What would you offer?
 

Car is a 1977 C3. Owner is asking $15,000. 45k miles on body. 35k on engine.

-4 Speed Manual

-Car has no options on it except for the luggage rack and possibly tilt and telescopic steering wheel. Very basic.

-Custom pearlescent blue paint job. (Paint has a big chip at the front bumper right where it comes to a point and is starting to flake off. Also has three large bubbles under the paint above the driver side rear wheel arch. Paint looks like it was never waxed not very glossy)

-Base L-48 motor. Owner rebuilt it himself. I don’t know the specifics of what parts were used or how much power it is making as I was working on the clock and didn’t have much time to ask him. Upgrades are as follows:

Aftermarket carburetor

Aftermarket intake manifold

Mild cam

Was bored .30 over

Possibly different heads?

Long tube headers with a straight through exhaust with what appears to be either magnaflow or flowmaster mufflers out back

The thing that really has me interested in the car is the fact that it is a manual transmission and it is blue on blue. Blue is my favorite color and I have never seen this interior color on any other C3 corvette. I really like the way it looks. Overall, the car looked decent but a little on the rough side. Chrome on the car is pitted and rusty. From the quick look I took, there is what appears to be surface rust along the rocker panels/sills, the power steering appears to be leaking around the power steering control valve, the tires are completely dry rotted, and the weather stripping is dry rotted. I tried checking the window frame for rust, however, I am not experienced with these older cars and did not really know what to look for. I do not know how well he did the work to the engine. Since the tires are dry rotted and the power steering is leaking, it leads me to believe the car has been sitting. However, when he started it up for me, the car started right up and the engine sounded healthy. I am having a local garage that does a lot of performance work and restorations check the car out soon, so I will have a better idea of the condition of the car after they inspect it.

I don’t want to buy a money pit. My father and I will be able to fix minor to moderate things on the car, but we are not mechanics. So I’m sure there will be things that would need replacing that we’d have to take to a shop.

What do you guys think the car is worth? I’ve asked a few older guys that know cars what they would offer the guy. They told me $6,000-$8,000 and not to pay more than $8,000 for it. I do not want to low ball the guy and offend him, however, he seems to have the car way overpriced. It seems to me and everyone else, that he is sentimental to the car and is trying to recoup some of the money he spent upgrading the car. Owner is an older man, at least 70yrs old, and has had the car for sale for a year. He does not have any ads or listings for the car. He keeps it at his service shop with a for sale sign on the windshield. I’ve attached pictures and video. What do you think the car is worth? What should I start my offer at and what should my price ceiling should be?



Links to YouTube videos of car

More Pics.

more pics.

last batch of pictures

I'd say 5k at the most, dude is a bit out of touch, you can buy a mint c3 with under 50k miles for what he wants, let him keep it