1969 Delta 88 Royale
July 29th, 2012, 08:35 AM
#1
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1969 Delta 88 Royale
I have a chance to buy a '69 Delta 88 Royale 2dr hardtop coupe with 24,000 original miles. It has the 365HP 455. Always garaged, all original. Only a couple of surface scratches in the paint. Any thoughts on what its worth?
July 29th, 2012, 09:09 AM
#3
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According to the Old Cars Price Guide, a '69 Delta 88 Royale 2-door hardtop in #3 condition ("car show" condition but not showroom condition) has a value of about $7,600. The low mileage on this one could make it worth more.
Sounds like a nice car. Please post photos if you can.
Sounds like a nice car. Please post photos if you can.
July 29th, 2012, 09:41 AM
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Thanks, I was thinking it was worth a little more, Nada has it significantly higher (as in double). Any thoughts on the discrepancy? There aren't a lot of these for sale or sold so kinda hard to value I guess 
I'll post pics and complete option list
I'll post pics and complete option list
July 29th, 2012, 10:17 AM
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http://collectorcarmarket.com/menus/.../69oldele.html
If you click on the "condition guide" link at the bottom of the page, it sounds like your car is between #2 and #3 but closer to #2, which puts its value perhaps a bit below $6,500, at least according to this source.
July 29th, 2012, 10:51 AM
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Thanks, I saw that site as well. It is curious as to why there is no uplift for the 365 HP engine option as I would assume it is far more desirable that the base. There is also no mention of the 390HP option? I think your estimate of "closer to a 2" will turn out to be correct as it is a So Cal car that has been garaged it's entire life.. I suspect all docs (protecto plate etc) are intact, but I don't know for sure.
July 29th, 2012, 12:58 PM
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Three aspects of an old car determine its value: condition, rarity, and intrinsic desirability/collectibility. Many people assume that if the first two are positive (good condition, rare car), the third one will automatically be true. But it doesn't work that way.
A car has to be one that people want. If it WERE true, then all the '68 Cutlass four-door sedans around today would be more valuable than '68 442s because more 442s were collected and survived to today than were 4-doors. But the four-doors are not more valuable, and that's because people don't want them as much, if at all.
Convertibles are more desirable than coupes. Hardtops are more desirable than post cars. 2-doors are more desirable than 4-doors. Sedans/coupes/convertibles are more desirable than station wagons. Cutlasses and 442s are more desirable than the full-size cars. Etc.
Secondly, you can't get too caught up in what options are on any particular car. In many instances, if the car has the base engine/power option, a higher power option can be obtained by just replacing the 2-barrel carb with a 4-barrel. So don't assume that just because a car has a higher-power engine it will be significantly more valuable. The higher-power engine might make the $6,000 car a $6,200 car, but it's not going to make it an $8,000 car or probably even a $7,000 car.
Ditto for the paperwork. It's nice that you have it, and it's very nice that the car is still in the hands of the family of its original purchaser, because that means its history is well documented. But it still comes down to the car itself. The added paperwork and one-ownerness might make a $6,000 car a $6,100 car, but that's about it. It's not going to make it a $7,000 car.
I'm kind of curious as to why you're concerned that some of these price guides don't value the car as highly as you seem to think it should be. You said you're looking to BUY the car, not sell it. I would think you'd want to pay as little as possible, and thus you'd be HAPPY with any reputable source that doesn't value the car too highly.
You say it's your wife's grandfather's car. So you're looking for a fair price because it's family you're dealing with, and you want to be nice to them. Very understandable. So I'd think you'd want to find several sources of price guidance, average them, and give that amount to your in-laws for the car. In short, you don't want to underpay, but you don't want to overpay, either.
Last edited by jaunty75; July 29th, 2012 at 01:06 PM.
July 29th, 2012, 01:06 PM
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Be careful about this as well. You say that the car has scratches in the paint. If that's the case, it's not showroom condition. Paint is a tough thing. If the car has been sitting in a garage and has had 40 years of people edging their way around it to get to in or out of the garage, get a tool off the shelf, or whatever, it likely has a few scratches in it, maybe even more than a few. Was it covered all that time?
I noticed in your other thread you mentioning that there is a dent in the hood as well. These things don't help!
A few scratches (and a dent) can mean a significant expense and effort to really bring it back to looking showroom new, so the car could be well away from showroom condition, at least as far as amount of money that might have to be spent, regardless of the low mileage and how good it looks when you're standing 20 feet away from it.
I noticed in your other thread you mentioning that there is a dent in the hood as well. These things don't help!
A few scratches (and a dent) can mean a significant expense and effort to really bring it back to looking showroom new, so the car could be well away from showroom condition, at least as far as amount of money that might have to be spent, regardless of the low mileage and how good it looks when you're standing 20 feet away from it.
Last edited by jaunty75; July 29th, 2012 at 01:19 PM.
July 29th, 2012, 01:19 PM
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There's a lot of good advice here. A car is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. On the big cars, they are usually listed much higher than they're actually selling for these days. I bought a big car a couple years ago, 2-door, top engine, a few minor paint problems, perfect interior, 72k original miles. You'd think that they were worth $7k to $10k based on what people are asking. But what they're selling for is well under $5k. I got it for $3,500.
July 29th, 2012, 02:27 PM
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You say it's your wife's grandfather's car. So you're looking for a fair price because it's family you're dealing with, and you want to be nice to them. Very understandable. So I'd think you'd want to find several sources of price guidance, average them, and give that amount to your in-laws for the car. In short, you don't want to underpay, but you don't want to overpay, either.
Thanks again for all the advise!!
July 29th, 2012, 06:17 PM
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Good thought, but don't panic the OP into thinking he should have a piece of documentation he can't find.
Build sheets aren't part of the glovebox literature like the protect-o-plate, owner's manual, etc. you get when you buy the car. Build sheets are found when someone dismantles a car to restore it, replace a gas tank, or something like that as, if there is one in the car somewhere at all, it is usually tucked in a very hard to reach place like on top of the gas tank, behind the headliner or behind a door panel, places like that. No repairs of this magnitude are likely to have been done to a car that has only 24,000 miles and barely a scratch on it and has been kept in a garage for most of the last 40 years. I would be very surprised if he has a build sheet.
Build sheets aren't part of the glovebox literature like the protect-o-plate, owner's manual, etc. you get when you buy the car. Build sheets are found when someone dismantles a car to restore it, replace a gas tank, or something like that as, if there is one in the car somewhere at all, it is usually tucked in a very hard to reach place like on top of the gas tank, behind the headliner or behind a door panel, places like that. No repairs of this magnitude are likely to have been done to a car that has only 24,000 miles and barely a scratch on it and has been kept in a garage for most of the last 40 years. I would be very surprised if he has a build sheet.
July 29th, 2012, 09:08 PM
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July 30th, 2012, 07:40 AM
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The protect-o-plate was glovebox stuff, so if he never did much with the glovebox, it ought to still be there. Some people never touch that stuff. Other people keep everything but the kitchen sink in there.
The invoice is another matter. I'm guessing most people didn't keep that in the glovebox. If they kept it at all, it was with whatever paperwork was associated with the car, like loan documents if a loan was taken out, when it was purchased. That sort of things was probably kept in a desk drawer or file cabinet. If your in-laws have lived in the same house all this time, you might very well find it. What would be really cool is if he kept the original window sticker.
The invoice is another matter. I'm guessing most people didn't keep that in the glovebox. If they kept it at all, it was with whatever paperwork was associated with the car, like loan documents if a loan was taken out, when it was purchased. That sort of things was probably kept in a desk drawer or file cabinet. If your in-laws have lived in the same house all this time, you might very well find it. What would be really cool is if he kept the original window sticker.
July 30th, 2012, 05:09 PM
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I seem to recall that back in those days, window stickers were more difficult to remove than they are now, and they would often get destroyed, or at least pretty badly beat up, in the process. Nowadays I think they're just lightly tacked on at the top and bottom or something like that, and they pop off easily. But I remember my father trying to remove them back in the day with a razor blade and not always having the best of success.
July 30th, 2012, 07:32 PM
#20
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Having worked in a dealer in the late 80's-90's ...
There is a trick & some skill to removing a fully glued on window sticker.
I would would wet them with a liquid based glass cleaner.
Using a single razor blade (no holder) starting at the top RH corner ... pull that RH corner back just enough to make a lil' "tab" of sorts that you will be using to hold onto.
Now, while holding that top RH corner like a tab ...
I would slowly move the razor blade at a slight angle from top to bottom while holding the top RH corner & pulling ever so gently towards the left.
Once your blade would get to the bottom of the sticker ...
You pull it away & start back at the top again making another pass top to bottom while continuing to pull gently to the left.
You repeat this top-to-bottom process until the entire sticker is removed.
When done correctly ... the sticker remains intact & in one piece.
Do note ... the window stickers would be very sticky at this point
Once removed, it was very important to lay them face up on a firm surface so they could be left alone to dry.
If you didn't do that ... all your careful work above would be for nothing.
(much like duct or packing tape turns into a big mess when it sticks to itself)
Once they were fully dry ... they could be folded up & stored with the owners manual or other car documents.
There is a trick & some skill to removing a fully glued on window sticker.
I would would wet them with a liquid based glass cleaner.
Using a single razor blade (no holder) starting at the top RH corner ... pull that RH corner back just enough to make a lil' "tab" of sorts that you will be using to hold onto.
Now, while holding that top RH corner like a tab ...
I would slowly move the razor blade at a slight angle from top to bottom while holding the top RH corner & pulling ever so gently towards the left.
Once your blade would get to the bottom of the sticker ...
You pull it away & start back at the top again making another pass top to bottom while continuing to pull gently to the left.
You repeat this top-to-bottom process until the entire sticker is removed.
When done correctly ... the sticker remains intact & in one piece.
Do note ... the window stickers would be very sticky at this point
Once removed, it was very important to lay them face up on a firm surface so they could be left alone to dry.
If you didn't do that ... all your careful work above would be for nothing.
(much like duct or packing tape turns into a big mess when it sticks to itself)
Once they were fully dry ... they could be folded up & stored with the owners manual or other car documents.
August 2nd, 2012, 09:19 PM
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Looks like I need to drive out and take some more pics (my father in-law sent these)! I'll get the engine and cowl tag as well, and see what goodies are in the glove box. The engine spec sheet was with the paper work in the glove.
August 3rd, 2012, 03:35 PM
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August 3rd, 2012, 03:41 PM
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August 3rd, 2012, 08:16 PM
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To remove any sticker from a window I use a steamer, yes the kind you steam clean clothes with......steam is amazing.......I also use this method to remove tint, leaves hardly any residue to scrape off.
August 3rd, 2012, 08:42 PM
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