will this make me a chainer?

[joehalford01]

Hey guys!

I got one heck of a story for you and hopefully it all ends with me driving a corvette to work everyday. Saturday night I'm driving to lowes with my wife and we spot a corvette on the side of the road with for sale written on it. I say lets stop and look for fun knowing full well we can't afford a corvette. We get up close and the sign says $9500. Hey that's pretty good, good looking car. (mind you, i know a little but not a lot about corvettes) My wife says, why don't you call him? So i did, he lives a block away. so he comes over to show us the car. Gave me a quick education on the car.

It's a 1980 L-82. They never sold them in CA, he bought it from a friend in New York (he used to be a truck driver and is now a truck broker) about a year ago. He bought it for his wife but she wants to park her regular car in the garage and told him to make a choice between it and his 67 camaro (we went by his house and he showed it to me, freakin awesome!). Then he hands me the keys and says take it for a drive, it's insured . Car drives and handles great, motor is clean, new carb and distributor. 55,000 original miles. It does need a lot of little things though due to the fact that it is 27 years old. I told him we would have to sleep on it. He calls me 20 minutes later and says, $8500. Wow! OK! So we went over again to their house on sunday and hung out for a bit, they were totally cool people and I got a chance to check the car out again. So anyways, it's a bit more work to finance because it is older then 20 years but we found a local credit union that will do it with an appraisal. Were going to see if we can set that up for tomorrow.

If you don't know, the 1980 corvettes sold in ca had smog 305's. The L-82 has a slightly pumped up 350 rated at 230hp, 260 lbs. tq. I figure I can easily get it into the 300hp range with some clever bolt ons. Let me know what you guys think. I'm really interested to hear all opinions good or bad. (Don't worry, i'm keeping the truck, now i can go all out on it. the volvo 544's have to go though)

 

[Tripper]

No Goldchainer

Joe,
Don't worry... this will not make u a "Goldchainer"... it'll make u a "Silverchainer"!!! ; - >

BoB

 

[chop509]

Check on ebay and see what L-82's are bringing.
Sounds good if the 55,000 are documentated.
I'd say go for it.
Does it make you are chainer?????? Maybe, but who cares!

Jeff

 

[Gastrick]

If owning a Vette make you a goldchainer them I'm guilty and I'll make no apologies for it.

Joe, do a little research and follow your gut with this purchase. If it's what you really want and can afford it, then make the move. If not then pass for now.

 

[35Mastr]

Chainer,I wouldnt worry about what people may say about that.If thats the car you want,Then buy it.People probably call me that too.But It dosent really matter.Custom Cars was always my first love and Rats are my second.


Good luck on the Vette

 

[Bonehead]

I looked at one in the paper a while back. The price was really good, but when I drove over to look, it really needed paint. Talked to several guys. Good paint for a vette was going to cost a bunch. Even the few parts it needed were about double what I thought they would be. I passed on the deal. But you may have a good one there.
Chainer? You may have to cancel your subscription to greeserag illistrated. But no, I think you will be okay.

 

[FlatBroke]

I say
"GO FOR IT"

 

[joehalford01]

the chainer thing was more of joke , you guys crack me up. I'm meeting the owner at a local appraiser at 3:30, i'll let you know how it goes.

 

[gassersgarage]

Is the car currently registered in California? If not, it will need to be smogged and a vin verification done. There was a 96' Vette in my area with a rebuild engine going for $7K. If the car is not currently registered, I would make the sale contingent on it passing smog. When you buy speed parts, make sure it has a C.A.R.B. number, otherwise, it won't pass inspection every 2 years.

You may have to go to a referee station since that package wasn't sold in California.

Good Luck, Vettes make great second cars. Just hate the insurance.

 

[donsrods]

I was going to say the very same thing gasser said. I moved to California and took a North Carolina Toyota with me, and it would not pass the tough California smog tests, so I kept NC plates on it the whole time I lived there. There is SOME reason he dropped the price a thousand bucks real quick, without being asked.

I'm not saying this isn't a great deal, but just want you to be sure you don't get into some expensive modifications to make it legal.

Don

 

[joehalford01]

right on guys, it does have ca plates and is tagged, i think i'm going to have him run it over to the smog station right after the appraisal today.

 

[john56h]

They use a lot of rock salt on the roads here in New York to control ice in the winter. If the Corvette was driven in the winter months, rust could be present in the steel frame....make sure you look it over closely.

That being said...most Vettes don't get driven in the winter (at least not during snow storms or wet conditions) and if it has only 55,000 miles on it, it probably wasn't a daily driver.

Good Luck!!!

 

[doodlrodz]

Check out the frame real good if it came from N.Y. even if the speedo only says 55,000 problem with these things is it's just like saying '32 Ford, price for parts doubles, you start replacing u-joints and rebuilding calipers on 'em and it can get expensive. Don't get me wrong I love 'em, just have had a few and know they can be a money pit.

 

[gassersgarage]

Did it pass muster? If you get it, don't forget pics............

 

[joehalford01]

ok guys, heres the scoop, we got it appraised, appraised at $15,350. The owner was still ok with the price. I asked him why he dosn't care and he told me the next thing he is selling is his 67 camaro. his wife said if he sells both he can buy a new corvette. that makes some sense to me. we took it down to smog and they wouldn't do it because of some mis-routed vacum lines, a missing manifold tube, and the timing was off. so then we ran over to his mechanic who said he could get it all fixed up for the smog first thing in the morning and let us know when it was ready to run back to the smog station. normally i would wonder but i know this mechanic too and he is pretty reputable. i have some pics now so i will throw them up when i get a chance. i also have the vin number now so i'm going to call the dmv tomorrow and check it out myself just in case. i'm getting a too good to be true feeling but at the same time everything is checking out reasonably. I also think he is tired of messing with it, I don't think he wants to maintain it anymore as it is an older car. I think he also pays people to do all the work on it which i'm sure is costing him a bit. I say that because all the little things he has mentioned he says he had a mechanic do.

anways, what do you guys think? thanks!

 

[Bonehead]

Does it look like this this?

 

[Gastrick]

Does it look like this this?

Man, that's brutal Bonehead

 

[Bonehead]

Sorry, I was having trouble waiting for the picture.

 

[gassersgarage]

Sounds like a good deal. I would look at ebay though. Appraisel seems kinda high. Did the smog guy say anything about a referee? Usually, on out of state cars, they will afix a plate with what is required for that car. That way, in the future, you can take it to any smog station.

My roomate use to be the head mechanic at the "House of Corvettes". Prices for parts was generally twice that for any other car. Also, good investment would be stainless steel calipers. Factory calipers, over time, become pitted and start to leak.

 

[joehalford01]

fine, u pressured me into doing it, here are the pics guys, i'd load some more but all my resize programs keep freakin out on me, stupid windows vista new computer.