I hate to make a thread like this, but I'm not getting anywhere anywhere else.
I have a '67 Pontiac LeMans convertible. My father bought it new for my mother for Christmas in '66. 326/2bbl/Powerglide, currently red with a parchment interior and good black replacement top.
It's a high-mileage car that has been driven. I got it from my mother in 1982 or so and with my father's help did a decent amateur restoration. At that point we changed the original color from Champagne Gold to the correct Rallye Red, including the door jambs/trunk/hidden areas, interior out, top off, etc. Fixed the body rust pretty well, but with Bondo, not steel, since it was 1982 and repro panels didn't exist.
The car has about 270,000 on it. Engine was thoroughly rebuilt at about 195,000 and looked great inside. Runs pretty well and consistently. I had the trans rebuilt with new TC about 3,000 miles ago; it was not well done and could use some massage, but it works and shifts fine. Leaks a bit at the main seal.
The car is complete but it's got some dings and the RR quarter was lightly hit, plus a bit of rust returning on the 25+ year old resto. Coupled with the old Bondo, you'd want to replace it. It had some frame rust which was reinforced, but will want attention again.
Been garaged for the last 18 years or so, during which it's covered maybe 5,000 miles. I haven't driven it in a year or more but it starts up and runs fine with minor coaxing.
What it really needs is a good frame-off restoration, which of course it is not worth because it is not a GTO (that's another story).
The real problem is that even though I'm emotionally attached to this car, I've lost interest in it as a vehicle. I'd really rather have a track rat / dedicated autocrosser.
Since I haven't really done anything in the last 15 years but drive it occasionally when the weather is nice, I have absolutely no idea what it would be worth. It needs work, but it's 42 years old and that counts.
I've looked at ads but all I can find are GTOs which are insane no matter what condition, and LeMans that have been restored into bastardized GTOs.
So if I wanted to sell this car to fund a different project, what would it bring? Any guesses within an order of magnitude will be welcomed.
began life as a parts car for my buddy's GTO. I convinced him it was too nice to scrap so we did a budget resto on it. Beautiful car. Not at all fast (326/powerglide). I really, really liked this car but as the OP stated, the driving experience just wasn't that rewarding. We did this car over 15 years ago and I know it sold for over $5000 then, and it was only a hardtop. The ridiculous rise in GTO prices have dragged the LeMans and Tempest models up with them. Any convertible is really money in the bank. I think I may have sold my '65 Skylark ragtop far too cheap a few years ago but I needed money and space more than I needed to make a killing. Being a convertible makes all the difference to driving these, IMO. I find the top-down joy easily negates the lack of sportiness. It's nice to sometimes just leisurely drive and enjoy the day, and American convertible beat sports cars in this regard handily. No wind buffeting. No tractor suspension. I've got other cars for that purpose.
