[davepl]

Spoke to the dealer this morning, and he offered to completely refund the purchase, which I think is a good offer. I said I would take the car for $28,500 (they originally listed it at $42,500, and I had paid $38,500). He said that have $37K into the car, but would refund $5000. I asked for $6000 back to make it $32,500. They mulled it for a while and agreed, on the condition that I sign a waiver indicating the vehicle was sold in "as-is" condition.

He seemed pretty confident that he could sell the car without the trim tag for $35K, which might be true. He's placing a lot of value on the fact that it has a 396 (numbers matching or not), but i've got a 396 under my workbench, so I guess I don't think of them as that valueable! Maybe I should starting buying 307 cars, sticking 396s in them and with $50 in badges from Year One, turn a profit :-)

In the end, regardless of what happened originally, I think these guys were pretty much a class act in their followup. They were polite, cordial, returned calls and answered emails, and of course, offered to revoke the deal at my choice. I'd have no hestitation buying from them again, though I'd place a lot less faith in the what the ad said and check things more closely on any car!

I've spent a lot of time researching Camaro values this weekend, and I think $32,500 is a decent price for the car. You can find them cheaper in rougher condition and you can pay a lot more to get numbers matching, but this seems to be a sweet spot.