Matching numbers

[ceven47]

Just a quick question, probably a very old one but I'm new to this kind of scene.

Am I mad to buy a car without matching numbers, it's a '76 C3 with not much in the way of history.

Any advice very welcome.

Cheers.

[scovette]

Hi, matching numbers only really matters if you view the car as an investment/trailer queen. But as the 76s aren't especially rare then it really doesn't matter. As someone who had a 76 as a daily driver for several years I think it's better to have something with eg a new crate engine that you can actually drive and enjoy.

[V7TTE]

Not mad at all. There are many "matching numbers" cars around, but there are also many many non-MN cars. If it's in good nick and a sensible price then I'd say go ahead and enjoy it. You can always trade up later if you really want to get into the full/proper restoration business.

There are many more important things to look for in an old Vette than matching numbers IMHO, so if you don't really know what you are looking for I'd advise getting somebody along who knows what to look for (hidden chassis rust/splits are a good start - can be V expensive to fix).

Good luck.

[xyyman]

Condition and provenance are the most important things I would say. Its dead easy to get a matching numbers as most if not all parts can be reproduced with the correct dates on them. I found this out when rebuilding my C2 and that decided me not to go the matching numbers route since it seemed a bit of a crib to me.

Buy what you like and enjoy it.

Phil

[ceven47]

great, thanks for all the gen, hope to make the purchase and see you all back on the forum soon.