While I would love to be out there pulling cars out of barns and garages every day of the week, sometimes that’s easier said than done. For the time being, I will just have to keep living vicariously through all the amazing cars you guys find and drag home. Recently Reader Rick F had a buddy contact him about a Corvette that was parked in a garage. The previous owner drove it sparingly for a number of years, but in ’73 put it on jack stands in their garage and that’s where it stayed until Rick caught wind of it. Even though the car was located on the opposite side of the country, he was able to make a deal with the owner’s family and had his friend dig it out of the garage. It then made the long journey west and is now in Rick’s care.
Here is what Rick has to say about his car: Recently found this 1964 Corvette Coupe on the east coast. Car is an original 327/375HP Fuel Injected car with an RX coded motor, only 1,325 FI cars produced in ’64. Other options include the J40 suspension along with power windows. This car was taken off the road sometime in early ’73 and put into a garage on jack stands until the owners died earlier this summer.
My buddy found/knew of the car and he dug it out and had it sent to me on the west coast. Upon arrival I found an old newspaper under the passenger seat from April of ’73. Car is all there but does not run, although I hooked up a battery to it and the windows rolled down and the lights came on!
My Dad and I are half way through building a ’59 Corvette so we haven’t made the final decision on what to do with this one. If we keep the car it will be a full body off restoration keeping it 100% stock. If we decide to sell the car somebody is going to get a very rare project.
It looks like Rick is a very busy guy, with a ’59 Corvette underway, a ’67 already completed, and now this ’64, if he decides to keep it. He obviously knows his Corvettes, so it sounds like this one is currently in good hands! I hope he will keep us updated on what he decides to do with it and if he keeps it, that he will send us regular updates. And guys keep sending in all your great finds so the rest of us can experience the thrill of the hunt even if it is just vicariously!
I just love hearing stories like this, about the only thing I can add to it is, I wish it were me that found it. I hope he keeps us updated.
I’m with you Don, Something like this never happens to me. I’m so jealous !!!! ;o}
Congrats to Rick and his friend. I would be thrilled to have this car. Seeing the car roll out of the trailer into Rick’s garage after a cross-country trip must have been real satisfying.
The C2 coupe is one of my favorite designs ever, including the ’64s, which are the poor cousins of the C2 group for some reason that I don’t get. I guess because they weren’t the first or last years of the series. So what? They’re all great looking cars. And if some guy sells you one for less because of that so much the better.
I know this car well. It came out of a 30 year storage in a garage in Troy Michigan. The reason it sat so long was that the “owners” were afraid to sell it. A low mile Vette with no door lock, no ignition and the VIN plate chopped off and gone.
Rick F better be careful. The story we heard was that this car was the seller’s (Bob of Troy MI) wife’s car. It was originally her boy friend’s car. He died about 15 / 20 years ago. She remarried and her and her new husband kept the car hidden until selling it earlier this year. I was told (by Bob) that the boy friend had bought it from a seedy Detroit character way back when for $200.00. Other Vette guys had known about this car and the general consensus was that odds were it was a stolen vehicle.
It took me two years to see this vehicle (through a friend ). I was able to determine the VIN# from the engine stamp. I checked all public databases and had my attorney do some checking also. Nothing came up, but all states do not keep records that old. However if our assumptions are true, there may be an insurance company that still has this on its books. I was advised to stay far away from this car.
I’m reminded of the guys who, a few years ago, bought and restored a VW bus and sold it to an overseas buyer. During the export customs ran the VIN# and found that it had been stolen 35 years earlier. They seized it and returned it to the insurance company. (see http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/06/california.stolen.vw/ ) Feds have better databases.
A good lesson to all, if a deal is too good to be true, maybe it’s too good to be true. It may come back and bite you in the end
It can be risky buying a car out of long term storage, especially if there’s little information on it and it lacks a VIN plate. The car does seem to have both door locks, altho a missing lock could have been replaced.
It could be a stolen car, but so far that’s still an assumption. Assuming it has a VIN tag now, the first step I would do would be to run that VIN with the state and see what comes up. If it’s OK, just register it. You haven’t broken any laws buy buying an old car. The worst that could happen is that an insurance company wants the car back.
If it is stolen and the insurance company has a long enough memory to want it back, it could still be possible to recover financially. Show the insurance company the paperwork from your purchase of the car to demonstrate goodwill, and then offer to buy it from them. If the price they want is unreasonably high you could still recover by giving up the car to the insurance company and going after the seller to get back what you paid. Sometimes just a strongly worded letter from a lawyer would do the trick—if you get lucky. Even if you buy the car from the insurance company you can still go after the seller to get your purchase price back.
Sports Car Market runs a column each month written by a lawyer who specializes in litigation on high end cars, and he has discussed this kind of thing. An unsuspecting purchaser can always sue the seller for compensation. However, that can get messy if the seller contests it, and in that case lawyer’s fees/court costs could eat up most or all of the money you get back.
Good advice—-never buy a car without a VIN tag, and if it’s coming out of long term storage like so many cars featured here, run the VIN in the state that it was last registered in before money changes hands.
I always wonder why someone would put a perfectly good car into storage for so long?
This looks like a real candidate for the saying ‘It’s only original once’. Carefully clean it, get it running well with the minimal molesting/refurbishing necessary. It’s far more unique that way and will be worth substantially more in the future than a full resto example. Lots of restos, not many full-on nice originals.
Way too good to restore! This is a survivor.. Lean, preserve and maintain, but please don’t rip it apart and restore everything. Only original once!
I agree 110 percent! Preservation over restoration, especially with this one.
I don’t chime in often. This one should be left original!
I agree …Just clean polish and tune . Beautiful as is.
Ditto from me. And a set of factory alloys.
I usually don’t add 2 cents either, just look around. Bazillion pretty Vettes out there, so that these don’t excite much. However, ONLY ORIGINAL ONCE should win here. Clean, restore and drive!! Best to share as is!!
I agree with Dolphin that the ’64’s seem to be the Rodney Dangerfield (no respect) of the C2 genre. With this car appearing to be an untouched fuelie, there’s lots to like here. I agree with others that this should be brought up to “survivor” status given the provenance and drivetrain option. If it were a 327/300 car with a powerglide…maybe a different story.
I landed a barn find Lotus Elan this year with rough but original paint, which will remain so.
You would be surprised what wet color sanding can do for dead paint along with a team of various rubbing compounds.
As for this corvette….yep……..make it safe to drive………..and that’s it
I don’t get the stigma on the ’64 either.
Wonder what a guy has to pay for an original ’64 Fuelie ‘Vette coming out of storage after 40 years? Too bad about that stupid “code of honor” (unwritten, mind you) where one can’t even ask. Dumb.
I agree! I would also like to know what people pay for there barn finds. I think most people are embarrassed to say because they know they overpaid.
I would also like to know what they paid but i think i would get jealous because I actually thought a lot of sellers (not all) selling these barn finds would not know the true value of their car & they would be happy to get an offer slightly greater than what they paid for it 25-30 years earlier, but I could be wrong.
’64 had all drum brakes, which probably is a factor in less desireable stigma.
Probably less of a factor nowadays, since C2 prices have skyrocketed.
Hope title issue works out, and the car is preserved cosmetically.
Love the color….but……
If “d brok” is on the square there is much to be concerned about here. Taking his statements for true coupled with the unusually propitious “finding” of a hard to find unusually unmolested Vette……..well…..
Then again this is the internet. So my jealousy is tempered.for now
One reason prices are not mentioned could be because this can happen………..
Six years ago I was selling a ’66 K code Mustang fastback. One guy showed up with a big mouth stating……….”I know what you paid when you bought it……….you are not going to make money off of me”.
And so I didn’t………..I made money off of someone else.
love the car but if it has a vin problem i would not be interested. i would want the seller to prove they have the right to sell the vehicle. that said i would love to see this on the road. nice find.
X5 or 6 on don’t do a thing……have one that changed hands with out a vin a few times…..researched it back to a seller that sold it that way – always saying he’d get one…..
Frame off restoration for what? Car is beautiful just like it is. That care just needs a little TLC. You don’t see many all original Vettes this old. Even the paint looks great!