How much is original documentation worth?

[TKRIV]

As a General "rule of thumb" how much of a premium is all original documentation worth?

What about a Riv that comes complete with ALL known history and ALL service history.

From the time of signing dealer contract to the day you bought it.

For me all that documentation & history maybe worth 10 to 15% above a Riv without it.

If the Riv is in real nice shape or better and has been looked after all its life maybe 20%

 

Cheers

TomK

Edited June 29 by TKRIV
Spelling corrected. (see edit history)

[JZRIV]

Tom,

My experience has been the value of documentation is directly proportional to the buyers interests in that area. I've had vehicles that I went to great lengths to keep and obtain its history as well as detailed records of what I did while I owned it and more often than not the buyer wasn't like me and had little to no interest in it. I used to think it added a lot of value until experiences failed to back up my perception. Deep pocketed buyers at the big auctions I don't think put much value in it either. If it added significantly the value, like 10-15%, price guides would have an "original documentation" box to check when drilling down through the key attributes to get to the value.

Certainly it has "historical" value but it doesn't correlate directly to value to the car itself.....generally speaking.

It definitely can put a buyer at ease for example in the case of confirming car is not a GS clone especially if they don't know how to vet it using other methods. Of course there are exceptions and certain cases of a specific model coupled with a buyer than loves and ranks documentation high on list and will pay extra because of.      

Edited June 29 by JZRIV (see edit history)

[dr914]

[TKRIV]

How I would love to have the original Dealer invoice and Build Sheet.

Looks like I would pay to much of a premium.

Yes I admit it, I am a sucker for such documentation.

[rodneybeauchamp]

18 minutes ago, TKRIV said:

How I would love to have the original Dealer invoice and Build Sheet.

Looks like I would pay to much of a premium.

Yes I admit it, I am a sucker for such documentation.

As you are probably aware, the original documents came with my ‘63 Riviera including the original hand written sales order, dealer typed invoice, salesman’s business card and owners jottings …. Which to me was a real treasure and in my eyes, somewhat improved the value of the package!

 

I don’t think it would be unreasonable to make up a mock set of paperwork for your ‘65s knowing what was ordered. And the costings for the option should be easy to find on the ROA website and perhaps here. I put a laminated dealer invoice for my ‘97 Riviera in the rear quarter window and it creates interesting reading for many at our local Cars and Coffee events.
 

T K Buick or Kunek Buick does have a ring to it. Think they were in Riviera Lane somewheres! 😀😀😀😀😀

 

just my two bobs worth

Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀

[RivNut]

34 minutes ago, rodneybeauchamp said:

As you are probably aware, the original documents came with my ‘63 Riviera including the original hand written sales order, dealer typed invoice, salesman’s business card and owners jottings …. Which to me was a real treasure and in my eyes, somewhat improved the value of the package!

 

I don’t think it would be unreasonable to make up a mock set of paperwork for your ‘65s knowing what was ordered. And the costings for the option should be easy to find on the ROA website and perhaps here. I put a laminated dealer invoice for my ‘97 Riviera in the rear quarter window and it creates interesting reading for many at our local Cars and Coffee events.
 

T K Buick or Kunek Buick does have a ring to it. Think they were in Riviera Lane somewheres! 😀😀😀😀😀

 

just my two bobs worth

Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀

Interested in the two side mirrors. Dealer installed option?  Was this car delivered as a right hand drive, or did it undergo a conversion, or was it left left hand drive.

[rodneybeauchamp]

5 hours ago, RivNut said:

Interested in the two side mirrors. Dealer installed option?  Was this car delivered as a right hand drive, or did it undergo a conversion, or was it left left hand drive.

The two outside fixed rear view mirrors with Buick Tri-shields were dealer installed. I imported the car in 2015 buying it through GR Auto in Grand Rapids and still remains LHD as there is no need to convert to RHD once the vehicle is 25years old. (Was 30year old rule until the change to 25years in 2022)

 

And glad they were installed as it is a requirement for all LHD vehicles to have both LH and RH external rear view mirrors. (Ask me how I know this 😀😀😀😀😀)

 

Roger is now the new caretaker who added new wheels and tyres and a different registration number. Apparently he knew how well the previous owner (me) looked after it. 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀

 

 

[EmTee]

I have my grandmother's '56 Chevy that my grandparents bought new.  Even so, I have none of the original purchase documentation.  People typically didn't attach any value to such things once the deal was done and the warranty period expired.  Such paperwork eventually became 'clutter' and was disposed of over time.  That said, I do now wish that I had some of that information.  Luckily, I at least have some photographic history of the car while they owned it.

 

 

[Wayne R]

EmTee when I read about your grand parents 56 chev—- this a true story I served a 6 year apprentiship of joinery , carpenter at a large building firm in Invercargill.  Bottom Of Newzealand. And every Friday a fellow apprentice was allowed to bring his dads near new 56 chev to work ,and it was yellow black you will no that colour and was 3 on the tree stick shift,well the factory was amongst housing blocks about quarter mile one complete block, it was the fastest car around that block of all the cars that workers hah there and for memory he held it in second gear all way round , this was about 1963-63 I’ve always remembered , and his dad never found out.

Edited July 4 by Wayne R (see edit history)

[TKRIV]

I have a friend who has a nice 65 Riv with lots of options.

6 months old and the engine had to be replaced by Buick.

The replacement Nailhead has no engine number.

 

How would this situation be addressed in show judging as its not a case 

of non-matching numbers, it's no number at all.

[Chasander]

I don’t believe a BCA judge would look at the numbers. 

[RivNut]

8 hours ago, TKRIV said:

I have a friend who has a nice 65 Riv with lots of options.

6 months old and the engine had to be replaced by Buick.

The replacement Nailhead has no engine number.

 

How would this situation be addressed in show judging as its not a case 

of non-matching numbers, it's no number at all.

I have a friend who has a 65 Gran Sport with the same situation.  He has original paperwork to support the “no numbers” situation. With the paperwork, he’s never had a problem.

[Seafoam65]

One of the favorite aspects of my 65 Riviera is that I have all the original paperwork, protectoplate, window sticker, and the names of all previous owners, and the second owner,

who owned the car for 47 years  and was friends with the original owner told me the complete

history of the car over the phone........It is really cool to know the complete history of a 60 year

old automobile.

[ericisback]

I feel that documentation tends to add to the value of a car only if it can verify original options and packages. 
 

In the case of Rivieras, it is difficult to verify an ORIGINAL GS package without documentation. My car has the build sheet, which confirms it as an ORIGINAL true small label GS. 

 

I also have the original warranty book and a complete history of all the cars owners. That stuff is mostly just interesting and fun to collect. 

Edited July 17 by ericisback (see edit history)

[jframe]

21 hours ago, ericisback said:

I feel that documentation tends to add to the value of a car only if it can verify original options and packages. 
 

In the case of Rivieras, it is difficult to verify an ORIGINAL GS package without documentation. My car has the build sheet, which confirms it as an ORIGINAL true small label GS. 

 

I also have the original warranty book and a complete history of all the cars owners. That stuff is mostly just interesting and fun to collect. 

That Silver Cloud is absolutely STUNNING, and love all the documentation and owner history. Early Gran Sport to boot!