Re: 1957 Corvette identificaiton issue
Harold,
It's hard to guess the value or salvage value of any car without seeing it. Run away if what you want is an NCRS show car, but it's ridiculous to think any 1957 (or '56) Corvette has no or very little value.
There's no doubt that the missing VIN plate hurts it, but it might be possible to get a new plate. It gets into an area of some disagreement, and you would want to check your state's rules, but there are those who reproduce the plates if it can be firmly established that it's a legitimate case of just a lost plate. They're about $300. Lots of plates are lost from C1 Corvettes. Especially '61s and '62s, when they tend to fall off of the columns. I've come across 4 old Corvettes in the past 2 years with no VIN plates. If there's little history with the car it's more concerning, but you know where this car has been for the past 40 years. The '56 frame is certainly a complication, but it's not the only old Corvette that ever had it's frame swapped. I've done it myself. The reason for the long-ago swap would be interesting, though that's when we did it (about 40 years ago). And we're not thieves, and neither the '56 nor the '57 in our case was severely damaged. Has the body on this car been damaged? Has the hole for the radio just been patched? Did it appear to have ever had a heater? Is there insulation on the inside of that heater block-off plate? They all have stories, and it sounds like this one would have some pretty good ones. Does the widow know any of it's prior history? How did you see the stamp on the frame rail? If you bought it and you were going to sell it you would want to reveal that the frame had been changed, but until then who's going to know? It really makes little difference unless you're going to sell or try to top flight it. As long as you can legally title it where you live.
If the title says it's '57 #29** it's going to be pretty complicated to make it into a '56, and I would argue that it's best to keep it a '57. I'm not impartial... I own '57 #2986. Obviously you would want to be sure you could title it wherever you're taking it, but where I live if an old Corvette has a good title it can be transferred.
I think it sounds interesting despite the VIN problem. Some work and expense to put it on the road, but probably worth the effort. It might not ever be a show car... at least not NCRS, but it's not like it's worthless. You could probably even part it out and do pretty well. I don't have enough information to guess, but I'd say about $25,000. If you don't want it I might. Todd
Harold,
It's hard to guess the value or salvage value of any car without seeing it. Run away if what you want is an NCRS show car, but it's ridiculous to think any 1957 (or '56) Corvette has no or very little value.
There's no doubt that the missing VIN plate hurts it, but it might be possible to get a new plate. It gets into an area of some disagreement, and you would want to check your state's rules, but there are those who reproduce the plates if it can be firmly established that it's a legitimate case of just a lost plate. They're about $300. Lots of plates are lost from C1 Corvettes. Especially '61s and '62s, when they tend to fall off of the columns. I've come across 4 old Corvettes in the past 2 years with no VIN plates. If there's little history with the car it's more concerning, but you know where this car has been for the past 40 years. The '56 frame is certainly a complication, but it's not the only old Corvette that ever had it's frame swapped. I've done it myself. The reason for the long-ago swap would be interesting, though that's when we did it (about 40 years ago). And we're not thieves, and neither the '56 nor the '57 in our case was severely damaged. Has the body on this car been damaged? Has the hole for the radio just been patched? Did it appear to have ever had a heater? Is there insulation on the inside of that heater block-off plate? They all have stories, and it sounds like this one would have some pretty good ones. Does the widow know any of it's prior history? How did you see the stamp on the frame rail? If you bought it and you were going to sell it you would want to reveal that the frame had been changed, but until then who's going to know? It really makes little difference unless you're going to sell or try to top flight it. As long as you can legally title it where you live.
If the title says it's '57 #29** it's going to be pretty complicated to make it into a '56, and I would argue that it's best to keep it a '57. I'm not impartial... I own '57 #2986. Obviously you would want to be sure you could title it wherever you're taking it, but where I live if an old Corvette has a good title it can be transferred.
I think it sounds interesting despite the VIN problem. Some work and expense to put it on the road, but probably worth the effort. It might not ever be a show car... at least not NCRS, but it's not like it's worthless. You could probably even part it out and do pretty well. I don't have enough information to guess, but I'd say about $25,000. If you don't want it I might. Todd
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