why are C3's so cheap
 

I was looking on Craigs list at older cars. I had a '70 Mustang and Camaro. I noticed if you compare prices and both cars were in the same shape... the other cars went for way more than the Corvette. I honestly thought the Corvette would be priced more.

without seeing the specific examples of what you were looking at nobody can tell you why those cars were priced less. Do you have any examples?.

Define cheap, that's a very broad brush statement.

I just meant comparing apples to apples shape wise and staying from say 1970-1975 it seemed the the corvette was much cheaper. It may just be my local area. By cheap i mean price

I think every high school kid wanted one back in their day and now they can afford one. There were no vette owners in my high school days. Fords and Chevy's mostly.

price a chrome bumper 68-72 and get back to us

This is generally true here in California.
Camaros of the same year bring more than Corvettes
That said, specific models and engines can change everything

Ask another question first: Why are C2s twice the price of a chromebumper C3? Because a 67 Corvette will be the same price or higher than a 67 Camaro oder Mustang. Do the same game for 69 models and the Camaro will generally be more expensive, the Mustang too. Why? Taste. My take on it: If the C3 would have ended in 72, it would be much more desireable today. But 15 years in production? See what happend to the 2nd gen Camaros. Way cheaper than the 1st gen.

Martin

Why compare C3s to Mustangs or Camaros?
:)

because the cost to bring them up to speed is so much more......the rear end on a C3 is about the most expensive set up you can have compared to muscle cars. also as a two seater you lose some of the desirability for a family cruise.

I think the term "muscle car" pretty much sums up the price difference.
Mustangs, Camaro's, Chevelles, Cuda's and the like were the muscle cars of the 60's and 70's.
Corvette's were always a "sports car" and were in a different classification for people.
Today, its the muscle car that everyone wants, so they bring the higher price because they are more in demand.
I was very surprised when I looked at the lower price of Corvettes compared the price of Camaros.

I am a little frustrated by this revelation as well tomboyy but I think GW and Yankee nailed it.
Here in SoCal fastback Mustangs,'67- '69 Camaro, Chevelles, GTO's, etc are really off the price scale. Basket cases are starting around $20K, similar to the C2's.
I also believe they simply ran the C3 body style too long. There are 15 long years to choose from and, although those 15 years might be very different to us, the general public just doesn't pick up on all the subtle differences.
Being as Corvette was always kind of the pinnacle of the muscle car era, it just doesn't seem right that you should be able to buy a driver for a comparatively reasonable price.
Here are four current examples on Los Angeles Craigslist today with their listed asking price. I know "asking" and "getting" are two different things but the price trend is certainly there.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...9315b14e24.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...b566252546.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...ad600c50d4.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...7a1f52055b.jpg
​​​​​​​

Simple , way to many c3 cars available , you can scroll CL looking at plenty of vettes for sale try putting in GTO, Camaro,Mustang or a Chrysler you won't find much sometimes none on Boston CL but vettes galore all the time even really nice vettes that linger on there for months even years before they sell.

Pricing on CL is a joke, totally unrealistic.
Vettes just dont have the following or popularity the pony cars do, plus they cost a hell of a lot more to fix.
In fact I sold my 73 after seeing what basic stuff ran....yrs later wanted a stop gap toy ie 00-02 SS 6 spd, found a vette was cheaper so had a couple.

I initially set out to buy a 69 Camaro. I didn't care about any numbers matching because my plan was to drop in a crate engine. With that said, everyone I looked at seemed WAY out of my budget and those even close to my budget needed a ton of body work.

This is interesting-

Here's a Camaro and a Vette with the LT1 engine- 1971

Notice the Concurs price is really close- but the "fair" condition is DOUBLE for the Camaro???

A "good" condition for the Vette the past 10 years is almost a flat line- not the Camaro as it's moved almost 20% up...

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...b8b623da70.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...e968cc0a87.jpg

Richard,
That is an interesting graph. Do you happen to know who put it together?
It's also interesting to note that the jump in price for the Corvette from "fair" to "concours" is 375%
While the same jump for the Camaro is only 175%
Just an observation.