Fair price for a 1965 356C Cabriolet

[targa80]

I have had the pleasure of seeing a 65 356C cabriolet in a neighbors Garage. The car has been off the road for about 4 years and has approx. 94K on the odometer. The original owner (Female senior citizen) told me that it was running when it was last parked in the garage but needs brakes and front end work. Apparently the car was taken off the road for fear of causing an accident. I feel that she is not really clear on what the real problem is with the car since she has not driven it for a long time. The car was originally blue from the factory but her husband repainted it to red for her probably 10 to 15 years ago. Later in the house I was tod that an after market Air Conditioner was installed but I did not look to see if it was. The car did receive some mior damage from a rear end hit years ago but was repaired. The owner says that the engine and trany are original. There was a lot of oil moisture on the bottom of the engine casing. I asked her if she wanted to sell it but she has a deep love for the car and would love to be able to drive it again. Unfortunately her husband is no longer capable of maintaining the vehicle. I am considering to offer to work on the car for her just so it can be maintained with the hope that when she is ready to part with it that I would be first in line. I know that she did get a kick out of my facial expression (bulging eyes) when I pulled the car cover off to reveal the red beauty underneath. Can the experts on this list give me a ruff ball park on a selling price for the little gem in the ruff. I hope to go back and do a more thorough inspection of the vehicle in the near future.

[Wayne 962]

Carbiolets are a good find, and can fetch $25K in good running condition. Funny about the A/C, I just replied in another post that I have never seen an A/C system installed in a 356 (nor ever heard anyone ever talk about it either, and now there are two posts within minutes of each other!)

Ask her what she'll take for the car in its current condition. You can be a nice guy, but once the thing is running, she won't want to sell it at all, and you probably won't have anything for your time...

-Wayne

[echocanyons]

Good to Excellent Cabs in original condition with a respray should be >20G's and even possibly into the 30's

Steering box comes to mind when you wrote about the front end problems.
These can be rebuilt or traded for a rebuilt one, try NLA or Stoddards or Jim at EASY.

other problems with the front end could be tie rods/ends or braking system

either way it shouldnt be a hard fix these cars are very basic

I would check the usual places for corrosion this would be the main thing to worry about esp on a cab.

GOOD LUCK
post pics when you can!

Kelly

[echocanyons]

ALSO...

Being a 65 makes it easier to work on with the disk brake setup.

And being a 65 makes it one of the last cabs(I dont have numbers handy)


Kelly

[Wayne 962]

That's right - I forgot to mention. Compared to all my other cars, my 356 is like baby lego blocks - not too much to them...

-Wayne