Going to look at a 71 GS 350 conv tomorrow. Here are the details I know: needs full interior replaced, has a hole in the top (probably needs replaced), needs some rust repair in trunk, fresh red paint (I think it's a re-color), runs and drives, needs new grille (has 72 grille currently), needs dash pad, needs quarter glass. I'm not looking for a show car, but a decent driver. Guy is asking $6800 Let me know what you think with that poor description. Thanks
He has relisted that car on Ebay again. Something to me is suspicious.........why have the car repainted and not paint the entire car? I would very very carefully inspect the rear clip of the car......trunk pan is shot as stated but I bet the rear pan under the rear bottom seat cushion is in question as well as the rear trunk drops, rear qtrs and possibly the chassis frame. The car did not get one bid last time it was on Ebay....about 1 week ago. Also, the conv side rear glass run about $75-100 each to replace. He states they were broken during "sandblasting" ???? How in the hell do you break glass that way? I have a feeling there is more to the story than he states. By looking at the pics of the car....you are easily going to spend $2000-2500 to redo the interior and top. I bet it will also need a complete suspension rebuild as well as the fuel, brake, emission lines. Figure at least $5000 to have a decent driver provided the paint is good.....if the paint is a "quickie" paint.....add another $2000-5000 for paint and bodywork. Also, notice the wrong grill....71 GS grill is $600, headlight bezels are painted wrong, front bumper is bent and both bumpers look like they will need to be straightened and rechromed...that's another $1000 for bumpers. Let me know what you find out.
Thanks GStage1, Your numbers were in line with what I was thinking to put the car back. I didn't realize until this morning that he had re-listed it. I had made arrangements to look at it earlier in the week, so I thought he would have at least waited until I looked at it to put it back on. I think the reason I he didn't get a bid, because he was terrible about returning my e-mails. It took him forever to get back to me and then he gave me the wrong phone number to call him. He did call me back last night to finalize the details about meeting him. That being said, I assume that a driver GS ragtop would be worth somewhere around $15k. So, if a re-paint was unnecessary, would I be safe at paying $6000-6500? Thanks again,
First.....don't assume anything....from your communication problems with the seller....that is a bad omen......... I would inspect the car carefully and then work the price backwards.....figure/calculate/compare the price of the car of the same model being restored to that one. I am going to guess a restored 71 GS350 conv to be worth(depending on options)(never saw it stated if it had AC or not) in the price range of $18-22k. The seller's poor communication, quickie, non-complete paint indicates there is a lot more there to discover than what is shown in the pics.
George, how far restored do you mean ? New paint ? Frame off ? Thanks to the new ebay I no longer have the Links that expired, but there was recently a 71 GS 350 Convertible Green that no sold at $27,500 IIRC. Shiney new paint, but had buckets (not correct) and lots of underhood mods. Thanks DL
When i say restored....complete body-off resto. Everything is removed, cleaned, painted/plated, replaced, rebuilt, restored, etc.
I didn't even give him an offer on the car. I think it could have been bought for under 6k, but it need more work than I wanted to do right now. In his description he stated that all it really needed was interior to be a driver, but that is not the case, what it really needs is a full restoration. He had replaced the quarters and the floor pan, but had not replaced the trunk floor. The core support was patched, but not well. The paint and body looked decent for a driver. It was a color change from "Lime Mist" to a non factory red. It included the wrong front seat, by the pattern I think it was from a '69. The description also stated that the top had a couple of tears. The top needed to be replaced and a couple of the side rails had rust holes in them and the center bows were bent flat. In my opinion all the work that had been done to the car needed to be redone.
