A 1970 SS restore/tidy up for sale

[Cambo]

Hello, My name is Cam and I have been asked by my dear friend to fix up/semi restore her 70SS in order to sell it. Someone has done some work to the car previously so my friend and I will have the task of fixing their screw-ups unfortunately . The rear quarters were replaced and not done right and the roof was replaced with the wrong colour vinyl as far as I can tell from the build sheet. The build sheet says color is 50 H -19 , I believe the 50 is Gobi Beige and the H I believe is for the vinyl roof as Dark Gold, can anyone tell me what the -19 is for? Also from what I read , both these colors are 1 year only colors, will that add to the cars value?

The car is missing a few things like the rear air shocks and related parts, how much will this effect the value?

Is there a place I can find out what the car is worth in todays market? I have recently read that the MC SS has finally started seeing the prices it deserves! 1 Car I saw sold at auction (Mecums I think) for over $100K, granted it was a high end restoration to new condition. I do not have the budget to do that level of restoration but the work we do will be very well done for sure, my friend is an aircraft mechanical engineer (structures) and paints them as well!

I will post some pictures after I recover a bit more from my knee replacement (and the snow goes away!)

thanks for your input/help guys!

 

Cam

[Dtret]

Waiting for pictures. Welcome by the way. 

[Rob Peters]

My first question is what does the car look like as it sits.  If you are planning to do a restoration on the car you may be better off to sell it "As Is" because you will never sell it for what it is going to cost to restore it.  Without pictures it is impossible to give an estimate of the estimated value of it as it sits.  A lot of things come into play:

• Any visible or hidden rust issue?
• interion condition?
• original motor?
• original transmission?
• options?
• condition of the undercarriage?
• any alterations?
• mileage?

On a restoration you can never get out of it what your put into it.  When buying a car it is always cheaper to buy one already restored than try to restore one to sell.

rob

[MC1of80]

Like Rob said, post pics of the way it is now. How much for the way it sits now? Options? Where is it located? 

[Cambo]

thanks for the input guys!

I am aware that restoring a car like this is not going to pay me back however, the owner is basically giving me half of whatever the car sells for. Having said that, it is not why I want to do the work but to help her out. This car was her and her late husbands "baby" and now when she looks at it it is nothing but a painful reminder of her loss.

I will post pictures as soon as I am able.

On a funny note, I was looking at how to decifer the build sheet and noticed the example (from this forum) was of a car sold from Legion Motors in Mission BC ,Canada, my old town lol!!!

[Cambo]

Here is the build sheet for the car( a copy, she has the original at home)

[Rob Peters]

Wow, that is the first engine block heater option I have seen on one.  

rob

[Dtret]

Well optioned car. As said, if you sell it as is, cash in hand will be less but you won’t have anything out of pocket either. I’d like to see pictures. Someone like me may be better off restoring that one than the pos70 I’m working on. Just a thought. 

[1970mcss]

Good thought, pictures are the key. I might be looking for a project but would really like to find a 4 speed

[willie]

Hey Cameron, Welcome to the club.  What a great optioned car!!!   I agree with the others. Saying a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush. I am sure you know how much work it is to restore these cars. I for one know it. I would take what you can now especially after knee surgery. You might make more by selling her now then after you restore her to her original beauty and then settle on less of what you could have had before. Remember all these parts are getting harder and harder to find and more expensive when you do. Being you are from BC i will be guessing most of your OEM parts will be even more expensive getting them across the border. 

Not telling you what to do, just giving you a touch of what will be. Good Luck in your endeavor and we are ALL here to help when you need us!!

[Dtret]

Something else to keep in mind. When a car, or anything for that matter, gets restored in brings the number of potential buyers down because the asking price goes up. Obviously. Some will say “ I would have done it this way” others will you should have done this or that. It’s going to be hard to please someone when they are spending a bunch ( hopefully) of money. An unrestored, as is will give all potential buyers the chance to see it in unmodified condition then they can see what they want to do. Just more food for thought. 

[Cambo]

So sorry I have not put pictures up yet, got side tracked.

I am confused as to why anyone would think a restored car is worth less than unrestored???? The car is not in it's original color  so it's not like it is an unmolested car needing resto. The car has headers and after market valve covers but I have the originals and they will be going back on the car.

Can I get some feed back regarding colors, how important do you guys think sticking with the original colors is?

I really like the black roof and silver body paint on this vintage. Thoughts?

I would post pics but we are away on vacation,sorry guys

 

[420ponies]

I'd like to see how this is coming along. I must have missed this post . A '70 SS with those options would be a good start to restore in my mind. You said some parts are missing (rear shocks, related items), have you found replacement parts? .Man, an  BBC ,with a 2:73 ratio rear axle, what a cruiser. I'd stick with the original color combo if I was restoring it to original. Have you any pictures of the car from when you got started on it to now? Nice to find a pretty good shape build sheet for that '70.

[DragCat]

I think Dennis summed it up pretty well.

You have the original/stock group especially with build sheets. They want it how it rolled off the line. 

If you make modifications, buyers who don't appreciate them will be thinking how much coin its going to cost to get it to their standards. 

I'm always its your car, do what you want. But knowing that for resale it may end up selling for less which I don't care about. 

 

[Dtret]

It’s not that it’s going to be worth less but if you factor in the true cost to restore or rebuild you may not come out ahead. I’ll use my 71SS as an example. I paid 7500 for the car, put another 30,000 in parts, paint, bodywork and miscellaneous expenses. That’s 37,500. That price does not include the thousands of hours I put into the car. I don’t factor my hours because it’s a hobby and not a job, I believe you’re kinda in that boat. Recently one very, very nice ( nicer than mine) was put on the market for 55,000 and was sold. I’m not downplaying your point at all because I’m doing the same thing on another one, so I get it. You have to do what you feel is the best for you and the owner. 

[Scott S.]

On 3/9/2023 at 5:06 PM, Rob Peters said:

Wow, that is the first engine block heater option I have seen on one.  

rob

It's a "Canadian" thing.   

[Scott S.]

Canuck is fairly close, he might be able to give an idea of what it's going to take to restore your project.

Parts prices aren't horrible, but shipping costs are insane. 

[Canuck]

I'm about 4 hours away from you in Summerland. I just sold a 1971 SS454 to the US a couple weeks ago. I had it listed for sale for $55k USD. It had 88,000 miles, all factory correct equipment, buckets, console, 8-track, build sheet. It was not a perfect car but extremely nice for a car that gets driven often and would hold its own at a car show. Note that people in BC generally don't seem to have enough cash to compete with the US prices and the exchange right now unless you happen to come across the right person. My asking price was literally laughed at by people in BC but had no problem with the price in the US as I had a good amount of serious interest in a short time early this year. As for paint colour, mine had a colour change but it was still a factory optional colour and didn't hurt the value. I think as long as it is a colour that is pleasing it may not hurt the sale price. In my case it was originally Rosewood with a white vinyl top but was changed to Classic Copper with no vinyl top. The quality of paint on that car made it pop which helped.

[Canuck]

On 3/9/2023 at 3:04 PM, Cambo said:

On a funny note, I was looking at how to decifer the build sheet and noticed the example (from this forum) was of a car sold from Legion Motors in Mission BC ,Canada, my old town lol!!!

That's the build sheet for my 1970 Monte Carlo. I have owned it since 1996. I saw it in Surrey one day when I was 19 and loved it. It just happened to be for sale. 🙂

I grew up in Ladner and also lived in Langley/Cloverdale areas before moving to the Okanagan in 2007.