OK, now I'm pissed off. I know after you read this you'll say I brought it on myself, and that's at least partially true, but still please let me vent. It will help me feel better for now.

I picked up a silver low-mileage '78 L-48 on ebay a few months ago for $7200. Matching engine, tranny, rear-end. Based on the way the car was represented, it was a good deal. I stopped by, checked it out, and it seemed at least worth what I paid.

From now on, the ebay cars go to an independant shop for inspection!

Anyhow, I got the car home, and was pleased overall. I bought it from a guy who's an automotive hobbyist, and he seemed to be getting the car into pretty nice shape. Had his own shop with air tools, a lift and everything. Upon checking the tag inside the driver's door, I discovered that the front clip was not original. OK, whatever. I do not need to be judged by NCRS. But noting that, I thought it was very possible that it had been crashed at some point, so I put it up on ramps and had a closer look underneath. The front 'bar to frame extension' was a little mashed up. So I am getting a little pissed, but add that to my list of things to correct or replace.

I am about to drop in a crate motor, and bring the vette into Corvette Center in Newington, CT for a quick once-over and alignment. Turns out the frame is WACKED. It drives straight, there are no cracks and little rust, but it's way off. Off by up to an inch in some places. Basically, if I want to correct it, it's gonna be a couple grand or more. On top of that, the location of the motor mounts is affected so the engine swap is going to be a bitch. Plus the steering column was broken in whatever accident this thing was in and never fixed. It's past the 60 days when I can dispute this via ebay, so I'm pretty much stuck with this basket case. I can't even post bad feedback now.

I will not try to unload this on someone else.

I don't know WTF to do now. I don't want to drop several thousand into it just to get a decent car. Do I part it out? Do I try to fix it up a little at a time? Man oh man, I'm pulling my hair out. This is one expensive lesson. Any advice I can get will be appreciated beyond belief.

Just so you know, the guy's name is Joe Boucher. He runs a concrete business in Palmer, Mass. He's mostly a Mustang guy, but I suspect he picked up a wrecked vette and half-assed it to turn a profit.

Anyhow, thanks for your ear. I needed to vent.

Any advice you have would be great.

-Corky

 

You might be able to find a good used frame and transfer everything over to it. Granted it's a Pandora's Box since any damaged body panels were probably aligned to the bent frame, and it is going to require a lot of work, but if you think of it in the long term, you'll have a nice Vette when you are finished.

Rick B.

 

You got the Vette cheap enough, bite the bullet. Get a reputable frame shop to pull it square. Make sure the body/frame shop has the correct frame measurements. Do whatever work you can do yourself to cut the costs down. The car is 28 years old, it's hard to find a vette that old without damage for that price...Have a few brews...It'll be fine

 

Had a similar Ebay experience. $20k in and it is starting to shape up. New frame and all. After I got over my original PO attitude I just sucked it up and figured WTF you only live once and it is only money. You can probably get a new frame pretty cheap (under $1500 easy) but then you need to move everything over. If you can't do it it won't be cheap. My frame was off several inches after it was represented to be NICE and STRAIGHT. by the time I knew it was that jacked up it was beyond the time I could pursue through Ebay. Now it is on it's way to a bad MO FO custom...although not cheap, but these cars never are. If you part it out I am sure you will get back all your money but with the same amount of time to tear it apart you could be putting it onto a new frame and then enjoy as it sounds like you were gonna modify it anyway. There is a guy in Georgia that has a lot of frames and for a 78 they are not in big demand so tend to be fairly cheap. I used a 78 frame on mine and it only had 10k miles on it. It caught fire or something and only cost $1200 like new. Good luck and stop beating yourself up about it. Life is too short to stew like this. Ebay is fast becoming a dumping ground for garbage because you buy sight unseen and most people may not even kow the difference about a problem until they take it somewhere and someone tells them the GOOD news (for them).

 

Yeah, I know for sure that I'll need the front, door to door. The nose is pointed slightly downward, and it's becoming apparent that the panels were trimmed for a nice clean line at the doors.

Maybe I've been listening to too many GW speeches, but I don't know that I can cut and run now. I've put some time and money into it already, and have a sweet new engine waiting to go in.

Thanks for the encouragement (also thanks to Blair Winch)

 

It is amazing how a little hard green cash talks to a bodyman around here. Probably 3 hours work and you could be back straight. Sounds like a little cash may put you back in shape. jim

 

dboz...you have contact info for this guy?

 

sent you a PM

Fixed me right up.

 

My thoughts, sell it, disclose what you know...you'll have a loss, but be ahead in the long run once you find the right car (at least be ahead in time/labor/weekends with the SO and kids, etc)... sure, you could swap a frame, rebuild the whole thing, etc, etc, but (from my observations) you bought a Vette to drive now, not work on for the next year or two to drive.

 

He has a point. If you offload it for $5000 and part with the loss of the $2200. You will have $5000 towards a better car. Sure you could get a new frame but with time, parts and effort you will easily blow $10K or even more to get the car right. Try and sell it and be honest about it. Someone may want it as is for $5000. There are a lot of nice 78s and 79s around for under 10K with straight frames.

Cheers,

Pete

 

I'd have to agree with the last two post. I would either unload it or part it out, which ever you could get the most out of it. lot of money to get stright and then other parts, doors front clip and who knows what else. Take the money you can get and buy one that that you can enjoy, you will aways have that thought that something just isn't right with her.

 

Yep, I agree with the dudes above.

Who knows, maybe you can get $6000 for it and not be as much out of pocket.

Don't stress too much.....it will work out.
Ive made mistakes and wasted money....but Im still alive and having fun with my new vette......and so will you!

 

I agree with cutting your losses too. I have a friend here in my area, who could straighten a frame for me pretty cheap, but thats not a luxury most have. Combine that, with all the body work, clip, shaved off material, etc, and you could end up with more money in it than its worth (which many of us do anyhow).

But I agree, with the latest posts, about putting the money toward another car, that doesnt have all these issues. You will be ahead in the end even though your thinking you are commited to the time and money already spent. I've had more than one project myself, where I stayed on track out of sheer determination, mostly because I realized like you, that I self inflicted a basket case on myself. Take advise from a veteran at this, dont let your hurt pride make you dump a bunch of cash into something that wont be worth all the time and money when its over (unless you enjoy this type of major work yourself or have connections). Its going to be a major overhaul and maybe a 78 L48 isnt necessarily worth all that anyway. As pointed out, you can find them nice under 10 all over the place and you will have a lot more than 2800 to fix this one right. JMO of course.

Good luck.

 

Thanks to all for the advice. I have a nice garage and tools and stuff, but also kids and wife and a rock band...I like working on my cars, but will have to weigh my options/time/priorities...

I'll let you know how it all turns out.

 

i was told the same thing about my 71 BB... frame bent, not worth putting money into...cried like a baby after i was told.... but the wife and her infinite wisdom simply said," look, you diddn't buy the car to sell, this is your dream car so just do what you need to do to drive and enjoy it.' i felt better after that.

 

A very good friend of mine is a master with a frame puller. He's in Syracuse NY so it's not too far out of the way for ya. Drop me a PM if you want his info.

 

 

Don't beat yourself up. I purchased my 75 on ebay and it was not in as good of condition as I was lead to believe. My first mistake was not looking at the car before I bid. I asked the guy if I could come look at it, he said yes and would give me a call to let me know a good day as he was going out of town. He never called. I finally decided to bid anyway as I felt 5500 was cheap enough and anything I found wrong I could fix. I won the bid, picked it up and drove it home.... and I have found a whole host of things that have to be fixed. Most of the gauges, leaky tranny, carb needs rebuilt, headlights need adjusting, new door panels needed, radio wiring problem, A/C does not work, new plug wires, window regulator, ect ect. ect.... Not to mention a little glass work and new paint.

But hey, I planned to go all through the car anyway.... so I am just smiling and getting on with it.

The biggest headache I have now is my dad keeps telling me I paid too much. He seems to just love it when I find something new on the car that needs to be fixed or replaced.

BLVette75

 

It looks like about half the people on this forum bought Vettes with problems, known and mostly unknown.
The day I drove my 81 Vette home, the brakes barely worked and the left rear wheel bearing was growling. BUT the sound of the true duals kept a smile on my face.
I have learned to drive for fun without a radio, electric doorlocks, electric seat, or tach; and it never goes faster than 85.
I promised my wife I would sell it just as soon as I got it out of my system. So I guess I'll be driving a 50 year old Vette one day!!

 

The darn things were full of problems even when brand new--I can tell you stories about my '81 I bought when it was 1 year old.

I would try to sell it and cut your losses--even if you fix this one up right, you're never going to love it because everytime you look at it it'll bring back unpleasant memories.

I bought my '77 from a man who drove it for 5 years than stored it for ten. When we were signing over the title at DMV, he was crying like a baby and wouldn't let me take possesion unless he could get visitation rights. I still dropped a load in it...