How much to paint a corvette? [Archive] - Father Larry's Corvette Shop

fatherlarry

11-14-2003, 07:40 PM

Since this is a question relating to auto body, I am moving this to the auto body section.

In general collectibles, not only in automobiles, but other types of collectibles, are always worth more as a virgin. In other words, untouched. Unfortunately, not everyone has the money or the time in life to wait to hold on to an original in perfect condition. Just like some artwork, after time, they start to detiorate, get filmed with age, cracks and need to be restored by professionals. Just like a piece of artwork, the same goes for an automobile. Even stored in the proper conditions, the materials have a tendency to start shrinking, drying out, cracking etc. If they are restored to as close to factory as possible, it will not de-value it. A piece such as yours will start to appreciate after twenty years, and these are the factors that collectors take into consideration - the amount of cars that were produced in a particular year, the popularity of the car, and the characteristic of the cars options eg. certain options produced for limited time only, such as color, engine options, suspension options etc.

It is possible that the crossfire engine that you have, being it was only produced in 1982 and in 1984, may be looked upon as a rare Corvette. Only time will tell.

If you have the car painted the original color and it is done exceptionally well, it may not be worth as much as a low mileage, untouched one, but decrease in value should be minimal.

As far as paint work is concerned, there are a lot of autobody shops, and very high end restoring shops that give the time and attention needed to restore automobiles. If you want to have your car repainted and you have a certain dollar figure in mind, then you are going to get what you pay for (period). Good luck on your decision. I would recommend B&S autobody for quality work, but they might be a little bit out of your league dollar wise.