Can't judge car's value sight unseen

Dear Tom and Ray: My 1963 Dodge Dart four-door sedan was an old-lady car when I bought it in late 1963. I have now become an old lady and changed to another, newer old-lady car, a 2001 Buick Century. My Dart and I drove from one end of this country to the other several times -- both west to east and north to south. My maintenance bills were for oil, gas, lubes and an occasional part. I love that car, and it looks basically like it did when purchased. The original upholstery was changed twice due to dog passenger wear. It had two new paint jobs to match the original, and the engine was rebuilt after it reached 40,000 miles. Now I must part with it, and I can't seem to find a value. The Blue Book apparently doesn't go back that far. Can you tell me how to find a fair market price? I have someone interested, but he feels the value is about $300. I see others priced over $2,000, which is about its original price.

Joy

Tom: Well, I, too, owned a 1963 Dart at one time, Joy. It was the apple of my eye.

Ray: Yeah, an apple with more worms in it than an acre of prime Iowa farmland.

Tom: Anyway, I paid $2,200 for it about 10 years ago. But it was a convertible, Joy. Yours is a sedan.

Ray: It also had a body like my brother's: severely weathered. So that's not a good comparison.

Tom: It's impossible to judge a car's value without seeing it. For instance, it might run fine, but it might be getting ready for another engine rebuild.

Ray: But if you want a general estimate, a pristine version of your car might be worth about $4,500.

Tom: But then you need to subtract $1,000 because the paint job is not the original one. Subtract another $500 if the upholstery is torn. And take off another $500 if it has more than 100,000 miles on it now.

Ray: And take off another $2,200 because my brother has publicly praised these cars. That eviscerates their value. So grab the $300 offer, Joy!

Tom: No! Don't listen to him. You're looking at a value somewhere in the $2,000 to $2,500 range. So rather than sell it cheap to a guy up the street, your best bet is to check out Hemmings Motor News. That's where people who love old cars buy and sell stuff. You can place an ad there. You might get lucky and find someone who knows this car and will give you what it's really worth.

Ray: Or you might get really lucky and find someone who doesn't know this car well, and will give you more than it's worth.

Dear Tom and Ray: I am a poor nursing student with a 1997 Nissan Sentra that has developed a large trunk leak. I poured water over the trunk, and it was obviously coming in behind the seal between the yellow taillight and the trunk itself. Can I repair this myself? Is there a quick, cheap fix? I'm pretty much a novice at car repair, but I do own tools.

Kelli

Ray: Sure, you can do this yourself, Kelli. I mean, if you can replace bandages, change bedpans and subdue overstimulated old codgers during their sponge baths, this will be a piece of cake.

Tom: It's possible that the gasket between the light fixture and the car's body has failed. Unfortunately, you'll probably have a hard time buying only that gasket.

Ray: So, there are two other options. One is to replace the gasket with silicone caulk. To do that, you have to remove the whole taillight assembly. The nuts come off from the back, inside the trunk. And then the whole assembly should pop off.

Tom: So you take off the assembly, remove the old gasket, clean the site of the wound and then caulk everywhere that the assembly touches the body of the car. Before you do this, you might also want to change all of the bulbs in there, because you may never be able to get to them again!

Ray: That's true. I can't remember whether the bulbs are accessible from the trunk on this car.

Tom: It's possible, however, that when you remove the assembly, you'll discover that the plastic lens or the housing is cracked or broken. In that case, the silicone might not work. You can try to caulk up the crack if it's small enough, but you might not be able to make it watertight. If not, you'll have to go for the transplant, Kelli: You'll have to replace the whole taillight assembly.

Ray: You can get one of those at your local auto recycling center, aka junkyard. Make sure the one you buy has a good gasket and no cracks.

Listen to "Car Talk" at 9 a.m. Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays on KRCU 90.9 FM -- Southeast Public Radio. Write to Tom and Ray at Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500 Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass., 02238. Or e-mail them at the Car Talk section of cars.com.