ADVICED NEEDED ASAP ON 63 purchase
 

Good Morning,
Just to start out I own a 68 but have always loved the c2 and an opportunity has come up to buy one. I just don't know if it is a good deal as it seems. I have to make a decision by tomorrow and hoping the exsperts and owners could point me in the correct direction. You know the costs related to c2 and I have no idea.
Here is the story.

Found a california rust free 63 convertible. 327 / 4sp replacement period correct block--so no matching numbers. Drive train rebuilt couple of years ago all gauges, heater, wipers work. Runs great has 411 gears. Paint is good with a couple of bubbles on the rear deck and it only has a hard top, it was not ordered with soft top. Interior looks to be in good shape. That is the good news.
Bad--70's mods--filled over flip up lights added tail light in the rear. Both look great you would never know there has been work done. I want to but back to stock. Has hooker type side pipes which I really don't like and period correct torque thrust wheels.

Price is 27,500. I figure at least 4-5k to fix lights (all factory bracing and wiring still on front end) The paint looks good for a driver which is what I want to do. I can't find 63's for really under 40k but most have factory engine and our stock.
My question is this worth spending the money to but the body back to stock and without and original engine is this car worth the price. Not sure what the market value is. I am not buying for an investment but don't want to get ripped off either.

Please any advice would be great appreciated

A running rust-free '63 for $27,500 does not sound bad at face value. Lots of items which may or may not be an issue though. Do you have any pics? VIN tag might be a good place to start.

Some things to consider, is the frame solid, was the car always in Cali or did it spend sometime in the northeast, is the birdcage in good shape, ( no Rust ) if you can determine these major items are in good shape 27,500 is not bad, I think an offer of 25,000 is better given the fact that your looking to return the body to stock config. you also state that your not buying for investment so your really not concerned about final cost and a return. I think the TT's are a nice day two touch on a Midyear, the hooker side pipes are not for me ( I like the factory ones ) but I have seen plenty of midyears with them and they don't look bad.

Thanks to everyone so far. It is a cali car, no rust. Firm on 27,500 because of the huge amount of interest. I will be seeing car tomorrow and there is a line a people after me. He says it is a great running car. I forgot to mention it has a stinger hood and the original hood. He has talked with three of the past owners and has a lot of past history...but not sure what that means if the original engine is not there. Pics are hard to see much but I will try and get some uploaded.

I am a fan of the stinger hood on any year Midyear., past history is just what it means, original engine my have grenaded because the car my have a racing history, maybe not a professional one but a history of racing . Good luck.

I have downloaded pics. I am doing something wrong because I don't see them. Trying to figure out.

Wish I could help you with that, anytime a get a picture do download I feel like I hit the lottery.

Heck, project 63's run $20k; if it drives fine and you like the car and won't be wanting to repaint it anytime soon, then I think the price is reasonable. If there are changes you think you have to make, then be realistic about the time & money it'll take and see what you can buy for that same total without the hassle.

I have downloaded pics three times. They all loaded but never come up on thread? Any ideas?

If you are content with the way the car is, then it would be good, however if you are planning on returning it to original, you would be better off to spend 50.000 on a decent car. Would cost much more than 20 to get the car reasonable, and then you would just have a redone, no numbers matching car. I looked and looked before buying my 66 300hp, and saw so much butchery and frame off stuff out there, not knowing how or what people did to the cars, that I insisted with myself that I would buy an original car. Finally got an original paint 34,000 mile car that was TOTALLY original (including the weak lacquer paint) for 53,000. Nothing to do to it, a car that I can drive occasionally and know that the car is right

I wont disagree with you on the possibility of returning the body to stock could go as high as you stated, however op stats all bracing and wiring for the headlights are still in place, there is every possibility that the headlight motors are there as well. a lot of folks really like the six rear lights and I don't think I would be changing that, again all of this is speculation without pictures.

OK, assuming you have the pics on your computer.

1. Hit "reply" like always
2. Just above where you type your reply there's a line that starts " B I U S A" The 10th thing from the left, just before the smilie face, is the pictures icon, click that.
3. Click on "browse your device" That should take you to your own computer
4. Double click on the photo It will take a while as it shows what percent it is
5. When it hits 100%, in the upper right there's a box that says something like "upload" or "insert" or such, click that
6. Your pic is now in your reply ready to post

After downloading, there is another step, like POST or something (I think button is in the upper right) to do before they appear in the 'post'.

Like other have said, the 6 taillights is'nt so bad, I personally like them a lot. The headlights are another matter, I think 4-5K is dreaming unless you do it yourself. A good C2 corvette shop would likely want $200/hr + materials. One guy for 1 week + painting the front end could be 10K. You are now at 37.5K for the car, not into average prices for a 63 vert, but on the low side of original appearing examples.

You really need to think about how much those headlights bother you. If you do both the F & R lights, you might as well paint the whole car, and you're not getting all that done for close to 10K.

IMHO

I think it depends on what was left under the nose, if the buckets were glassed over and the headlight motors are still there, Opening it back up is not that difficult, again I'm speculating.

Another question to think about is how much does something bother you right NOW? For instance, if everything else was reasonable, maybe you would drive it a year, get some miles and smiles, and THEN tackle the headlight project.

I'm speculating also, but I think that 90% of non-headlight cars (that aren't full custom) were converted that way because of front end damage, chuck the headlights and the repair bill goes way down.