know all the work was done the right way, and you couldn't pry it away from me even if you offered me MSRP. I don't have any desire to add fancy exhaust or anything else, I've got a connection with this car and I love it just the way it is.
Its going to take me a long while, but I took 197 pictures, and I plan to post how-to articles for most of the stuff I had to do. I'm also headed to Bowling Green on Monday to catch what is probably one of the last C7 factory tours. I feel like the tour will mean a lot more to me since I had to build 3/4 of this thing myself.
Looks great. Being a retired mechanic I can imagine the pride you have in the restoration. I wish you nothing but good luck and happiness as you drive and maintain a beautiful automobile.
That's freaking awesome! That must've been a fun project. Congrats and bring some physical pictures to the plant with you, you might get a chance to talk to some of the line workers. They'd get a kick out of it.
Very, very impressive! What an endeavor -- talk about making a car yours, you most assuredly did. I know you're proud, you should be. Congrats on building a beautiful Corvette.
Thanks everyone. In an odd twist of fate, I broke my arm the night before I titled the car. So, my wife is more than happy with her reward of getting to drive the car for almost the entire trip to Bowling Green.
Always Red Dave, that's certainly the million dollar question. Values of salvage cars are so subjective. I've heard it said that you should value the car as if it had infinity miles on it. This does a good job of accounting for the fact that value seems to equalize fairly well once the car gets old. I shopped around at two different places that sell agreed upon value insurance. The first was willing to sell me a 55k policy, the second capped it at 42k, both knew the vehicle was a salvage title.
For what I wanted to accomplish (a well optioned C7 that I could keep forever in the 30k range) it was a resounding success. It appears to me that the work also paid off financially, which was unexpected. When I started, I was operating on the worst case assumption that I would only break even as far as actual value.
Plus the warranty, you can't forget about the warranty. Every time I hear about an A8 biting the dust, I cringe.
06-10-2017, 08:51 PM
My rebuilt salvage
