Help me value a car... 1965 corvair content.

I went today and looked at a 1965 corvair corsa. It is numbers matching, and has 91,000 actual miles on it. The owner selling it has had it for 8 years and is a airplane mechanic (hence buying a corvair). He seems very knowledgeable and has owned 5 corvairs in the past. The motor was rebuilt approximately 1000 miles ago and it drives great, sounds perfect, no smoke, etc.

Car is a 4 speed, with 4 carbs 140hp model. Interior is completely original and in good shape, it has two small spots where some of the stitching is coming loose on one of the seats and a small tear in the headliner. Body is solid, I crawled around under the car and and only found a little rust in the bottom front corners of each door. The car is a pale yellow color. Radio does not work but all gauges, and lights do.

I drove the car and it tracked straight, braked well, steered fine even though it had a dead spot in the steering straight ahead. When the motor was rebuilt a new clutch was installed as well as a 3.28 rear gear. The owner has the original protector plate, all documentation to day one, owners manual, two shop manuals, and a ton of corvair books, memorabilia ,sales brochure etc... It also comes with an extra starter, and alternator.

Owner is selling because he is 70 and really can't work on it like he used to.

What is it worth in current condition? What about with a nice paint job and a mild refreshening?

Crappy cell picture...

Looking at the paint, I would say 4500-5500 provided the mechanical are excellent. Even with paint I wouldn't see this valued over 10K. Corvairs are interesting cars but not really valuable unless it's a Yenko.

Around here they are priced well above $4500-5500, but I don't know what they actually sell for. i think ownership by an aircraft mechanic would be a large plus. And, that is a pretty desireable model. Has the owner not given you a price?

A 65 2 door hard top...sort-of desireable engine/ trans. Has it had the front disc brake conversion? If not, this is easy (same bolt pattern as millions of other RWD chevies with front discs) and cheap.

Looks like about a #3 or #4 driver to me. I'd say somewhere in the $4,000 to $7500 range would be reasonable, depending mostly on rust. With a fresh professional paint job done right (ie, a 3,000 to 4,000 dollar job) it might be a 10k car.

great googly moogly that looks nice with the slot mags.

I almost had a chance to buy a very good condition '65 auto 110 2 door for $2500 a little while ago but I think that was a very very good price from a friend who just needed it gone so that's probably not too helpful as a reference point.

He ended up not selling and traded it to his dad or something.

And that's a nice looking color.

He is asking 5k, I was thinking of offering 4k. I figure 2k in paint, would net me a nice classic to play with.

Could I realistically sell it for 7500 ish when I am done, that is the 1500.00 question.

In reply to pimpm3:

You should be fine. Around here the prices of good, honest Corvairs are creeping up.

If I wanted a Corvair, I'd probably kick myself for letting that one get away. I'd offer four, but I'd pay five if I had to. That seems like a fair deal.

And I wouldn't even think about painting it.

I'd suck it up and pay the five. Don't worry about paint. Boom. You are now ahead of your original plan and you have a super cool car.

Thanks for all the input, everyone is giving me the prices I figured in my head. Honestly my pictures make the paint looks better then it really is. If I buy it it's going straight to my buddy's shop for paint.

Bravenrace hit the nail on the head when he said it's an honest car, that's a great description of the car and the seller. I will call him in the morning and try to make the deal happen. Thanks for all the input, and I will start a build thread if I get the car.

Buy it now. Can't wait for better pictures!

Of note: those little bubbles near the bottom of the doors. That is a VERY common rust area on these cars. You will find a pile of leaves / dirt piled up in there attracting water. If you are planning on paint, you will want to replace the metal there (on both sides likely). That whole area inside the kick panels is certainly at least full of surface rust. There is also a nice little shelf in there (near the hinges) that is great at catching dirt / leaves. There is very likely rust there also.

You also want to look at the base of the windshield and in the channels of the glass if possible. The bottom corners of the front glass are prime rust areas. Both the front and rear could have rust throughs there and you would never know. Look in the door near the hinges and towards the bottom. If it's rusting in the fender, it very likely rusting there also.

When you can, pull off the vents on either side of the floor, that will give you a decent view of the horror. There are also rubber plugs at the front and rear of the lower rails you can pull to check that channel, which likely has a bunch of crap in it. Also look under the dash for water / rust streaks. If they are there the windshield base has rusted through (attaches to the dash).

There is also likely a nice collection of crap in the doors. Very front bottom is the water trap of choice there.

Looks like a nice original car. It appears to still have the factory pin strip on it (you RARELY see this anymore). If you can, get a shot of the body plate (right rear frame rail in engine compartment) and we can look up the options it came with. It has the bumberettes, likely original, it would be interesting to see what else it came with. It also looks like he added shoulder belts also (not an original option).

I would tend to agree with not painting it also (getting a close up view might change that). Seems like such a nice original car.

Fully restored, it might push $15,000. With a paint job, definitely sub $10,000. Probably more 7-8.

Of note also: If you are planning on flipping it. Anyone in the know would MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH prefer the car as is, rather then painted. Putting a crappy coat of paint on Corvairs is sadly rather common (no resale, so no effort put in) and many have been burned by a nice LOOKING car.

I would offer him $4500. He'll take it.

If he's asking $4k, take it. That's a good price.

Basically read what aircooled said. That's pretty sound advice.

The paint is not original unfortunately. The current owner said it was painted some time in the 80's.

My friend owns a nice paint shop and has painted several vehicles for me in the past. He paints lots of classic cars and everything I have seen him paint has been jam up. I was not going to Macao it. The paint job in the pictures is actually an 80's camaro color, not the original crocus yellow color that I will be painting it.

I am budgeting about 2000 dollars for paint which should get be a pretty nice paint job at my hook up price. (keep in mind I flip approximately 20 cars a year and bring him lots of business)

Uh oh.

Like I mentioned, repainted Corvairs can be scary, ESPECIALLY ones showing rust.

I have to say I am suspicious you will just slap another layer of bondo/paint on a very possibly poor base. This saddens me and make me feel (potentially) sorry for the guy who buys it off you.

Have you budgeted for the rust repair or is this to be another "cover up" job?

Argh...

What aircooled said. Corvairs rust weirdly, and the front fenders, for example, are integral to the body- not bolt on. Since it's a repaint, and not in the original color, I'd say 4k is probably reasonable. Be sure to let us know if you buy it, what lies beneath the 80's hair band respray...

I offered him $4300.00 this morning. He said he would have to think about it. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

That makes everything easier. Now it's just a matter of us convincing you not to let it slip away for $700.

He called me back and told me 5000 is the least he will take. If I was in the market for a corvair to keep long term I would probably step up, but for a toy that I was planning to eventually resell the numbers don't work out. I am going to pass.

If anyone is interested at 5 k let me know and I can pass on his info.