MID-70's Build-Up

First off great magazine! I'd like to see some mid-70's build-ups. I reciently bought a 1976 Nova with a 400 and turbo 350. The body is primer with no rust or bondo. This car will move! I got it for 2500 cash. These cars are out there and cheap but their isn't much of an after market for them. How about a 75-79 Nova build-up or a Malibu. Something for those of us who can't afford 8,000 dollars for a 69 camaro shell. Thanks,
SFC Richard Williams
Forward Operations Base Q-West, Iraq  

Where are you seeing 69 camaros for $8000?? I will take 4. Maybe one that needs completely restored might go for that. A good, but not excellent 78,79, 80,81 Camaro is going for around $8000, maybe a bit more, but nothing under around 72 or so is going for under $8000 unless it is a basket case. I just happened to have bought a 79 about a year ago and I paid exactly $8000 for it. It's a good car, not great. I watched them on ebay and in the classifieds for about a year before I bought and I learned that you don't get a lot for under $10,000. If you have noticed, the magazines have almost completely forgotten about the mid to late 70's. Everything is a 66 Nova or a 69 Camaro or a 67 Chevelle. Even mid to late 70's Corvettes don't get featured much.  

i dont know where you live dude but first off he said c'69 camaro shell for 8 grand and second.  i have seen 78-81 camaros running for 3-5 thousand all day long wheree i live and on the net.  so iguess maybe if you are looking for a turnkey that you don't have to do any workr on you may be right but other than that you just seem rude.
i have been looking hard too because my next camao purchase is going to be either a 1993 z28 or a 1981 z28 and they are going tfor roughly the same price rihgt now wherever i look.  and trust me ive been doing a lot of looking.
the cars that i have seen for 8 grand don't need hardly any work, so although there is nothing wrong with buying a car that is in that condition that is not what most of us are lookng for.  most of us want something to work on to make our own.  

Sorry dude, I didn't notice the "shell" part at all. my fault. I did not mean to sound rude by the way. However, no I don't want a 78-81 3 or 4 or 5,000 dollar Camaro just so I can fix it up. If I were going to go through all that then I would buy an older Camaro that would be worth something when I was done. Even a mint 78-81 camaro doesn't go for that much. In looking for a late 70's Camaro I am looking for something that I don't have to do any body work or interior work on. All I want to do is mechanical work and that is it. Mostly motor, transmission, and rear end work actually. I am not looking to restore a late 70's Camaro. I want it to be as close to coming off the showroom floor as I can get for 8-10,000 bucks.  

yeah we are different in that matter.  when some people go fishing on the weekend i go into the garage.  i love working on camaros it relaxes me and i just don't really enjoy anything else as much. and all camaros will be worth something. 1st gen's are 40 years old now and the 2nd gen's are going up in value.  you can expect all these cqars to be worth something when they are 40 years old. i would bet anything.  

Yep, I think you are right on all accounts. The 2nd generations are going up in value slowly. I guess someday the 2nd generations will be worth what the 1st generations are worth now. The 2nd generations are getting more and more rare as time passes too. I remember when they were all over the road and people were using them as daily drivers back in the 80's. Now days I don't see too many on the roads. Nobody uses them for daily drivers anymore that is for sure. I have known quite a few late 70's Camaros that went to the junk yard just because they were old and beat and the owner didn't think that the car was any big deal. I still remember back in 1993 when my buddy bought a mint 1980 z28 for $1,700. That was such a nice car and it was an excellent car to hot rod because the car was in such good condition and all he had to mess with was the motor and related items.  

Thanks for the input guys. I'm seeing the same things you are. I know Barret-Jackson has fixed it so the average guy can no longer afford to own classic muscle. Anybody with an rusted out 68-70 Chevelle in the barn thinks they can get 20,000 dollars because they saw one at Barret-Jackson go for 70,000. Listening to other car enthusiast and reading diffrent forums it seems most of us who like to wrench on cars have grown tired of seeing the never ending features of 66 Nova's and 68 Camaros every month in most magazines. It sure would be nice to have the magazines devote at least half of what they feature to realistic cars built by the regular joe. Until we get someone to take our prjects seriously we will never get an aftermarket for the cars we love.
    I am still looking for anyone who has done or knows of a project 75-77 Nova. Thanks for your comments