How is the market for old, non-numbers matching muscle cars?

   One of my co-workers decided to make a somewhat drastic life change and purge his fleet of old cars. They've been sitting for over a decade and I'm buying at least one but, the gem of the collection is a '69 Chevelle that started life as a 4-speed manual but was swapped to a hopped up 350 with a similarly built automatic transmission (still has the pedals). It has a bit of rust on the rear wheel arches and some small holes directly behind the rear wheels. The interior is out of the car and the floor pan is solid. A complete interior and all of the little bits and pieces needed to put it back on the road come with it, all that's needed is some elbow grease and it would be a decent, but not perfect, driver for a shockingly cheap price. 

   So, my question is, how are these things, in unoriginal, imperfect, driver shape selling these days? I am out of touch with the market but I'm sorely tempted to buy it, get it driving and flip it.

Stupid.  Like expensive no matter what.  When a 70 Charger with no interior,  and a 1976 mobile home 440 is listed for $18,000, anything is possible. 

In reply to Appleseed :

Mopars are a special consideration, especially B/E-body cars.

I recall seeing that E-body window glass in decent condition was in the $2000 range, twenty years ago.

I would guess that the Chevelle is $15k-20k depending on buyer.

I hope the values are stupid, based on my 67 Camaro that I have mostly together, built from a scrap yard shell.

20 years ago, numbers matching would be an issue.  These days it is only really valuable on a truly unobtainium car. 

If you had a 6-cyl chevelle and swapped in a 350, it's usually worth more than if it were numbers matching "because 350."  If you had an LS6 Chevelle and someone swapped the big block for a 350, it won't be worth quite as much as a true LS6 matching car, but it's still an LS6 and someone will pay crazy money for it.

My 67 LeMans convertible is technically a numbers-matching car, although Pontiac didn't do the numbers really.  They had two-digit block codes.  I'm going to yank the original engine and drop an LQ9/LS6 and a T56 in it.  I didn't buy a GTO because I didn't want to worry about over-paying for what basically amounts to the same starting point just to get the Goat badge.

Get what you want.  If you were to restore it without the numbers-matching block, it doesn't matter much to resale value.

Buy it if you love it but don't buy it planning to flip it and make some money.

"A few holes" is a lot of rust, trust me on this.

If it still has three pedals but an automatic, then I guarantee you that the swap was done half-assed.

The shifter probably barely works and it likely won't have the backdrive linkage installed to make the switch in the column work properly. 

Are you sure the interior is complete? All the little bits and brackets will drive you mad if they're missing. 

Sitting for over a decade more than likely means new master cylinder and wheel cylinders, possibly soft lines.

The fuel tank will be full of what used to be gas. If you try to run it on that stuff, there's a good chance you will stick a valve in the guide. 

Carburetor will need to be gone through.

Sorry to be a wet blanket but these things are what absolutely kill the budget on project cars.

In reply to The_Jed :

Cars are not cash registers. You don't turn them on and money comes out. Good money is from cars that are either well done or well maintained. To turn junk into cash is hard work. Where only skill and taste are well rewarded. 

It is still going to be worth $18,000 or more because 1969 Chevelle.

Now if it was a 1972 Chevelle, maybe two thirds that.

I think that the '69 Chevelle would be a safe gamble. 

Is it a base model Chevelle, or a Malibu, or an SS?  Coupe or convertible?  What engine was in it originally, a straight six, a 307, 350, 396?   A bucket seat car or bench seat?  All those things make a difference.

This from the Hagerty price guide website:

• #1 Concours $27,100

• #2 Excellent $21,100

• #3 Good $16,300

• #4 Fair $11,800 

Value Adjustments

-50% for 6-cyl. +15% for 4-spd.

It sounds like this car is a non-runner, so  the value is probably going to be something below that Fair value.

I have no idea what the cost would be to get a useable 4 speed back into the car, but it would seem to me like that would be one way that the car's value could be increased, and it would probably be a good chance to undo some bad swap aspects that the car has currently.  

It also sounds like it should be cheap for you to pick up as it needs a lot of love and parts.

Well somebody else snagged it while I was busy researching, trying to line up parts to swap it back to a manual transmission, and trying to assuage my own trepidation at taking on another big project and the high potential for scope creep and/or failure.

What was a "shocking cheap" price? 

The_Jed said:

Well somebody else snagged it while I was busy researching, trying to line up parts to swap it back to a manual transmission, and trying to assuage my own trepidation at taking on another big project and the high potential for scope creep and/or failure.

You can console yourself with the thoughs of that someone else discovering just how much work it turns out to be to weld quarter panels on and make it look good.

You probably dodged a bullet, honestly.

It's true that if the car was dirt cheap (like a couple grand or less) you could've made money, but you would have had to put a lot of work in it to do so. And I mean A LOT. I'm nowhere near even half done with my Trans Am, and I've had that for 19 YEARS now. Also, add in that not only have cars gotten pricey, but the resto parts to fix them have also shot through the roof. And that's even if you can get them at all! The pandemic has been every resto parts manufacturer's excuse to raise prices and scarcity whether it's warranted or not. I've seen lead times for some parts out YEARS now, and you have to pay now to "lock in the current price". It's really made me want to finally give up on my Trans Am and send it down the road, to be honest.

In reply to Tony Sestito :

^Many good points there.

Old cars are old.

Yeah but they can be very cool too
This coming from a guy working on his restomod '69 Cougar right now.   

got any pics?

You'll probably do fine on this deal if you play your cards right.

67LS1 said:

What was a "shocking cheap" price? 

$5,000 for everything including a spare transmission, seats, big block headers and coil springs, etc.

These days that is cheap.

In reply to frenchyd :

Many so called "collectors" that pretend to be "car guys" used them as such for years. 
I just never understood how they could consider them selves as car guys. 
you are right that it SHOULD be that way, but it isn't always. 

I am disturbed at the number of people who want to buy my '75 Duster with a Slant-6. It has the big bolt pattern wheels, front discs, and manual brakes. Rust free too. But definitely not a muscle car. Just a clean survivor. My guess is the next owner will do an engine swap to V8 power of some kind.