A car isn't rare just because the clown selling it says it is....

Talked to a disappointed man the other day. After our conversation he regretfully said he wished he'd met me or seen this site before he bought his car. I was as gentle and tactful as possible-I told him he should have maybe checked Hemmings Motor News or Musclecar Review magazine, or bought HP Books' "Guide to GM Muscle Cars."  He was proudly showing me a really nice 1967 Chevy Impala SS. It was a 327 / TH400 model, and it had bucket seats, a console and a tach, it was really nice. But when he started telling me how rare it was-I stopped him. "I'm not trying to be rude-but Chevrolet built 75,600 of these in 1967 and another 38,200 in 1968." "If it was a 427 model it would be rare-they only made 2,127 of those in 1967." "Your kidding." The guy said. "No I'm not." "Sorry. It's a really nice car, but the small-block models are not that rare or valuable." He swore a little, and I was shocked-the price he paid would be what a numbers-matching 427 model would be worth. That's where the term "Buyer Beware." came from. Do some research before you shell out big bucks for a car. This is not an isolated example. I've had similar conversations with other people over different cars; some luckily before they bought them, some sadly after. Here's a few samples. # 1. 1969 Firebird 400. This was a nice car, and it was numbers-matching. But Pontiac built 113,000 Firebirds in 1969, and nearly all of them had 350 or 400 cubes under the hood. And this car was a typical 400 coupe with an automatic. It wasn't a Ram Air III or a Ram Air IV with a 4-speed that would justify it's high price; I have seen '69 Trans-Ams ( and they only made 697 of those ) priced less than this car. # 2. 1978 Corvette. All 1978 Corvettes are "Silver Anniversary" models. They all have badging commemerating 25 years of Corvettes. ( The 'Vette was introduced in 1953. ) Now about 10,000 of them have a two-tone silver and charcoal grey paint job and silver leather seats, but their not that rare. Ditto for the '78 Indy Pace car editions. They were supposed to be exclusive-but their was high demand and GM decided to make one for every dealer. At that time there were 7,700 dealers across the country. And not every dealer was slated to get one-so they bitched, and more were built. I can't remember the exact number-but of the 50,000 or so 'Vettes sold in 1978 nearly 10,000 were "Pace Cars" and nearly 10,000 more had the two-tone Silver Anniversary paint. So their not that rare. Especially L48 / TH350 models. An L82 / 4-speed in good condition is worth some bucks, but not 427 Stingray or Split-window coupe money like the assholes selling them would lead you to believe. # 3. 1977 "Smokey and the Bandit" Trans-Am. Of the 68,000 Trans-Ams sold in 1977-over 15,000 were black and gold "SE" models. Their nice cars if you want a T/A-but their not worth 455HO or SD-455 money. In fact-I'd pay more for a documented DKM "Macho T/A" only about 300 a year were built from '77-79, or a '79 10th Anniversary model-only 7,500 of those were built and only 1,817 with the 400 / 4-speed combo. # 4. 1974-76 "Starsky&Hutch" Gran Torino. Because of that show's immense popularity Ford decided to capitalize. But the cars are garden variety 2 dr Torinos. Most have a 351M with a two-barrel carb, bench seats, and a column-shifted automatic!!. The only thing unique is the red-and-white paint job and slotted mag wheels. Serramonte Ford where my dad and I worked in the late'70's and early '80's sold tons of them. They'd take every 2 dr Torino they could get or dealer trade for-paint them red and white, and put the slot mags on them and sell them for top dollar. They even sold one that was originally Green!! I mean who buys a Red car with a Green interior??!! Someone did. # 5. 1979 Hurst / Olds. This is the only H / O that wasn't built by Hurst Performance. They were built entirely in Lansing where every other Cutlass was built. They have a garden-variety 350 that wheezes out 160 hp backed by a TH350. They have gold rally wheels and a white and gold paint job, and Olds shamelessly put "W30" emblems on it, but their really a generic '79 Cutlass coupe with a trick paint job. Even Olds fanatics snub these cars for the smog-dog fakes that they are. Now if Olds had put the 403 in the downsized "G" body-they might have had something-but they didn't. I'm sure there's others I missed-but you get the drift. Don't pay top dollar for some "Rare" bird on the SELLER's word. Mastermind