FOR SALE: 1972 Corvette Convertible

Selling a '72 vette convertible in need or restoration. Have pictures for review. Send email to: snipped-for-privacy@cfl.rr.com

Condition: Requires frame-off resto. Location is Orlando, Florida. Clear FLorida title. Non matching engine/trans. Good candidate for clean and resto. Had a frame-off done in 1988, rust costing and several new parts. Been sitting for a long time outside in the FLorida elements. Paint faded. Plastic window on canvas top needs relpacement. Needs 2 interior door panels. NON-A/C northern model from New Jersey. 350 over-bored motor, and automatic trans.

Terms: cash upon transaction of title and bill of sale and automobile transfer. Will have copies of title paperwork and bill of sale to provide for both parties. Buyer is responsible for obtaining a trailer to transport.

Price: is negotiable. To date my father and I have over $12,000 in the car. Was repainted Burgundy color in 1988, paint is now faded. Motor and trans are both out of vehicle, plus a few extra parts put into the deal.

Mike snipped-for-privacy@cfl.rr.com florida snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

Can provide VIN# and fotos upon request. Make sure not to use the YAHOO email, as they have a cap on file transfer sizes.

Also: father has a 1959 Lincoln Continental MarkIV convertible which may alos be put up for sale in the future. Have picture of that car as well. Former classic show car in the Kissimee Olde' Town shows.

Reply to
pts-express
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I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I doubt you get close to $12,000. I'm not sure what you mean about "rust costing" though. Maybe rust coating?

Plastic windows can be replaced, but the cost is nearly the price of a top, and then you have a new window in an old top.

Small block, NOM, convertible is probably going to max around $18,000 in mint condition, maybe $20,000. But is sounds like there is easily $10,000 in work on yours and that number could get higher the way the economy is right now.

Is it apart? One of the big mistakes/downfalls is where people take the cars apart to restore or rebuild them, then end up selling them in parts. The new owner has to figure out where everything went, how it went, and if it even went. Many buy cars apart, thinking this is a super deal, but the man-hours involved it putting a car back together that someone else took apart can easily be 40% longer than one they took apart themselves. When you figure you can easily have 2000 hours in restoring a Corvette, making that 2800 is an expensive proposition.

Reply to
Tom in Missouri

I have to agree with Tom. As i read the OP, it is a car that will require ALOT of time, energy, money, knowhow, and a ton of patience from the Restorer ....AND.... his wife. Ill bet more than one divorce has occured over such an undertaking. In all reality, you shouldnt expect to get much more than $6-7,000 . (maybe $8,000 if the Buyer can get his wife real interested in it too :)

Reply to
Dave in Lake Villa

Have to agree with you here Tom.... the car sounds like it needs a lot... and if they included the price of the paint job in the 12K they have into the car.... well enough said....

3-400 bucks for a new top... that's an automatic price you have to expect to pay when restoring any Rag top car...

Here I disagree.... I blew the engine in my 72 in either 1976 or 77 dropped in a 68 327 350 and it made it a hell of a better car.... one that to be honest I still feel is worth more (for driving, showing, and having fun with) then if I had kept the original engine...(a 350 all of 200 Horses) .. I just feel that sometimes a change can be for the better ..

Lol.... boy I agree with you here.... especially if you can not find some of the smaller brackets etc that you NEED now! ..

I honestly do not count my time "rebuilding" any car...that's actually pure relaxation and enjoyment.. sure beats getting dressed for dinner in a Tux etc for dinner on formal nights aboard a cruise ship..or even playing golf and getting pissed every time you have to pick your sand wedge out of your bag ..AGAIN...!

The cost to restore any corvette (if you are not doing 95 percent of the job yourself) is now most likely up to about 30 grand to do it right... really sets the worth of most project cars down to almost nothing...

Just my thoughts... Bob G.

Reply to
Bob G.

Bob, I have to go back to my original statement. I didn't say it was better or worse, just that the price would max there. A quick look at eBay shows what has been paid.

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Granted eBay isn't 100% representative, as many feel buying sight unseen is a bit more than they want to do, but it give a reasonable expectation, unlike Barrett Jackson which is often heavy on the drunk millionaires in the buying audience. (They really are, they begin open bars often 2-3 hours before bidding.)

Your '72 with a built 327 probably runs circles around a stock '72, in speed, acceleration, and mileage. However, the buying market is so jaded as to think only original engine/matching numbers matter that they don't know what is real value and what isn't.

There are a lot of cars that are essentially original, well-cared-for, low owners, but they lost their original engine somewhere in the past. Another was put in and all the original equipment went back on and the car looks 98% original except for the numbers on the pad and maybe the casting number.

Yet the restored car with the matching numbers (maybe original, maybe not) engine that 3 years ago may have been nothing more than a body shell and frame will get the higher price because of the mistaken belief that it is "better".

People today are sheep. They follow the crowd. The crowd says only matching numbers matter and are worth anything, so that is what people buy.

They have no comprehension that original engines originally meant the car was worth more BECAUSE:

  1. it had been left alone.
  2. it survived the rigors of the hot rodders and hot rod years.
  3. most likely it had not been driven hard and put up wet several thousand times.
  4. it was similar to finding that proverbial car that some little old school teacher owned.

Once people began restoring cars, and rebuilding all the parts, the original meaning of value didn't apply anymore.

But people are stupid, and they buy what others tell them to. And dealers tell them matching numbers are important, so they buy.

This guy's '72 convertible would be a great car, if done, but right now, I'm betting there is $10,000 - $12,000 in work on a car you won't be able to sell for more than $18,000 for the next 3 years. That places its value in the current state at roughly $6000.

I'm sure that isn't what he wants to hear.

Reply to
Tom in Missouri

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