1992 Corvette For Sale: Sweet Deal or Nightmare in Waiting

C4 Corvette convertible looks good in pictures, but sometimes it won’t start and it gets baths with the top down.

While flipping through cars for sale on the Craigslist, we came across this 1992 Chevrolet Corvette convertible. Although it is one of the worst car sales ads we have seen, even by Craigslist’s standards, a few things caught our attention and led to this feature. This C4 looks remarkably clean in the one decent picture, making the $2,600 asking price a pretty good deal, but it doesn’t always start and we have to worry about the condition of the interior with the car having been washed with the top down.

The Basic Details

When “Johnny” listed this 1992 Corvette for sale, he included the following basic information

“Excellent car, runs great but sometimes won’t start,,, Fuel filter? Fuel pump is new, new battery, new alternator. Everything works… at the mechanics now… $2600.00 no lowball, it’s an absolute steal”

The advertisement format also explains that this car has an automatic transmission, “135 miles” that we are guessing is 135,000 miles and a clean title.

Picturesque Problems

Most importantly, the seller included three pictures. One is a terrible picture of a computer screen (above) with the car on the screen and it is so poor quality that the seller shouldn’t have bothered to include it. Really, we have to wonder why the seller used this picture, as it is about as bad as it could be. Plus, if he is selling this Corvette, why did he take a picture of a picture on a screen rather than just including the original?

Next, he included a picture of the car being washed with the top down. Anyone who has used a high pressure hose knows that it is impossible to keep water out of a car with leaky windows, let alone no windows or roof. There are suds all over this car, so you know that when it was rinsed, water went all sorts of places that it shouldn’t. You have to wonder whether one of these foolish open-air baths got an electrical component wet, leading to the sporadic no-start issue.

Finally, there is one good picture of this white 1992 Corvette, from the back, and from this angle, the car looks great.

Great Deal or Nightmare?

This car is listed at $2,600, which is slightly above the KBB.com average price for a 1992 Corvette with 135,000 miles on “fair” condition. We picked the worst condition possible, but if the starting issue is easily repaired, this car is in better condition than fair. Provided that the interior is in good shape, which is a concern with the topless baths, this car could be a smokin’ deal for someone looking for a simple project.

Then again, if the no-start issue proves to be electrical gremlins, this car could become far more expensive when you start replacing gadgets.

For this price, knowing what little we know, would you jump on a deal like this one?

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com