Avanti Values?

[mfg]

Loooong story short:

1) Do your homework

and…

2) Keep in mind the old adage….

’There’s nothing more expensive than a cheap Avanti!!’

[Bob Preston]

2 hours ago, aardvark said:

You can easily get hosed if walking into a deal with an emotional bent and a "Gotta have it!" attitude.

Definitely. For someone who has to have the car, or is willing and able to spend without limits just for the sake of a restoration, none of the above applies. 
 

I have copies of receipts for the work performed on one of the vehicles I considered that total about $35K and that work was done 12-13 years ago. The 2 big ticket items were new paint and an engine rebuild. The paint was good, but far from flawless and there were a number of other issues that needed to be addressed, at least at the price point.

On another one the seller claimed to have receipts totaling $57K which included an engine rebuild and new paint in a non-original color, also about 12 years ago. For me, a repaint in anything other than the original color gets a substantial reduction in value, even if it’s a flawless paint job. It does create a unique and personalized car, however, I believe radical modifications can limit the number of potential buyers, regardless of how cool they may be. In this case, I discussed with the seller that the price was appropriate for that car with the correct color paint, which to me meant that it would need to be repainted in order to achieve that value. I offered just $3500 less than the asking price (much less than the cost of a quality paint job) but that was $1500 below the lowest price they were willing to accept. I wouldn’t come up because there would have been added expenses in a trip to see the car and have it transported. The color was the dealbreaker. The car was inherited and had mostly sat in storage for the past 12+ years. Now it continues to sit due to an emotional attachment. 
 

This, of course, touches on the sellers perspective. If there’s an emotional or sentimental connection for the seller they may want to reconsider the idea of listing the car for sale.