An opportunity has presented itself where Mark & I have the first shot at buying a '69 Corvette Stingray for a great price. The owner, a grandma who has owned it for 14 years and had it in her garage for 7, is ready to sell. After talking to my brother, Danny, I found out he has a friend who works in a "corvettes only" repair/body shop and owns two of them. Danny talked to him and he's willing to go with us to look at the car and check it out. But I knew there was one more person to talk to, ....the king of "muscle car dream land," d'man who knows it all when it comes to muscle cars, mopar, hot rods, etc.....Yes, our one and only "COUSIN KEV FROM COLORADO." His response to my email is a car buyers guide in itself and we are pleased to have him (author of the "HAWGIN' DOWN THE ROAD" blog) as our guest writer for the day as he spells out exactly how to shop for a Corvette. THANKS, KEV! THIS INFO IS PRICELESS! Now sit back and get ready to be INFORMED AND ENTERTAINED!
Firstly, you have to know that every one of us out here in muscle car classic land dream good dreams about bumping into that deal where the aged relative has a hot rod sitting in the garage, basement or barn waiting to be discovered. They keep it around because it belonged to a loved one no longer with them. Then they decide to sell it and (hopefully) have no idea what they have or what its worth.
While I was living in Phoenix I saw a documentary about a guy there that saw his dream on a flatbed towtruck heading to the junkyard. He followed it and rushed inside and made the deal. He wrote the check and had the driver turn around and take it straight to his house. For $5000, sight unseen by him or the owner, he bought a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T with a complete numbers matching 426 Hemi and 4-speed transmission. It was one of 200 built that year with a stick. Thats just one example.
While I was living in San Antonio and had my Roadrunner in the body shop getting ainted, a friend of the owner drove up in a pristine beautiful 1966 Corvette tingray. He wouldnt say how much he paid for it, but the little old lady that owned it had it red in her basement garage since her husband passed away 20 years earlier. It had less than 10,000 miles on it. Wanna guess what was under the hood? An aluminum head 427 with tri-power carburetion. It had a four speed as well.
You say they once "tried" to pull the engine. Did they or didnt they? You need to find out if its the original engine. It doesnt matter if its been rebuilt or not, just that the serial numbers on the block match the vin tag on the car. The trans has a number on it too that should match the vin tag. If they do, then the car has more value than if it doesnt. How is the paint? Has it been repainted and if so, is it the original color or a different color? If its the original color, whether its been repainted or not, it will have more value. How is the interior? Clean, slightly worn (lived in), or is it ratty and in need of reupholstering. Look under the car, especially at the floor pans and lower door rails ( the bottom of the doors). Here you are looking for rust through. Not just the typical dirty sheetmetal, but serious missing metal. On top of all of this, does it run and how so. Any smoke on acceleration or deceleration. If it smokes when you gas on it, then it may need rings which means you will have to rebuild the engine. If, after you get the car moving at road speed, you let up on the gas and it smokes, then you may only need valve seals. Not a biggy. This old of a car should have a point distributor. See if it still does. If it has an HEI, then someone has changed it and possibly the engine as well. Has the car been modified? This engine should have a Rochester Quadrajet carburetor, because the 350 was the base engine option, not necessarily the high performance choice. Anything else may not be correct and indicate that the engine may have been changed.
The obvious things to look for are basic to the car and can be seen out in the open. The 'Vettes had slotted steel rallye wheels with chrome center caps and trim rings. These would be essential to the value of the car. If it has any other kind of wheels on it, you may want to find and replace them to increase the value of the car. These cars also had "hideaway" headlamps. Make sure they work. I think they were vacuum operated, so the car will have to be running in order to check them out. Also, inside the car, make sure that everything on the dash is original and unmolested, more likely the radio is the most obvious thing and all the associated trim parts. If everything looks right, then it probably is. It will be just an AM/FM, possibly with an 8-track. Have no fear, if its the original piece, its the bomb! But, all in all, if its a used good clean looking car and you cant find any rust in the places I mentioned, the body taps sound and you get no thuds indicating bondo, especially behind the rear wheelwells and the lower doors, it starts and runs ok and after putting tranny fluid in it you can actually drive it. Once your convinced it runs good, go ahead and get on it and see what it runs like flat out. Dont get into any sh_ _ , but hammer it a little. Have someone follow you in another car during your test drive to see the exhaust checking for smoke. Unless its really bad, you wont see a thing from the drivers seat. Only someone following you will see anything. The wind dissipates any smoke too fast for the driver to see anything. Even if you have a little smoke, it isnt a big deal. It could improve the more you drive it. Sometimes rings have to loosen up and reseat themselves after having sat for a number of years. So, it has the right wheels, looks good inside and out, quick inspect under the doors and floors finds nothing major, a quick walkaround tapping of the body in those places indicates all is well and the test drive feels ok and little or no smoke, and it looks overall unjacked with, I would buy it and not hesitate to write the check. Make sure the top works too, by the way. But, dont test drive it with the top down, you want to hear anything weird, such as any kind of whining coming through the floor from the rear of the car, grinding when you step on the brakes, howling from the trans in first and reverse gear. Test it in both.
After you put trans fluid in it, move the gear selector back and forth between reverse and drive. You know the fluid has gotten into it good when you can feel the car drop into those gears. As for the transmission leaking, you can tell by looking if its the pan gasket. The pan is reuseable unless it has damage. If it does, then you have to question where this trans came from or what may have happened to the car to cause it. There is also a seal in the pump housing where the torque converter slides into the front of the transmission and there is a seal at the rear of the transmission extension housing where the driveshaft yoke slides into the rear of the trans. If these get dry over time they can shrink and crack and subsequently leak.
Ok, take a breath. Whether the car is an original numbers matching car, whereas it still has the original engine and transmission, or not, this car , if it runs well and meets the requirements mentioned above for soundness, would definately be worth the price you mentioned. If you must have it be perfect, then you could easily put what it may be worth on the median value into the car to get it that way. That would be replacing key parts to make it appear original, such as wheels, carb, distributor, interior parts and upholstery, trim, etc. Ok, girl. I hope I helped rather than confused you, but you asked and I take this kind of stuff seriously.Now, to put the hot rod option engine in it? I love you to death for even thinking it!!!! But, alas, to put a correct 427 engine and the associated transmission and have it all coming out looking and being right would cost easily twice more what she is asking for the car. But, it wouldnt be original then, it would be a clone of something that it isnt. And you wouldnt get the value out of it than you would if you just keep it as it is. But, if youre like me and it only has to be what you want for yourself, then originality means nothing! Spend the money and build it to go airborne at the slightest touch of the gas and hang on as you smoke the tires off the rear wheels laughing hysterically with the top down and keep a box of kleenex next to you at all times for those pesky nosebleeds!! While I was in tech school in Biloxi Mississippi back in my military days, there was a little used car lot just off base and they had a 1970 Stingray convertible with a 454 and 4-speed. $7500 back then. One of my instructors had a numbers matching fully restored 1970 Mustang Mach 1, 428 Cobra Jet, shaker hood, 15 inch Magnum wheels and factory rear window louvers. I could have bought that for $5500 in 1986. Mom wouldnt co-sign. I'm still depressed. Explains a few things. Anyway, PLEASE advise me as you go. I really want to know how this comes out, but dont hesitate. Print this if need be and take it with you. Make notes. I only hope you have someone there that knows his Chevys so he can help you make sure if this car is original or possibly had things changed on it. Do you have a cell with a camera in it? You can send me pics and I can tell you. Just let me know in case I'm working. My cell is xxx-xxx-xxxx. Love you guys.
P.S. I can see you in this 'Vette with the top down. Remember the Firebird test drive? Dont buy this one with the kids in mind. This car is for you guys. You deserve it. Deals like this must be checked out and dont come around in a lifetime. You may have gotten very lucky. Let me know.
P.P.S. D _ _ _, I wish I could just hop in the Camaro and zip out there to go look at it with you. You have me all worked up about it! LOL!
