All of what the guys said, plus a couple of thoughts.
First time corvette buyer - My boss recently was given the go-ahead from his wife to get a sports car. He came to me and I started explaining Value i.e. numbers matching, documentation etc. After a couple of minutes, he had the dear in the headlights look and said he didn't realize it was that complicated. I told him for a first time buyer it doesn't have to be. Just fine a vette that grabs you and I'll be your wing man on it. To him rebuilt engine and brakes would be a big thing, but other than that it would be just the car that speaks to him.
Another example and more to your question. I have a '68 the first year C3 numbers matching etc. but some documentation is lacking, even thought I've traced the ownership back to '97 and spoke to all of the previous owners. Real nice original car so I bought it anyway and am pursuing any documentation I can find. Mainly for the value to me.
I though it might be cool to have the C3 first year and the last year, which was '82. I looked at a nice coupe with a original dealer's order slip, but the mileage on the title was "Exempt", so the 29,000 couldn't be verified. Although real nice I passed. The very next day I ran across a '82 Collector Edition. He has the original dealer window sticker, Tank Build Sheet, owner's manual and a personalized letter from the original owner (he's the second), California Title which lists Odometer Date of 09/09/2001 "Actual Mileage" and Odometer Reading 51,005. The odometer 3 Mar 2014 when I looked at it read 52,345. Given this info I pulled a CARFAX and it verified with 6 records the the car was clean in all areas and in fact has only been driven 1,290 in the last 13 yrs.
The condition is cosmeticly nice, with a few things here and there that I'll have taken care of, but for me who puts value on documentation of originality and history, this was a no brainer for me and made the sale.
Both cars were nice if there was no documentation on either, it would have come down to condition and price. But between the two, one having documentation and one not, like someonne else said "icing on the cake" and that documentation made the sale.....buy the way the guy came down and matched the price of the coupe so I got the CE for the same price.......I'm a happy camper, because that icing will be there when I sell it.
Long winder but I wanted to share the two perspectives.
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God Bless, rick
'75 Steel Blue Stingray Coupe
'75 Hot Red L82 Stingray Convertible
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