Hello Camaro folks,
I would like to find out from the forum an estimate of what my grandfathers camaro is worth. It is a 69 Convertible that he claims is an RS/SS (I cannot verify it is true). The car has been sitting behind his house as long as I can remember (early 90s probably) he needed the garage space, drove it around back and the rest is classic car neglect history...
I'm a Ford guy so I don't know that much about this thing other than what he's told me. From what I can tell the car is complete (just not all put together at the moment). He has new fenders and quarter skins hanging up in storage and also a new hood that appears to be in fine shape. I never paid much attention to the car because I figured it was rusted into the ground until recently when I uncovered some of it. I was surprised that what I could see did not look to be in that bad of shape. If there wasn't a 68 mustang convertible already in the garage I'd probably try to fix her up. It has a title.

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Really the best question is what would someone from the forum be willing to pay for it. Do you have the title in hand and it matches the vin number.. It is pretty much a restore deal and its not complete by the pictures but its hard to tell exactly.. The question is what would a ready willing and able buyer pay for a car they have to put 20 to 40 thousand dollars in to, towing, storage etc.. I would say sight unseen the value is 5 to 10 thousand depending on the day etc..

 

I understand what you're saying, the car is a few hours away from me so I can't really have a look at the vin or anything at the moment but he has the title. I just would like to have an idea if we decide to put it up for sale what the current market value is for the car in that condition. I wasn't sure if this particular car is harder to come by and would be more desirable than others or anything like that. It's not complete in the pictures but he has all of the body parts to put the front back together and such...

 

The car is worth at least the sum of it's parts. Hard to tell without getting under it whether or not it's worth the money it'll take to restore. I would take a look at the new fenders and quarter panels that are hanging up. Going back to the early 90's those could be NOS (original GM) parts, as they weren't worth gold back then like they are today.

 

One thing you should know is the process for fixing a rusty convertible is much more involved then the process for fixing a hard top. The floor and rocker panel on a convertible are structural on the rag top and the connection between the rocker panel and the fire wall is a very important part. I have seen cars that looked fine but where found not worth fixing once the fenders were taken off.

Unless the car is super rare or a matching numbers SS most uncared for rag top are not worth the cost to restore them correctly. This is the main reason Dynacorn started selling the rag top bodies. The cost of repairing the bodies was just too high. If you are serious about the car you should have it inspected by someone that knows 1st gen rag tops.
This shows a rag top getting the rocker panel replaced.

 

maybe I should phrase my question differently... I'm not very motivated at the moment to move it down the road because I don't know that much about it. If I find out that it is worth a decent amount to someone-IF it's in good enough condition to restore-I will try to investigate the car further (get it moved and off the ground and give it a thorough inspection and prepare it to sell. The sum of the parts was mentioned... I don't know what this stuff is worth or if original parts are still sought after with all of the aftermarket production these days. if it's a number like 2K I'm probably not going to take the time since it's a few hour drive. If its potentially worth over 5K I'll be a little more motivated to see about getting it some attention. 69 camaros seem to be fairly sought after cars, I wanted to get a little feedback on what the market is for the ones that need this much work. like I said... I'm a ford guy... I have other priorities lol

 

Definitely worth a trip there and check for manufacturers labels on the fenders/quarter panels. They may be aftermarket, but if they're NOS GM's... This will give you an idea of what those alone are worth: 1969 camaro NOS fender | eBay

 

yeah I guess that would be worth a closer look...

 

The answer would be based on the amount of rust in the car. Without knowing the rust level, and how much damage might be on it, it's impossible to determine the value. I think the value could be much more than guesstimated so far, IF the important parts of the chassis are solid, and rockers aren't rotted out, or rear frame rails aren't rotted. If the chassis is good, and it's simply floors and trunk rotted, it's a much more valuable car to start a project with.
And being a '69 makes it the most desirable of 1st gen Camaros, and a convertible, even more so. If it's actually an SS/RS, that's even better. I'd be dropping the gas tank, and pulling seats to see if I could discover a legible build sheet.

 

Also if it is a real RS/SS then the many parts on the car is worth money. The 12 bolt rear is worth 1000-1500, RS head light setup anther $1000. If the frame from the convertible top is good that another 800-1000, heck the original gas cap is $100.

The other option is the Dynacorn Replacement body. If the rust is real bad you could check you States laws about body repair and Vin numbers. Some States allow for Vin numbers to be removed during a major repair but there is a procedure that needs to be followed. I only say this because if you live in one of those States and you can prove RS/SS then the car may be worth more as a project to the right person then the sum of its parts.

http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com...rt_collage.jpg