Hello Gang,

I would like your opinions on prepping a car for sale. The goal is fair market value and what should you do prepping the car to realize maximum fair value. I am not a professional car salesman so any help is appreciated.

I will soon be putting my street 914 up for sale. It is:

1976 2.0 Yellow on Black with the yellow and black plaid seat cushions. Bilsteins all around, Gas Burner wheels, BMW brake "upgrade" up front (P0 did this), NO Swaybars from the factory, bone stock motor with smog pump still working. 115k miles on the clock. I have receipts of work done to it by the 3 previous owners. I will add my receipts to the log.

The Good
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Car is original color and looks to have only one re-spray. The car passes emmissions in CA. Other than the BMW brake upgrade, the car is all original in appearance, everything is there. Does have a Momo steering wheel but I have the original. Appears to have never been in a fender bender. No rust in trunks or doors or longs. Interior in very good to excellent shape. Carpet clean, door panels and dash excellent. Transaxle shifts great. Rides very nice.

The Bad
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The battery tray is rusted. It will need to be replaced. The Hell Hole is fine, only surface rust. A few surface rust areas by the lower drivers side windshield. They have been handpainted. The seat material is original, ripped up and in need of being re-done. The dash has a coverlay over it, it is cracked underneath. And there are a few door dings, but no dents.

Why Selling?
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Grandpa (my dad), Father (me), Son (my soon to be 16 year old) family project. I hate to admit it, but stupid me bought the car thinking that the 1976 would roll to the 30 year smog exemption here in CA. The family team is planning to do a V8 conversion. My son wants us to do a Porsche 6 or Raby motor, but Grandpa and I like the "Hot Rod" thing! So we need a 75 or older. I'm in the minority since I like the 75/76 look of the bumbers.

The Plan
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Get fair market value. We don't need to hold out for the absolute highest $ offer and we don't give it away. The car is straight and everything is there. This car is nice. Lift up the trunk mat and NO RUST.

My questions are:

Would it pay in sale value to redo the seats in the plaid or black basketweave before selling it or just use seat covers? How about fixing the battery tray? Everything else about the car will sell itself, I'm not kidding when I say the car is clean.

The car is with Rich Bontempi at High Performance House this week. I am having him do a full PPI that I will include as part of the information. The car is being tuned up. I plan on full disclosure with pics of every part of the car good/bad.

So what is the collective opinion? Does recovering the seats (~$600 to $800) justify a return on the money spent? And the battery tray repair? Rich Bontempi figures ~$200 if he does it, or he will sell the tray to someone for ~$70 if they want to weld. Other than that, its all there. Blower motors work, everything.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Bill P.