Greetings,
I'm a newbie to this forum. I've always wanted a 1967 or 68 Firebird convertible. I met a guy that has a 400 and is considering selling it. It's red, white top, blk int. 400 motor form other Pont, ungraded to a 5 speed for hwy crusing. Body's in good shape. Seems to be well taken care of. What it needs: Hood tach replaced
Heater core (puked out antifreeze into passenger floor area)Timing cover drips very slightly,trunk floor has some rusting.
The rest of the car seems to be very very good condition. He wants no less than $24K. Seems high don't you think? Thanks.....

for a non matching numbers car its a bit high UNLESS the rest is VERY NICE...paint ,body, interior....but the 'value' is what an agreeing buyer and seller agrees upon...

Yea I agree. I was planning on having a local mechanic that I trust lift it up and have a look as well. It's a driver car, paint is a few years old but still in good shape. Interior is good too except for the passenger side which got dirtied by antifreeze. It looks really nice but jeez $24K hmmm...

Agree, for non matching 400 sounds on the high side.

Heater core replacement is a PITA. I just did mine and it is a much bigger task than you might think. I pulled the fender although in hindsight not sure it was required. It is one of those projects where you say, "Well might as well do that while I'm in there." Keep that in mind.

Neven that price does seem kind of high without numbers matching. Is it a 68 or 67? If it is a true 67 400 convert it will command a higher price because just over 15000 converts were built that year. For the 68 year many more were built thus lowering the price it may be able to get, in my book. Sounds like he may have put some money in the car ( 400, 5 speed trans), but unless it was a rust free car from a desert state i would keep looking. For some odd reason when i was scouring the web for a hot rod to buy the first gen camaros would always seem to be fetching a higher price than first gen firebirds. So bang for the buck, and luck is why i own and like FGF,s. Their not making anymore pontiacs so i would only think the prices should start to go up down the road. So if this car that you saw is bad [censored] and the timing is right for you to own a project than go for it. This is a great site to learn from. I am located in IL too.
Mark

Replaced my heater core in a few hours a few years ago; no need to remove the fender. Posted a pictorial how to here somewhere, search for "heater core" in the subject.

We need picz!

This does seem a little high considering the work needed.
I probably over paid for mine recently too, but all in all, its what I wanted and the uniqueness of the 67 convertible body with a 68 400 Ram 2 engine after the orig owner blew up the 326 months after he bought it blew me away.

More Chevrolets were produced so to an extent, they have more fans. With no more Pontiacs being made, you aren't going to grow your fan base which means less future demand. Camaros are again like a$$^oles, everyone has got one(or so it seems). Generally, a 2010 Camaro buyer who decides he wants to go retro isn't looking to buy a Firebird, he (or she) is going to look for a Camaro. Some of the rarer Firebirds will continue to have great value(Ram Air II cars, etc.) but your average 350 3-speed isn't going to be going up much in value as the number of people in the market for them isn't growing and pushing up demand.

$24K may be a little on the high side for a car with issues but the things you stated are not the worst. If it is mostly rust free, presents well, and all of the hard to find parts are there, the issues it has are not hard to fix. A new heater core, new carpet and a few new seals and those problems are gone.
Go with your gut (and all the information you can muster), If it feels good go for it.
Similar Camaros will always bring higher prices, that is just the way it is......but, Firebird people are more fun.

also, as the Camaros were cheaper back then than the Firebirds (by about $1,000 ) , many more were sold , and then now middle aged or older guys who had these or friends their high schools and couldnt get one ,always wanted one ...now want one again or finally getting one remember what those were , as the Firebirds were 25% or so more in price , they were the 'upper crust' and many couldnt afford them....so , now the cheaper car sells for more , the more expensive car sells for less...be happy you get the upgrade for less! funny how that works!