Value of 68 L78

[427king]

1968 L78 camaro Blue/black 37K miles,paperwork car[window sticker and POP] with nom motor. gauges, tilt, am fm ,m22,373 posi,buckets,vinyl top ,frame off 1999,few miles since. Not a 100 point car but a complete rust free body. any ideas on value??

[Hylton]

Zedder would know. He's been keeping an eye on the market for these.

[csx289]

Chuck,

I bought a similar 68 about 4 months ago. L78, M22, red/red, POP, tons of docs, console, gauges, awesome survivor type 40k mile car with original drivetrain and sheetmetal. Smog and original manifolds in a box where they have been since March of '68. Orange paint still on manifolds! Paid $75k. Had crappy old 1980's repaint so it is out getting stripped and painted correctly and detailed.

I paid up because of the red/red combo, M22, docs, and original drivetrain. Probably going overboard on the cosmetics as well so may have passed up the TMV of the car by the time I am done?

So imho perhaps a NOM car is 20% less? Paint color a deduct of 5% over red (debatable of course)? Call a nice older frame-off comparable in value to an unrestored car? So I'm saying in the 60k range, but really in the end it boils down to are you buying it for future profit (ie, need to buy it "right"), or buying it because you like it and want to have some fun with it and don't care if you get all your chips back when you sell?

My $.02... let us know what you do!

Colin

[AutoInsane]

Colin, I would think being fully restored car would be a bit nicer than a car with a "crappy paint job". I know that I have a 74 CJ5 in my garage that was restored (yes, really restored not just painted!!) in 1995 and it looks 95% as good as it did the day it came out of the shop! (Few miles, dehumidifier, dry garage, cover). Kind of sounds like the Camaro in question car has been treated well since its resto 9 years back.

I kind of can't believe a 68 L78 that needs a paint job and some freshening up went for $75 K!! Aren't the 69's a bit more in demand than the 68's?? Shouldn't a 69 L78 be going for the kind of $$$ you are talking about?? Just curious...

I must admit, you probably know more about car collecting than I ever will so if you are paying up I will be looking for a value increase in 68 L78's in the near future!!

[jus4funn68]

This is an interesting thread since I'm just now finishing the car I started 6 yrs ago. If color truly has any influence on the value, does Corvette Bronze hurt or help the value? It seems to me that the people in the hobby seem to be fond of the color but the Sat. night crusin' crowd has not been. Just curious. Kevin

[camarojoe]

I take Corvette Bronze over red personally.

[mrrec]

[ QUOTE ]
Colin, I would think being fully restored car would be a bit nicer than a car with a "crappy paint job"...........I kind of can't believe a 68 L78 that needs a paint job and some freshening up went for $75 K!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Colin's red/red L78 M22 car is one of the best documented 68s in existance with bulletproof history (it was mine!). With the all original drivetrain, carb, smog (even orig to the car mint wheelcovers!) and low documented miles, it is worth more than any restored similar non-numbers car. Think about it. Can Colin's be restored? Yes. Can a restored, non-numbers, no doc car become documented and get it's orig drivetrain (waiting for the stamping and microwave comments.......)?
Dave

[csx289]

[ QUOTE ]
I kind of can't believe a 68 L78 that needs a paint job and some freshening up went for $75 K!!


[/ QUOTE ]
Chuck asked what others had sold for, so I reported what I paid- good, bad, or otherwise! See below for further explanation:

[ QUOTE ]
I must admit, you probably know more about car collecting than I ever will so if you are paying up I will be looking for a value increase in 68 L78's in the near future!!


[/ QUOTE ]

What I do know about COLLECTING (note: note flipping, trading, or dealing) is that the #1 cardinal rule is buy what you like first and shop by price second. Notice my comments in my post about value really boils down to whether you are looking to "flip" a car and concerned about future profit, OR, if you really LIKE the car and just want it. In my case, I loved Dave's old car, it is just a great old car with incredible docs and history and imho that is something that no restoration, McNeish certification, GM of Canada, or other type of "secondary" after-the-fact paperwork or creative measures can recreate. I love original cars, and I love their stories. I agree a 68 is the "middle child" and not as valuable as a 67 or 69 by any means. But I have a 68 Yenko Camaro which is essentially an L78 car (right?) and this red/red M22 car looks good next to it. Now when I say "crappy old paint", of course, those who know me know I am pretty picky. It was perfectly acceptable to 99% of the people I am sure. But the car had already been repainted so I wasn't worried about taking off original paint, and the car is so outstanding otherwise that I felt it deserved a quality paint job. Back to collecting: My Yenko is fun to drive but has become so valuable that it sometimes is a stressful proposition to take it out and drive in traffic. With the L78 car, I can drive it with a lot less stress and have just as much fun (if not more). Plus, the original owner put on headers and slapper bars in March of 68 so I'm leaving those on because the exhaust really opens the L78 up and I love the "Day 2" aspect of the vintage speed parts that everybody put on these things but few do after a restoration. The M22 is one of my favorites, and the original owner special ordered the car with a 3.08 rear so it has "legs" and can go down the freeway a lot better than the Yenko with 4.11's.

So don't look for values of 68 L78/ M22 cars to jump, there isn't some great movement afoot from those "in the know". As stated, if you like a car and want the car, sometimes value is unimportant when considering it. Did I pay too much? Who knows. I did state that I will likely fully exceed the TMV (true market value) with the car, but I don't care. I don't plan on selling it and the premium I paid for it will quickly be forgotten now that nice weather and cruise night season is here and I can have some fun with it. Hopefully this logic makes sense.

And Dave, YES, I agree, the car is awesome!! I too will jump through hoops of fire to take a legitimate heavily documented unrestored car over a restored car. As you know

Colin

[Xplantdad]

We need some pics here

And some video...too! (With the way you drive...it should be interesting!)