WIW - 67 Firebird 400

[jeffschevelle]

New to the forum. Go easy on me for my user name!! It's the one I use on all the other sites and I didn't want to have to memorize a new one!

I own a number of 65-67 Chevelles and a 67 Camaro, but now I've bought a 67 Firebird 400 from a friend. I don't think I overpaid, but am hoping you guys can give me an idea on value of the car so I know for sure.

White, red Custom interior, mostly original paint (most of it is worn off, there are a couple places that have had spot work, and looks like the entire passenger door was probably painted at some point) and all original interior. Body will need a patch panel around the driver's side quarter wheel opening and the lower area behind the wheel. May be easier to skin it, but the quarter is good everywhere else so I would prefer to save as much of the original as possible. Needs a very small patch behind the other rear wheel and small patches in the bottoms of both front fenders. Left rear floor pan is soft. The rest of the body is in great condition, and the trunk floor is especially nice with original spatter paint. The original space saver tire (without inflator can) is there along with the original jack. But unfortunately the jack was left outside of the trunk for some period and has some surface rust. The base is nice though.

Interior needs repairs to the front upper seat covers (the original bottoms and the inserts of the tops are nice and could be retained), carpet, door panels, package tray and dash pad. Rear fold down seat is nice.

#-matching compelte engine (serial # matches the PHS report) came with the car but is not in the car and needs to be rebuilt. It has a 68 GTO 400 engine in it now, with 300 miles on a rebuild. It was put in the car about 20 years ago and driven briefly and then the car was then parked. Carb is not original, but everything else is there including distributor and manifolds. Car was running 5 years ago, but the gas is sour so needs to be flushed out and carb rebuilt before trying to crank it.

Trans is manual 3-speed on the floor. Haven't checked the #'s yet, but that's what the cowl tag and PHS report say it came with, so is likely the original. (If it was ever replaced it would probably have gotten a 4-speed at that point.)

Original axle is 3.23 safe-t-trak code UT with the two traction bar mounts, which matches the PHS report. But it is out of the car and taken apart. The prior owner said the locker unit was sticking and he was going to rebuild it, but all he did was take it apart and never got any farther with the project. It has another 67 Firebird rear in it now, which is an open rear (ratio unknown as the only stamp I can find is an X without a second letter) with the two traction bar mounts. All the traction bar stuff is there.

Now for the best part -- the options!! All of which are still present and are confirmed original on the PHS report --

400
Safe-T-Trak axle
Power steering
Power brakes
Air conditioning
Custom interior
Custom seatbelts
Console
Power windows
Tilt wheel
AM-FM radio with front antenna
Fold down rear seat
Remote control outside mirror
Luggage lamp (which the original buyer had the dealer remove and replace with the one that rolls out to be used outside of the trunk)

Why the original buyer wanted all that with a 3-speed manual is beyond me, but that's how she came!

Below are a couple pictures including the bad quarter and the good one. Any opinions are welcome - including what it is worth as it sits and what it would be worth properly restored. I know all the pitfalls of restoration costs and hidden problems, so I can put a pretty good restoration cost estimate on it, but have no idea what the market is for these cars when correctly redone.

Thanks!

 

[melsg5]

for prices i would check www.collectorcarmarket.com , the car is towards the 4 or even 5 area I would say from the pictures. If you need parts try www.amesperf.com and www.performanceyears.com

 

[jeffschevelle]

Thanks. I never trust those online value sites though. In my experience with Chevelles, they are more often way off the mark (whether it be high or low) than they are on point. For example, according to that site a fully restored #1 condition 67 Ram Air car would only be worth $26,600. That seems low to me for such a rare car. But then again, I don't know Pontiacs so maybe my gut is wrong on that

As to the condition of this car, isn't 5 considered a parts car not worthy of restoration? This is a complete #-matching big-block car needing much less than the usual sheet metal patch work. I really hope the Firebird collector world doesn't consider that to be a car that ought to be parted out. If so, I definitely paid too much for it!!

Thanks again.

 

[melsg5]

26k was for a convertible. the coupe with that engine and trani as a #1 is $27,550. The link below explains their numbering system. How do you determine the market value of a Chevelle, you have a reliable source? Just for your info, the Pontiac world unlike Chevy has no big block small block distinction. Same basic block and heads grew over the years.

http://collectorcarmarket.com/adv/prcpgs/condguide.html

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[jeffschevelle]

OK, thanks. Some valuation guides I've seen list 5 as a parts car and 4 as what this guide lists as a 5. Sorry for my confusion. And sorry for the big block slip of the tongue!

The $26,600 figure I listed before is their $19,000 value for a #1 condition 2-dr hardtop, plus their 40% adjustment for the Ram air. $19K x 1.4 = $26,600. Which I would have thought that amount (or even $27,550 for that matter) would be way low for a one of 65 built.

But if that website is right then I may have dove into the deep end of the pool here too quickly with the Bird! Probably should sell the old girl before sinking retoration costs into it, because a top-notch restoration with NOS parts (even if mostly done myself other than the paint and machine shop work) will cost me about what they say the finished product will be worth!

On Chevelles, my source for values is by being plugged in with a large group of guys who are constantly buying and selling good cars, ranging from good projects to top end survivors to concourse restored. The old adage of "it's worth whatever someone will pay for it" works really well when you know what people are actually paying. I just have no idea what people are actually paying for Firebirds.

I spot checked some of the collectorcarmarket website prices on top end 66-67 Chevelles, and they seem to be well below what those cars are routinely trading for, with the discrepancy being larger the more rare the model is (such as solid lifter L78 cars). They list a 66 L78 at around $55K, while I'm aware of at least 2 changing hands in private (non-auction) sales in the last 3 years north of $200K. So just a tad off!

Thanks again for the help.

 

[melsg5]

You made me curious so I looked at www.nada.com for the 66 Chev. 4spd and got a price of $81,745.

Then I tried your bird, 400, 4sp, AC, rally wheels and got a price of $53,475