I have never been a corvette fan (except for pre 68) but I have been offered a couple and I have no idea on their worth? I have searched the net for corvette sites but most want me to join a club before I can post questions, I search Ebay and they go from 5 grand to 30 grand!?... so I thought I would ask here, as this site always seems to have the answers! I have been offered two 1973 corvette stingrays, the first one is a one owner car with "all" documentation (I mean the binder is 3 inches thick, window sticker, order form, warranty cards etc) from her ordering the car till now, always garage kept, original paint (green) that is faded and you can see the seams perfectly, interior (black) is untouched and in very nice shape, 57,000 original miles, 350 (runs great), automatic, A/C (not blowing), the small front nose part has deteriated, needs brakes & tires, and has turbine rims would need to buy ralleys for it, a untouched original car. The second (husbands car) is also a 1973, he bought it in 1973 but it was a demo car with 800 miles on it when purchased, he also has all documentation on it from then, the car looks like it was painted red yesterday (very nice except for a couple touch ups from over the years) but was painted in 1983 (he thought) always garage kept as well, interior (black) is all original as well but a seam has pulled a part in the driver's seat, 62,000 original miles, 350 (runs great), automatic, A/C blows but not cold, brakes just redone, has keystones on it but original ralley's come with car (kept them for all these years) also a untouched original car. From the looks of where they live I know they have been well cared for all of these years (trust me) but they are just getting to old to drive them. I can get both for about $20,000 which is a lot of money but my thought was if I could sell one for close to that I may end up with a one owner vette for a reasonable amount of money? Thoughts?...o No: Tom
It's my guess,without actually seeing these cars that either one is worth between $14,000-$17,000.The most important thing is that they are all matching numbers cars.The 73s are not in as high demand as the 72 and earlier,but are very close.Sounds to me like you might want to jump on it.
One other thing.Make sure you check the frames for rust issues.Surface rust is common,but make sure there is no heavy duty corrosion.You can also take them to a shop,and have them put on a lift for inspection.
This is what I found: Collector Car Market Review Value Report 1973 CHEVROLET CORVETTE 350-190hp (8cyl-4V) AT #5 #4 #3 #2 #1 Rdstr 4150 7975 12725 17000 23025 Coupe 3275 6050 10150 14700 19075 Add: 350-250hp (8cyl-4V) 15% 454-270hp (8cyl-2V) 25% 4spd manual trans 8% Air conditioning 10% Power windows 3% Hardtop 5% Deluxe interior 2% RPO# Z07 25% Deduct: Manual steering -3%
Corroded core support is also a big problem on these cars...nice looking fiberglass can hide many sins here. Devon
Pre catalytic Corvettes will be sought after by the modest sport car fancier.I'll say buy,you can drive them for a while and will make your money back plus some later.Headers and side pipes,ohhh yeah.
a friend of my brother's just bought a 74 454 ragtop vette for 23k. it's nice,too. im thinking around 7k for the green one with crappy paint.. just because it's original doesnt mean it's not wore out.
Thanks for the comments so far! There seemed to be no rust/corrosion issue's at all with neither one from what I could see from looking as good as I could and I know Florida has a reputation for no rust (Which is a complete joke as they rust here as well people!) sometimes worse! But these looked CLEAN! As for numbers matching one carb was replaced in the 70's for one reason or another, trust me these cars are "original" minus one set of rims. The green one has the 2nd set of tires on it still, My friend (their son who hates old cars thankfully!o No: ) put them on the car when he was in High School and he is in his mid 30's now. What got me was how clean and spotless everything they had was, house, property, tractors, other cars, RV, barn/garage where they were kept, etc... It really made me realize that the Vette's were well kept as well. I could litterally drive the red one to a show when I leave their house, it looks that good. The green one is a smog car, does that help or hurt? They both have power windows, A/C, bags for the t-tops, original radios, I didn't get a chance to look into the trunks :laugh: p (I am kidding). Everything except what I noted earlier looks great, chrome etc... I am really leaning towards doing this after work today. The best thing (well depending how you look at it) is that they are taking the RV for a 6 week cruise this weekend so that will give me time to dig up the money but it won't allow me to be driving the Vettes! Thanks again everyone and I will keep you all informed.:beer Tom
All, The deal is done, hope the price mentioned earlier was ok (20K) as that is where I stand. comments?o No:
I think you got a good deal there. I guess you'll have to update your list of cars you got listed in your signature! :Comp: Post some pics of the cars!
Well I told you all that the people I purchased the Vettes from went on a vacation so I couldn't get photo's to show you all? Well when I got home from work today in my mailbox was a letter from them with these two photo's but they are pretty useless unless you take my word that they both really almost look better in person than these photos I just scanned, the red photo is from 1991 and the green photo is from 1986. Enjoy anyhow! Tom
VERY NICE. Are those Cragar wheels on the red one? I'd get the stock ones back on there ASAP. I love Cragar SS, but they don't look right on that car. Love that green one. Two of my close friends have original owners Vettes that are in their garages . Unfortunately one is a 1976 and the other is a 1977. Each have about 50-60k on them, fully loaded 350 automatics, and just need cosmetics.
Well,good score.Personally I think the 73s are the best of both worlds.It has the chrome rear bumper,and the poly front.I've heard that Zora Duntov,the original designer of the C3 shark body style also liked them the best,and supposedly that's what he owned.:TU:
I agree on the styling of the 73's. The sleeping bag look to the rear end starting in 74 was Butt Ugly... pun intended. Most were off color anyway. I like the 73's the best of those years, too. But they ran like crap. We used to have a process on them that involved removing the air injection tubes inside the exhaust manifolds (they slide out after the air injection manifold is removed is removed from the exhaust manifold with a pice of strong wire with a small hook on the end in slide hammer fashion) then hooking the system back up to protect the warranty. Serious guys that didn't worry about warranty coverage took all that stuff off and put on headers right away. Also gave the distributor some new lighter springs, a little rework on the advance cams, and about a 60 degree twist to advance the timing (little exageration there, but it did take a lot. Usually required replacing the points and condenser (you can't believe how fast those things wore and changed- we did that often. HEI's a few years later were night and day improvements. Seems to me we put a few ball bearings in some vacuum lines, but i wouldn't even try to guess which ones. Looked stock, picked up 3-5 MPG (we were all panicking then when gas went from 30 cents a gallon to 60):laugh: and ran like you just added 30 hp (and may have). Ran as good as a 71 or 72, but nowhere near the 68-70's. Those tubes stuck right into the exhaust ports and injected the air from the pump right at the exhaust valve. Serious interruption in the flow at mid and upper range RPM's.
