im looking to buy one, but they have an “as is” policy, so i cant give a test drive, its runs, sounds good and it has a 350, small block v8…what you guys think?
It’s just about impossible to say without seeing the car and knowing the condition. Also, a car like this will bring whatever someone is willing to pay for it.
My car guide, which is a few years old, shows that a 71 in one of the following 2 conditions will bring:
No. 3 - a very clean and running well car can bring around 9 grand.
No. 4 - a decent condition car that is running will bring 7-8 grand.
If it’s an RS/SS, etc. then add 35% to that. Or more.
These cars are becoming, and have become, somewhat desireable since 90% of them have been wrecked or trashed.
The best way to evaluate a reasonable price on it is to also check comparable cars on eBay and Hemmings Motor News. With the former, many people on eBay expect a super nice car for a junk price and with the latter they may expect way too much for the car. You’ll just have to do some averaging.
If this car is an RS or SS then it will bring much bigger bucks. A plain Jane will bring less, but it’s still a collectible car. What is it, what condition, and what do they want for it?
its not an ss or anything, but they want $4900 for it, it runs pretty good, the body has a couple dents here and there, nothing major though, interior is great, except the driver seat is ripped up, but no big deal…so thats basically it, you think its wirth that much?
Why can’t you test drive it, again?
They may not let you test drive it but I don’t see why they can’t give you a test ride with the seller behind the wheel.
If the car is pretty much rust free, and considering it’s 350 powered, a few dents would not be a deal killer to me even on a plain Camaro. It sounds like a very fair price to me. I looked at a '73 in Tulsa, OK about 3-4 years ago and they were rock solid on 5 grand for that car. It also smoked and rust was taking a good hold on the trunk and rear quarters.
Dents are no problem; rust can be.
Heck, remove the dents, apply some flashy paint and decal kit, and you’ve got an RS or SS clone.
For comparison purposes, you could weigh it against these. (And ignore any super-duper ones with a scrap price as those cars generally do not exist except to a scammer or someone who will pull the auction at the last minute if the bidding does not go up like they wished it would.)
http://motors.search.ebay.com/1971-camaro_Cars-Trucks_W0QQcatrefZC6QQfromZR4QQsacatZ6001
Nada price guide gives a low retail price guide of $6,756, from your description I’d guess the car you are describing fits into this bracket. But without seeing the car it’s impossible to estimate.
If I were interested in the car, I’d focus on the body / chassis state rather than the mechanicals. Provided you can swing a wrench, nothing on that car is particularly challenging and everything is doable yourself, as long as everything is basically sound, the engine has no knocks or smoke, the transmission shifts correctly and the axle doesn’t whine or clunk you should be okay.
But bodywork is beyond most people and panels for that car won’t be cheap.
You can put a good engine in a sound body, building a sound body around a good engine is a much more expensive proposition. A lot of people get this backwards for some reason.
You can’t drive it, but you can thouroughly inspect the steelwork, trunk floor, chassis rails, floor pans, rot in the bottom of the firewall, accident damage, bent rails - all that stuff. Check for engine / transmission leaks while your down there, check the prop shaft for excessive play in the driveline, you would do this anyway.
But I wouldn’t be that interested if I couldn’t see it run at that price.
Don’t any of these people have a driving license or something ?
You are actually considering buying a car that the owner will not let you test drive or have inspected. Run away from any deal like that. An “As Is” policy does not mean no test drive, it only means that once you buy it and drive it off the lot, it is all yours. You can’t bring it back next week.
Have any of you guys tried to sell a used car lately?? The market is DEAD. Check E-bays COMPLETED car auctions. 80% of the listed cars do not sell. The ones that DO sell are going for WAY below book value. The credit meltdown is spreading into every market…
Which means that the seller should be letting the buyer do everything short of take it home for the week if they expect it to sell. I assume we’re talking about a [max] 10,000 dollar street car here, not a 50,000 dollar show car.