The13Bats

I see this one tonight,

69 with blem title

So it engages my mind, i know some here will say to them this car is worthless, to them it might be but to the corvette world it still has value.
I also see this isnt a perfect car or purist car in other ways,
Another thread stated 69 convertibles are 20k cars, a blem title has to hurt some,
How much do you believe this one will fetch?

Iceaxe

Without the salvage title and assuming there is nothing majorly wrong I could sell that car pretty easily for $25k to $30k. So draw your own conclusions from the asking price and what would be a reasonable offer they might accept.

I did see the other thread you mentioned and some of those were really low ball numbers IMHO. My family owns a couple hot rod shops and I can easily sell a nice chrome bumper 4-speed C3 for $25k plus with little effort.

YMMV

ntfday

It's a Texas car, or at least it's being sold in Texas, so it shouldn't have a major rust issue. I don't think a small block car is worth that much, but I could be wrong and besides I am not a fan of anything yellow.

derekderek

Also 350. Weren't 68's 327 or 427?

thatcorvetteguy

Yes 68's where 327's but the add is for a 69

Easy Mike

The listing makes no mention of matching numbers. This car could be NOM.

chstitans42

A coupe things to take into consideration.

1. I know this dealer as they are close to where I live. They flip cars, so the obviously bought this car for less than 20k. I would say somewhere around half, as most dealers like to make that kind of profit margin. I highly doubt that they did much work to get it to what you see in the pics. What added the 10k in value other then they talking down the previous owner probably about the title being branded?

2. It is uncommon (IMHO) for a vette to be deemed salvage and the rebuilt for JUST fiberglass damage. If the accident damage really added up to almost what the car is worth, I bet it was more than just a fender or a front clip. I would be VERY cautious and look for damaged suspension and or a bent/tweaked frame.

derekderek

cars get totaled by the amount of damage in dollars compared to the value just before the car got hit. the nicer the car, the harder the hit that will be deemed repairable. my 75 vert was a copart car. salvage cert sez totaled for the hood. was a light nose hit that pushed bumper and frame horns sideways a bit. my car would have been repaired if it was nice. a decades old brand, it was probably hit pretty good then. a newly branded title car, you could reduce the devalue by documenting the damage and reconstruction.

stingr69

There IS a diminution in value because of the title issue. Less potential buyers means less money at sale. If the repair is done right, the difference is pretty small percent on this car in my opinion. This is a specialty car so condition and desirability rules. Even the odometer reading is expected to be inaccurate (and irrelevant) at this point. Passion trumps the title.

If it was a 4 year old daily driver Camry, the difference would be a more significant percent of the price.

crawfish333

In reality, probably at least half of all C3s around these days are "rebuilt." (we just call it restored) If the car were solid, I would have no problem buying it as long as I was planning to keep it. Almost any C3 is a potential money loser in the long run anyway, so who really cares what happened to the car several decades back?

If you buy a "restored" car that was a "barn find," many of those were much worse off before restoration than a minor wreck which would total out a C3.

ajrothm

We sold a 69' 350/300, 4 spd coupe for $15k in driver condition with a Salvage title earlier this year. It had taken in some water during Harvey, up to the bottom of the seats. We bought it from the insurance company, changed all of the fluids, cleaned the carpets, replaced the trailing arms/bearings and front wheel bearings... Car ran and drove great. Took less then a week to get $15k for it. I recently saw it cruising down the road in town.

I think a salvage title can hurt the marketability of a car if the car is a more expensive type car, especially if someone is going to finance it. That's when the problem sets in. I'm sure it has to affect the value some but.... for lower range/cash cars, say $15-20k or less, I don't think its a HUGE HUGE deal but..... many will disagree though, with good reason.

The13Bats

Things that come to my mind,

Rogers ZL1 was i believe a blem titled car from theft recovery and it hits its value about zero.

Many stolen cars get little or no damage yet are totaled,
I do not agree it takes a lot of damage to total a c3 in fact i can think of examples its easy,
In the 70s chromies werent as sought after as today and prices were very low hense not much damage gets it totaled,

What i do get askew on the money loss idea of a blem title,
Let say c3 X if clean title was a 30k car but it has a blem title so now its a 20k car, ( people who wont buy a blem title car dont count here )
Ren buys said car for that blem title discount price of 20k and has a blast with it,
Ren decides to sell it 5 years later and now he asks 22k and gets it, because he has kept car up to par and it appreciated a little.
Some try to apple to oranges here and say ren should have gotten 33k, no, ren cant expect to buy for blem discount and sell for clean price...

Im seeing a lot of people on here likely a majority say they will not buy a blem titled car,
But i do not see that reflected in real world sales,
Seems a lot of people love that blem title discount and buy these cars to drive.

ajrothm

This is the key.... Just like the fella that bought our 69 coupe.... he wasn't concerned about the salvage title as he was paying cash, nor was he real concerned about the resale as he wanted it just to DRIVE and enjoy with his son, it'll likely get passed down to the son. He was more concerned about the mechanical condition and concerns of the potential flood damage. After we demonstrated everything we replaced, he jumped on the car and was happy he got a nice white on red, 4 spd coupe that drove really well for $15k. He wanted an affordable car, but he definitely wasn't trying to hustle an angle using the Salvage title as the discount as most would. We priced the car accordingly initially, and he was satisfied with the car at that price. 10 months later, he is still driving the crap out of it.

OldCarBum

Insurance companies determine what type of damage constitutes a salvaged title.
My 2014 Chevy truck was side swiped on the hwy last year.
The entire front grille, bumper, passenger side front fender, passenger door, 1/2 of the passenger side cab and the passenger side bed skin was replaced.
I asked the body shop if the truck would be totaled and they said that it isn't always the total amount of damage but what is damaged that determines a total.
On my truck they showed me that far less body damage would have caused my truck to be totaled if the damage was to the inner cab or inner bed structures and not the outer skins that are easily replaced.
I traded my truck in the same day I picked it up from the body shop.
I know several friends who had Corvettes years ago and their Corvettes were totaled by the insurance companies with some minor damage because at that time fiberglass repair was expensive and considered an art.
That being said, I personally would not purchase any car with a salvaged or blemished title as you never really know what you are getting.
And yes a stolen car in California recovered by the insurance automatically gets a salvaged title, wrecked or not.

slammin

From an insurance stand point, I don't know how a branded title affects a collectible car, but many companies will not insure a salvage or rebuilt titled newer car. That aside, if priced right I would consider one realizing what I save on the purchase price I'll probably loose when it comes time to sell.

The13Bats

To get a rebuilt title the state inpection is fairly tought,

vettebuyer6369

The13Bats

Look at the example above a guy wanted a cheaper car to drive and pass to his son, i am betting he has as much fun with his car as you do yours.

I posted this thread because i was bored and saw that car and was curious how much that blem title hurts its price,
I respect guys like you who wouldnt buy such a car but what would you deem worthy to do with it, part out, land fill?

Others want to have fun with them.

DUB

I can say that I have dealt with so many Corvettes that were totaled out after an accident that it had NOTHING to do with cars structural integrity beign sacrificed...it had EVERYTHING to do with costs of the parts and labor and that was it. when the preliminary estimate got close to the total out amount...the insurance would total it out due to NOT wanting to begin a repair and find out a few supplements later ...they had crossed the total out amount for the car.

teh value of teh car is more than likely going to be effected due to the way that many people view anything other than a CLEAN title due to only envisioning the worst and will feel that they would run into a bunch of crap when they go to sell it if they ever do.

And not to burst anyone's 'bubble' I have seen ( like I am sure many of you also have) enough Corvettes that are so screwed up with clean titles... that for me it makes no difference other than the title is clean.

DUB

slammin

In my search for a C3 I too have seen some real crap wagons, that I wouldn't have if they were free!