Sanity check before I buy a 1969 Coupe

[foothilltom]

Howdy folks,

My son and I are knee-deep into a restoration of a 69 coupe (bought it for $1500) and are realizing every day how much more this baby needs to get back into shape. We're looking to create a Driver from our efforts.

I should stop looking at ads, but I recently found another 69 which appears to be in really great shape (the deluxe interior is especially nice) and the body is straighter than the one we already bought. They're both 302's, so mechanically they're equivalent. They both need paint and mine needs body work.

The main difference is the prospective 69 has a salvage title.

My question is: does $2500 sound reasonable for a 69 salvage that runs, has a straight body, and excellent interior?

I'm thinking about restoring both or perhaps just having a "better car" available to guide our restoration efforts on the original one. Part of me thinks I'm crazy for considering another project to sit in the driveway.

Am mostly wondering what the "salvage" title does for resale and if folks think $2500 is reasonable. Thanks!

Tom

 

[bnickel]

Howdy folks,

My son and I are knee-deep into a restoration of a 69 coupe (bought it for $1500) and are realizing every day how much more this baby needs to get back into shape. We're looking to create a Driver from our efforts.

I should stop looking at ads, but I recently found another 69 which appears to be in really great shape (the deluxe interior is especially nice) and the body is straighter than the one we already bought. They're both 302's, so mechanically they're equivalent. They both need paint and mine needs body work.

The main difference is the prospective 69 has a salvage title.

My question is: does $2500 sound reasonable for a 69 salvage that runs, has a straight body, and excellent interior?

I'm thinking about restoring both or perhaps just having a "better car" available to guide our restoration efforts on the original one. Part of me thinks I'm crazy for considering another project to sit in the driveway.

Am mostly wondering what the "salvage" title does for resale and if folks think $2500 is reasonable. Thanks!

Tom

generally a salvage title kills the value of the car. i would wonder what happened for it to need a salvage title personally. however, it could be a good parts car especially for that deluxe interior. you could buy it, swap the interior and whatever other parts you need over to your car and then resell the new one to recoup some of that money. converting to a deluxe interior is expensive, ask me how i know.

 

[2+2=cool]

Go for it! I think it's a good price. Like the previous message said you could use it as a parts car or I think you should hang on to it and fix it up later. Send photos of it when you get a chance. Good luck!

 

[Pakrat]

A salvage title does kill a cars value for sure, I know, my car was totalled 4 years ago. The only reason I am rebuilding it is because I got a very nice settlement and my car is titled in Massachusetts but I live in NH where they do not title cars this old and as such no salvage title could be issued. If that wasn't the case I would of sadly walked away from my car and not spent every last dime (and then some unfortunately) building it bigger, stronger and faster than ever before.

If you think you can and will swap out all the stuff, get enough off of it to make it worth the investment and then sell it later to make back some of the money and get ahead on the deal then I say go for it, otherwise just buy the parts new/used as you need them.

 

[bnickel]

A salvage title does kill a cars value for sure, I know, my car was totalled 4 years ago. The only reason I am rebuilding it is because I got a very nice settlement and my car is titled in Massachusetts but I live in NH where they do not title cars this old and as such no salvage title could be issued. If that wasn't the case I would of sadly walked away from my car and not spent every last dime (and then some unfortunately) building it bigger, stronger and faster than ever before.

If you think you can and will swap out all the stuff, get enough off of it to make it worth the investment and then sell it later to make back some of the money and get ahead on the deal then I say go for it, otherwise just buy the parts new/used as you need them.

another option is that if you keep the car you could always fix it up some later and use it as a driver provided that whatever work was done to it after the slavage title was issued (assuming it was somehow damaged) was done right and you could have 2 69 coupes one for you and one for your son. you won't be able to resell it for a bunch because of the salvage title but if you just want a cheap classic cruiser it could work fine, again depending on it's current condition.