Value of a 356 T6
 

In my last trip to mexico I found a 356 T6 1963 that has the restoration project started the car was taken to the bare metal and all the body redone (the right way no bondo at all) the engine has been completly overhauled but it is appart (cleaned and remachined everything) they have most of the pieces to finish the restoration. Is this car worth looking into? I don't know much about 356's values



Thanks

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When you ask is it worth looking into I think the answer has to be yes. The rest of the questions are the more difficult and somewhat subjective.
Bob Aines

Bob's right about that. It's always worth looking into. In my experience, here are some things worth thinking about as they apply to the car above:
THE GOOD:
- It's been stripped and worked, and you can see that all of the work is good.
- It has an engine

THE NOT SO GREAT:
- It's been stripped and worked, but by somebody else, so re-assembly will be a huge task. And you have to install EVERYTHING from scratch, all the way down to the wiring it appears.
- Chances are you'll be buying a lot of stupid parts to get it back together complete.
- Usually an engine is apart because it needed to come apart, so you'll have to have the engine components looked at and maybe worked on before you can reassemble the engine.
- I know they claim to have remachined everything, but you can't be sure. Especially looking at that picture of the heads where it appears they may have cleaned it up around the still-installed valve springs instead of a proper cleaning, rebuilding, etc. Again, inspection by a qualified eye will tell you what's what.
- Keep in mind also that while any 356 that has been restored is worth something, the T6 body is unfortunately at the bottom of the list as being the least sought after. Definitely not a reason to balk at the idea of restoring it, but you have to at least take into account what it will be worth when you are finished.

Value? This is always tough based on the few pics. But if it is 98% complete - and I mean all the trim, a complete steering wheel, glass, some seats - I would put it's value around $5000 retail price. On a sunny ebay day it might go for more, but I've seen quite decent shells mid-restoration go for $3500, too. Again, without really knowing what you're looking at, it's just a loose estimate.

Hope that helps. Feel free to email me if you have any more questions. I've seen a lot of these come and go so I might be able to shed some light on things you're unsure of.

-- Matt

Thanks guys, Matt and Bob for the responses that sure helps I'll take a closer look next timw I go down to Mexico to get a better idea of what is missing and what is there

Thanks again

It will be cheaper now than 5 years from now (even if unchanged) ;) They aren't making any more of them, even T6 examples :)

Matt's right on all counts. With vague information here regarding
completeness(?), it's hard to pinpoint value.
If that's the original case for the car, and all engine parts are there, plus most of the interior, $5k gives you room to work.