Hi all my dad has a 70 Skylark convt w/350 in it w/appx 80,000 miles. It has been sitting the last 12 in the previous owners garage. We got a 455 to put in it out of a Regal. I got in an arguement w/my buddy over the worth of this car. He said it would be worth more w/the original 350 in it and I disagreed. I myself am a Ford guy and always will be, but I'm pretty excited to work on this car.(Pretty much I just get excited to be in the garage, just like the rest of ya!) So I really have no clue. Let me know what you think, and how much you all think it would be valued at w/a decent frame off job. Thanks, Josh
Well, first off, to have more than 'average' value, it would need to be a rare car, one with a history, or an exceptionally well optioned car. Buicks A bodies (Skylark/GS) do not command the prices that some other A bodies do. It is not a question of poor quality or bad engines/cars, it is simply a demand issue- Buicks are still almost unknown in the musclecar world, it seems. An original, unrestored car in very good condition should be worth more than a restored car in very good condition, if they are identical cars. The car is only original once. However, if the car needs lots of work, it will almost certainly never command a high price in original condition unless the car is noteworthy in some way, like if someone famous owned it and the car can be identified with that person. If the car has sat for 12 years, in all likelihood, although I hate to say it, that '70 Skylark is not a goldmine in terms of monetary value. They simply are not in demand. Even a car like mine, an early '70 Skylark Custom convertible, with a low production number of, if I recall, 3954, was not valuable enough for me to restore it in factory condition due to the amount of work it needed. I did not bat an eyelash over building it the way I wanted to. A 'numbers matching' car, correctly restored, has the potential for higher value than a car which has been altered, but ask yourself how long you would have to have the car up for sale to sell a car in so little demand as a Skylark. Sad but true in most cases. A thing is only worth what people will pay for it, the amount of time effort and cash put into a project is almost meaningless. Do not look at that '70 Skylark as an investment of any type, unless the car is in exceptionally good condition, has a lot of options and has not suffered in storage over that dozen years. I would guess at a value of around 4000 dollars. Of course, I know next to nothing about the car and have never seen it, but I would give that as an average Skylark Custom convertible from 1970 with a 350 2 barrel with a pretty solid body and interior. Certainly I would not pay more than that for an average example, I have had the same car for over 14 years, so I know what to look for! But I would pay more than that if certain things like the floors, interior, body and frame were in particularly good shape, especially near the driver's feet on the floor, by the drains near the frame, and if the interior showed that it was well taken care of. The body is of great interest, there are known rust areas especially in the convertibles, since the trunk/rear quarters could have had rain water in there for years... That is a very rough guess based on my incredibly small knowledge of this particular car. Does the car have pointed lenses on the instrument panel, or are they slightly concave? An early '70 should have the pointed lenses, among a few other hints it's an 'early' '70. The trim plate could tell you, too. More info on the car could help pin down a better value (or at least a more accurate guess than mine) In stock form, with a frame off resto, the value could be over 10 grand, but you'd have to find someone who wanted a car just like that to get full value. Getting full value is the trick:gt:
Thanks, I will have to have my dad go check it out, and get the numbers for ya. I was just curious, as was he. Really its not that big of deal I was just arguing w/a buddy, like most do LOL. Like I said I really dont know much about GM's as I am a Ford guy. But my dad's pretty pumped about working on it. The body, frame interior, top are all in very good shape. The 350 runs. What I was really curious about was if it would be worth more w/the 455 in it or the original 350. And I understand about some people totally restoring everything to factory specs, thats not what I'm talking about. Perhaps a mild customization, or even making a GS clone.
Everything else being equal, I should tthink the value is higher with the numbers matching original engine. How about some pictures??
Cool, I think we are still gonna go ahead w/the 455 swap. No sorry no pics, I wouldnt even know how to get them on here. LOL let alone we dont even have any of the car. Remember I'm a Ford guy, if I get any film pics are getting taken of my truck and 'stang first:gt: Have a good one fellas. :beer
Good luck with the swap, it's pretty easy. One thing you can always do is: put the original engine back in it if you ever decide to sell
