Calling All Corvette Experts

[TimG]

Dave, that's a tough question because without factory paperwork, the value of the rare color lies completely with the trim tag. You really need a trim tag expert to inspect it in person to be sure. If it's not a real trim tag, the car is now worth much less than a true silver/red car or even any color combination. I will tell you this with certainty, the trim tag really needs to be inspected in person by an authority, pictures will just not do the trick on an issue that can mean ten's of thousands of dollars. The pad pictures are critical for the same reasons, the real engine will add thousands to the value of the vehicle. It's kind of like asking for a doctors cancer diagnosis over the internet, he really needs to see the patient in person and do the appropriate tests to make the correct call. Personally, if the car were in my backyard, I'd want to have one or two knowledgeable friends look at the car, I wouldn't trust my own opinion 100%. I've been receiving some calls to look at various cars and verify the correctness of the engine for potential buyers and I think this is lawsuit city, I prefer not to make that kind of call for a potential buyer. I know that I can be fooled and have been in the past. I just can't see making a judgment call for someone so far away when longtime experts have trouble verifying originality and correctness in a judging situation.

I wish I could offer more definite information, to have the car inspected opens the car to other eyes and puts it at risk of being bought out from under you. If the car is just offered so cheap that you can't go wrong, then jump on it. I noticed the rivets on the ID plate look good, but again, a shaky picture. Years ago when cars were cheaper and forgery wasn't so prevalent, you could purchase at somewhat face value, but not today. I know of a Corvette for sale here in town that some widow is selling and it has an ID plate from a passenger car under the dash. I've been asked numerous times by potential buyers from various parts of the country to go look at the car and tell them what I think. I want nothing to do with any part of verifying that car and I hate that some widow is selling a shady car after her husbands tragic and untimely death. I saw the car shortly after he bought it eight years ago and told him to reverse the sale, he didn't.