akulhavy

------WARNING, this is a very long post!

OK, so I finally have enough time to post my Corvette story, If you reply, please do not include the entire message. Would love to hear comments as no one in my personal life seems to appreciate the car!
Oh, let me preface this by saying I don't know anything about cars....

I just turned 30 and got a new job with a significant pay raise, so I thought it would be a good idea to buy myself something for a change. I needed a new car anyways as I was still driving my Grandmother's 88 BMW, so I figured why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone and buy a C3..... huge mistake making this my only means of transportation!

Nov 07
Didn't know what the hell I was doing, just looked around Craigslist locally and found the cheapest C3 that was running. I wanted one that had bad paint because I knew i wanted to customize that anyways.



So I bought an 82 Collectors Edition with ~120k? miles. I was the 4th owner and it had been sitting for ~4 years untouched.
Problems I was aware of when I bought it (after having a reputable Corvette shop...Corvettes of Houston....look it over):
1)minor engine and transmission leaks and needed new seals here and there
2)pulled to the left hard when you braked
3)had some minor fiberglass damage on the left front and rear fenders with bondo showing
4) front spoiler smashed under the car

Got it pretty cheap due to the issues above and the fact that this was not a rust free well taken care of car. I didn't care really, I wasn't looking for a show car, rather something I could slap some paint on, repair a few things a drive it for a while. I guess I made the mistake of oversimplifying. Also thought it might have even been a good investment....figured put a few thousand into it and at least get my money back if I decided to sell it down the road (wait, don't laugh yet).

Also, I was moving from Texas to Arizona, so I had to drive this thing about 1000miles. I had the mechanical stuff above fixed in Houston, no rebuild or anything, just fixed what needed to be done to keep things from leaking. Somehow this seemed like a good idea.

I made it about 10 miles before the car died. (1st time it had left me stranded) Called AAA, had the battery jumped, made it about 100 yards, then died again. So towed it back to the shop where they replaced the alternator and I was again on my way the next day. I had a bad feeling about the car already.

Dec 07
Over the next few weeks I started to discover the "little things" that were wrong with it also:
-headlights were lazy...the right one you had to manually lift up.
-a/c only blew on the floor.
-cigarette lighter didn't work
-areas of moderate rust around the door/window seals
-weatherstripping all needed to be replaced
-hatchback did not close properly (gap)
-gas gauge not working properly
-sun visors falling down/lazy
-lots of rattles/creaks
-occasional stutter when accelerating
-driver side door latch didn't always work

Had the electrical issues worked out at least so I could connect my ipod for the move. I was actually looking forward to all the little projects at this point. A few weeks later I packed it full of clothes for the drive to Phoenix and my girlfriend and I were off.

Jan 08
Somewhere about 3 hours east of Albuquerque the engine locked up while driving...this was not in a town mind you, it was in the middle of nowhere at about 3 in the afternoon. I had a few tears and then some stress.



Fortunately had some cell phone reception and called AAA and told them I was about 10miles past some little town on whatever highway we were on. They said they would send someone right out. An hour went by with nothing. Called them again and they said the tow truck didn't see us, so I reassured them we were just west of this little town and recommend they just drive until they saw us...it could have been more than 10 miles I figured. Another hour went buy...nothing.
Like 1 car per 15 minutes would drive by...pretty empty road. Someone finally stopped and informed us we were on the wrong highway so we called the tow truck and about 1 hour later they had finally reached us...just at dusk. We opted to have them tow us on the flat bed all the way to Albuquerque which took about 3 hours.

The tow truck guy was about 80, very few teeth, significant arthritic knuckles and his truck looked about in as good of shape as he did. Also, he liked to drive in the middle of the road when no other cars were coming. He veared onto the shoulder a few times as well. My girlfriend's main concern was that he wasn't going to eat us. I had called up and found a corvette shop in Albuquerque (I hate spelling that word by the way). Scotty's Southwest Corvettes. They were super cool, gave me their cell phone number and told me to have it towed there and they would meet me after hours....which they did.
We got a ride to the airport and flew to Phoenix where I had another car I could use while mine was being repaired.

Opted to replace the engine with a GM crate 350/290HP rather than putz around with rebuilding the old one. Scotty had it up and running in a few weeks which was perfect time for me to get settled and have it drivable before my new job started. I flew back to pick it up, then drove it the 500miles to Phoenix. Unfortunately, I was sick during this trip and by that night hadn't eaten in 2 days and was having anxiety attacks....bottom line I ended up in the emergency room. I called my new boss at home at midnight and told them I would not be able to start my new job the next day and they understood. Another day went by and I again called in sick to my new job at which point they fired me! This is a whole 'nother story involving an a**hole company which I ended up pursuing legal actiona against.....anyways.

So here I am, just moved cross country for a new job that I no longer have, spent about $5k in car repairs thus far for a still ugly vette which has now played a significant role in costing me my job. Oh, and I can't have my old job back in Texas, nor can I even work in my old city for 18 months due to a non-compete clause with my former employer. At this point I'm living on my Aun't couch.

Feb 08
So I spend a week in bed then find another job and get on with my life. The corvette was running better, but still sputtering along and eventually started dying at stop lights unless I put it in neutral and reved the engine slightly. Nothing else was fixed yet either.
I was now working with The Vette Shop in Tempe, AZ which is another awesome shop and Ken is great (this is my 4th Corvette shop in 4 months in 3 different states if you're keeping track). He sorted out my throttle bodies (I did not know what a throttle body was at that point) and had me finally driving a well running car another $1500 later.

April 08
Started fixing some of the little stuff along the way:
-took the dash off and got the vacuum hoses sorted out for the a/c controls.
-took the doors apart as by this point the driver's side latch was not working at all and I was climbing in through the passenger's side. In the process shorted out the power door locks, dash lights, and tail lights.
-got the visors working well
-replaced gas gauge but was still not working any different (problem with sending unit I would later find out)
-got white guages and LED lights for the center bezel
-started looking into body work/painting.
-a tire goes flat one day, but there is no leak so just aired it back up..?

May 08
I was left stranded again (third time) by a bad alternator (this was the replacement one if you remember) so had the car towed and sorted out once again.
BTW I never got around to putting the dashboard back on, so I've been driving for 2 months with no dash, no radio, and for a while no speedometer. Back to pulling the headlights up manually.
Also, at some point the power steering core when out and had to replace that....a couple hundred buck if I recall

June 08
Cop pulls me over for no tail lights. I'm still out of state, ugly vette, no insurance card on me, no dashboard....did have the speedometer in place though. Cop gives me a ticket for no tail lights and no insurance and tell me that I could potentially have other violations with the no dash thing; but I assured him everyhing else was working fine, just cosmetic. Cop was filling out the ticket and actually asked me: "what year car" followed by "what make?" to which I replied...its a corvette. He said "no, that is the model, what make?" I paused, humored him in a slow voice and said Chev-ro-let makes Cor-vettes. I think he was just messing with me to see my reaction since he was white, male, middle aged, and pulled over cars for a living. BTW, try dating a new girl when you car looks like this....not sure how I managed, but landed a great girlfried during this time period.

July08
Finally got to the point where I could get the body work done. To my surprise, it costs more then a couple thousand dollars. All previous paint I had done on cars was around $1000 for dents/fender benders, etc and I figured it couldn't be much more than that.
Estimates ranged from $6k to $15k depending on the shop and whether I replaced the front clip or just repaird it.
Holy Sh*t!!!! I was not prepared for that one. That cost more than the entire amount of money I had put into the car up to this point. So much for my investment idea. At this point, I had since joined corvetteforum and read much about C3s as well as browsed ebay and had a better understanding of what these cars are worth (aren't worth rather) and at least knew the direction to go from here. Wished I had put a bigger/better engine in, but at the time was sort of desperate to just get it running.

Aug 08:
Finally decided to go with Maaco for body repair....couldn't justify higher price for a car that was never going to be perfect....just wanted something as a daily driver that I would find appealing and others would be jealous of....not a show car and not a performance car. One of the guys at Maaco had done a lot of corvette work previously and showed me several project cars he had worked on. I went with the top of the line they offered with primer, base coat, clear coat and it includes a 5yr warranty which was more than anyone else offered.

Sept 08
It took about 2 months, they stripped the car down, were able to repair the fiberglass, seal the fiberglass, prime it, and then paint it. I had looked at paint for a long time and decided on '69 monaco orange with a black racing stripe.

Before:






During:




After:






I feel Maaco did a great job and got everything done for ~$6500 including color sanding and polishing.


So I drive home from the shop and as soon as I get in the driveway, notice a coolant leak. Took it in to the Firestone within walking distance of my house and they indicated an intake manifold gasket leak was present. I didn't know what the hell that was, but it cost about $600 to fix. I have since learned all about intake manifold gaskets and how they are not covered by warranty when you purchase a crate engine.

Finally got the car back, drive it for the first time other than home from the shop. Feeling really good about myself and that it had all been worth it now that it looked like the vette I had always dreamed of. I get to a stop light, the guy next to me motions for me to roll down my window....I'm thinking hell yeah, my first admirer. He proceeds to tell my a hub cap just flew off a few blocks back....bummer. These are collector edition rims mind you so they are probably worth a bit as a set. I turn around to go look for it and then the car starts to sputter then eventually dies as I pull into a church parking lot. Crap!
Oh wait, I haven't filled up the gas tank since August...I'm probably out of gas since my gauge doesn't work!

I had my dog with me, so I left her in the car while I walked 1 mile to the nearest station....all the while looking for my hub cap also. No luck with the hub cap. Gas station was out of gas of course (I'm beginning to get use to this sort of thing). So I walked back to the car, called AAA who brought a gallon of gas to me and the car started right up! See, I'm starting to figure out about cars now.....

Nov 08
Got the dash back in, was going to focus on the interior which is actually in good shape, someone must have replaced it along the line. I just decided I was going to go with black interior instead of the CE that was already in place. But, now I started to get a bit tight on money, so figured I should wait since it was in good shape. Also, realize I had no stereo in place since I took the dash out in April....makes for a boring commute.....oh, and I left my ipod in the rental car in Albuquerque so I had no music anyways (forgot that part of the story).

Replaced the hatchback hinges with ones ordered from a member here ($350) as well as struts. Actually was only able to get 1 hinge on....the other bolt that holds it in place has the screw stuck in it still and will not budge....so I have 1 new hinge and 1 old one. But at least the gap in the window is gone!

All weather stripping done.

Dec 08:
It was starting to get cold, so I turned on the heater....get home and there is another coolant leak. This time it had to due with the heater core hose or something....fixed that and also found some more power steering hose leaks so fashioned new ones as well.

Replaced power antennae with new one that I had bought almost 1 year prior.

Replaced pop up head lights with fixed/recessed ones which I like the look of better (not to mention not having to deal with the vacuum system any more) and sold the old ones for a profit. However in the process I lost the a/c charge as it blew up 10 feet in the air when I took the front headlights out as I had to partially remove whatever the thing is called that is in front of the radiator....

Jan 08 (present day)
Running well but transmission hesitates/clunks and will need to be rebuilt or replaced at some point in the future.
-power door locks still don't work
-power mirrors dont' work since being painted
-cigarette lighter fuse is blown and continues to blow as soon as it is replaced (working on that one)
-Dash is in, getting a stereo very soon. Have been waiting until the door locks are working properly so I can actually lock the doors. Fortunately I live and work in a nice area, so I haven't actually locked the doors to the car since I have had it...for a long time the latch didn't work and now the lock sticks so bad that it is too hard to open with the key from the outside.....need to take the door apart again and actually clean the lock out this time.
-exhaust tips in place
-front spoiler still needs to be mounted...I have a new one and the screws, but need to make a new metal bracket to support it and weld it in place.
-There is a rattle noise coming from the engine or transmission for the past 6 months or so....doesn't seem to affect anything, but just doesn't sound good....haven't had the time to get it looked at.



So, thats about it for now. Thanks for reading this long of a post...I've been putting this off for some time. I do enjoy my vette, but if I had to do it over, would have paid $20k for one that someone else had already done the work on and put in performance parts and done a frame off or something. I have at least that much into it and it will never be top quality. I do get many comments on it...mostly from rednecks though. I do see lots of people doing double takes when they drive by or try not to stare when I'm at a stop light next to them. I'm joining a local corvette club in Feb so will finally find some people who can give me tips and appreciate the love/hate C3 relationship.

I'd like to thank:
Corvettes of Houston
Scotty's Southwest Corvette
The Vette Shop in Tempe
Maaco
Firestone
AAA
Friends/family who have given me rides and let me borrow their cars

The only place I didn't like was Corvette Country in Austin, TX. PM me if you want to know why

79VAVette

Holy S&^%!!!!!

If there was an award for most persistent C3 owner, I would vote for you!!

speedbird1229

Great story! I read it all and it was very interesting. I guess there is a certain invisible line in the cars for sale - if you buy one which is below that line, you will be in a lot of trouble and unable to keep up fixing things because new problems arise all the time. Buying a C3 as a daily driver does not seem to be the best idea, especially if you don't spend 20k + and get a perfect condition Vette. I bought my 79 in November 08 and I was able to drive it just a bit. While it works fine most of the time, it has already stop me on a motorway when I tested a bit faster driving the first time The radiator upper hose came off the radiator as it was not installed properly and half of the coolant flew out so I had to call a friend who could take me to a gas station so I could buy some more coolant. However, for me the car is a complete toy and as we have winter right now, I have time to play around with all its issues that I'm aware of and try to get the best out of it for the driving season.

I'm planning to drive it to work in Summer on sunny days but I'm already afraid of it because in Air Traffic Control we have a working schedule that we must follow and the car quitting on me on my way to work wouldn't be very enjoyable. Guys at work are very fond of my car though, so I guess they wouldn't mind working a bit overtime if I come up with a good Corvette excuse

While some people here in Europe say that American cars are a lot of trouble to own, I can't agree with them at all. More than a year ago I bought my first American car to be my daily driver - Jeep Grand Cherokee 1996 with the 5.2 V8. It was nice inside out but had troubles with one rear axle shaft (already repair-bearing installed and I didn't know this bearing was also going bad soon). It also had a problematic transmission which I didn't know before I drove it to Germany. I drove a good 7000 miles in Western Europe without fixing a thing on it (I didn't know any repair shops there). It left me at a gas station just once by not starting up and it was a bad battery The transmission struggled a lot and made different disturbing noises during shifting. It also slipped quite bad. After a few months the axle shaft got worn and began making another howling noise. When I came back from the trip, I ofcourse fixed most of the issues and it's now a really good car. The transmission was rebuilt and nobody believed how it didn't collapse completely. I ordered a new axle shaft from USA which took care of the howling. The old shaft was completely worn. Now it has become a reliable vehicle which I drive daily and it feels like I'll never sell it. I don't know how much it will take to get the Corvette to the same stage but I'll try my best.

I hope you will get a near-perfect car out of yours one day!

By the way, your new paint looks stunning and I wouldn't mind having that on my 79.

NMT1957

WOW You dont give up easily do you. Good job though really.

capevettes

Another testament as to why it's cheaper in the long run to pay a little extra and get a nice, well maintained, finished car. At least you haven't given up. Enjoy the ride

champs65

Good read, BUT, this bothers me....

If I was a 30 y/o starting a new job in a new area, I literally would have crawled into work just to be there; and would have left only at the insistence of the boss!

Now I don't know the details, but I've let guys go for calling in "sick" 2 times over the course of a few months. I'm sure you were ill, but my guess would be that your new prospective boss instantly became suspicious after someone calls in 2x in his first 2 days.

BTW, it sounds like after all your bad luck, it's bound to turn around any time now! At least you know what you have with your 82.

Has AAA cancelled you yet?

Sidepiper

Thanks for sharing.... Thats the best one I heard yet.

spf72

Thanks for the post, it was a good entertaining read. And one I will share with folks when they tell me they want a C3 for a daily driver!

It could have been worse - I have a friend who knows as much about cars as you appear to – he bought an MG B for a daily driver. The rest of us had laughs for months. True story – he came to my house one time to help me with my 72 and asked, with a straight face, if it hurt his car driving it with no oil pressure. I first thought he was joking but when he saw the look on my face he blurted out – “It’s only been a few hours” he soon found out MG engines cost as much as a small block!

C3 4ME

You are definitely a model of persistence.

srosa75

Funny story! Thanks for the laughs, though I sympathize with the predicaments!

moosie982

What happpened to the first girl friend that you left Texas with ?
Other then that ,, good story and I betcha that one day you will see the "humor" in all of this. Peace,,,Moosie

400hp427vette

I gave up on a 77 owned long before that. I went through about 1/4 of the issues you did.

tak82

That's all just to funny, I wouldn't wish your luck on anyone but sounds as if things are changing, maybe you should play the lotto now. Hated to see a 82 collector car dissapear, you should've bought a regular vette with your intentions.

Ron R

I'm really surprised that with all of these issues, and all of the cash you were laying out, at no time did you think "You know, I might be better off putting this on hold and taking $5,000 or so and buying a more reliable used car to drive around until I get this all done" rather than spending $6,500 on a paint job on an unfinished/poorly running car...

wills670

I do not give up on anything very often, but if I would have had the trouble you have had. That pink elephant would have been gone a long time ago.
For you to have put up with that much b/s you would have made a very good teacher. Hang in there it has bound to get better before it get's worse.

VetteGuy82

Good story! I have heard many stories about corvettes and them dying before you replace EVERYTHING so I have already told my girlfriend that i need to get another car in addition to the vette. I also made the mistake of saying I wanted a Silverado, new, if we could afford it. And a car trailer so I could not have to rent a flatbed when i need to move the vette. She listened to what i had to say, smiled sweetly and asked "what do i get?".

BKbroiler

Great story. Very well written too.

OURSHARK

That was truly an entertaining story. You were certainly determined to hang on to that vette. I would find another daily driver and enjoy the vette on weekend's.

Spocc

God love the C3 owner, especially if its a daily driver.

i've had my daily-driver 80 for almost 3 years now & sometimes i'd like to drive it off the pier , with the window down & swim to shore...lol

Pete

myway76

The less you drive it, the less things will go wrong with it. Make it a hobby, not a burden!