I was talking with a former co-worker the other day and he had a lady come through his B&B, he owns a '57 vette and got to talking vette talk with the lady ( 80 years old) she bought this car new in '62, has the original papers, bill, and the old gm warranty wallet card, this has been under cover and it is still driven and I don't know the powertrain type and it has red wall DRMs I think, now our question was, with this being a survivor, still driven, and decent shape, with a good detail, cleanup underneath and gone over making sure all equipment was working would go for a higher price than a restored version or even further a resto mod, what are your thoughts, I'm guessing the build sheet would be under the back seat or on top of the gas tank, I also don't believe it's a fuelie or a tanker, I'm guessing its what a 21 year old college girl might buy at that time, and no she doesn't live in Pasadena.
My oldest buddy drove a 'Vette when he was 21. A Chevette. The OP's question is full of hypotheticals. "What if" til the cows come home. Sure it's worth more than a restored version, but how much will never be known til you can lay eyes on it. Dream a little dream.
To come up with an honest price you would have to study what similar survivor Corvettes (61/62) in close to the same condition have gone for in the past two or three years and come up with an average. Head on if you intend to keep it yourself for a number of year. I ain't happy if you are a frigging flipper wanting to get it at a low ball price and sell it for times over.
This isn't a what if or a buyout, the car isn't for sale, the ladies son will recieve it either on her passing or a gifting, he isn't selling, I'm not looking for a buy, I'm asking the old question about its only new and stock once. The B&B owner has his '57 that has been his since '75, but it is multi owned, and refurbished that is where our discussion started. Is there any appreciable value in a one owner documented classic, yesterday an old '56 Porsche that was rotten looking, buried away for 30 plus years sold for 230,000 and it was on skates, Last year I read about a '29 stutz barn find that was put away in the '30s sold close to 500,000 which was about 100,000 more than the same car having a concours restoration. So I'm not being what iffy or buy and flip or any other derogatory manner of questioning, I'm just curious with Barrett coming up next month and the mass of cars going over the block if a papered stocker would bring a better price as a survivor than a restored.
Having documentation of originality is a great help. That being said this is an exercise in futility. There is no was to give a good answer to the question. Give us pics and what the drivetrain is. There are many different combos. This would effect the value. NEED MORE INFO
Dasnake, I think you pose a good question. To some, and that would be a very few, this would be worth more then a recent restoration. To my knowledge they didn't have build cards in early Corvettes. They didn't even have a trim tag. Only thing is some have a grease pencil marking with original color in the trunk. If I had money to buy I would much rather own this then a restored car. Many details are lost when taken apart. The odds of a car existing 70 years without being painted or wrecked, or rebuilt are slim. Good for her that she respects that and is passing it on to her son. I just hope he appreciates it for what it is.
They are only (original) once...including the owner. That will bare merit to being desirable for those who don't want a over restored car. I went through the phase about 30 years ago of restoring a old car for show. Now, I get more pleasure of driving one that isn't restored, with the bumps and nicks and what ever. My opinion is anything that has survived untouched for 60-70-80 years draws a crowd because there are so few of them.
I think the Corvette crowd is catching up to the old Ford and hot rod crowd on the survivor appreciation. Kinda funny that they used to be such snobs on proper restos, but now they are snobs on original paint. It takes a special kind of person to want a survivor car, whether it's a 32 Ford or a Vettte or a Porsche on skates. But lots of times that special person has lots of money.
Good luck finding the build sheet under the back seat! One owner, all originals are worth more than restored unless they are thrashed to shit. You said the car will go to her son so unless you are going to advise him as to what to do with the car, not much point in speculating worth. Personally, if I was the son (I'm not that lucky ) I would leave it as is and just enjoy it knowing that it was my mom's and she had bought it new.
I would say with Corvettes, an original unmolested is the most valuable but keep in mind that a 62 is probably arguably the least valuable of the C1 Vettes.
This isn’t the corvette forum, we should be talking about stuffing a big block in it. This coming from an old vette owner!
In my opinion and experience that restomod car would probably go for the most money with the restored car bringing more than the unrestored. There is a caveat, if the unrestored car went through the NCRS judging process and received a Bowtie Award it would probably be worth more than a restored car. Everything needs to be in decent condition but all original. The car you refer to sounds like a good candidate and all that paper work is a plus. FYI, tank stickers didn't exist until the '67 models. From the NCRS website: NCRS - CHEVROLET BOWTIE Award This award was created by the National Corvette Restorers Society in 1992. The Bowtie award recognizes the unrestored Corvette and encourages the owner to retain and display the car in its present condition for the enjoyment and continuing educational benefit of our membership. The award is earned only at a National Convention by unrestored cars successfully judged and voted to be historically and educationally significant in four areas (Interior, Exterior, Mechanical and Chassis). This award is available to any model year currently judged by NCRS which was manufactured 20 or more years ago. Regardless of change in ownership or judging result the car may never be presented for judging again. The judged section requires an 80 to 85% pass with the following standard "Does the item, part, fabric, plating or coating appear to actually be that which was specifically installed or applied on this car at the time of manufacture". If this is successfully passed the vote with the following standard "Does the area judged display significant educational and historical value which should be preserved in its present condition" is taken. Passing both sections in all four areas earns the NCRS - Chevrolet Bowtie award.
Tell me something guys...... Something I gots to know..... How can you get tired of a factory hotrod?????.....
Thanks for the interesting story. Not being the owner, the OP would not have all of the details. Why so negative? Envy?
Just keep it nice and clean looking...they don't need HEI's with yellow plug wires hanging all over, or a bunch of useless chrome crap, or 22" wheels...simple, fun, fast...
Uh...I'm not totally up on my unmolested C1 values, but I don't think I agree with that statement. I'd have to see auction results to believe that.
Well, thats the perception I have arrived at. I have been looking at the for sale ads for early Corvettes for a while and the 62 model seems to be the only one that even comes close to my price range. They are usually less than the earlier models. But.. your results may vary.