A man just offered to trade me a 1982 CE Corvette for my 1989. It has 103k miles, new cloth seats, is very clean. It does have a salvaged title, but from what I can tell from the pictures is very clean. Is there anything I should look out for?

 

Outside of catastrophic prior damage, you should watch out for the possibility of never being able to sell it.

Think about why someone would trade you a CE for a C4.

 

I just emailed the owner about the salvage title. Here are some pics

 

Where is it from? Interior looks like maybe there's some water damage?

Katrina Corvette?

 

Its in Sacramento California according to the DMV smog look up.

 

Right, but where has it been?

Maybe it's my old eyes, but the seats in the last pic look like cloth. What do you think? CE is leather. That steering wheel wrinkle scares the crap out of me.

 

Would a VIN search tell me where it has been?

 

I am really new to all of this.

 

Then there is the yellow pine tree freshener hanging on the passenger door. Trying to get out the musty water smell?

 

Salvage title?

No matter how much lipstick you put on a pig...

It's still a pig.

 

Hi,
I would proceed with caution here. The body looks quite nice with good panel alignment and seemingly good paint. The CE specific striping seems to be OK. The interior betrays the nice exterior though, as was mentioned, the seats should be leather and the wear to the leather steering wheel is much worse than it should be (even with 100,000 miles). The 82 has a computer mounted in the battery box, very low in the car. If the car was submerged even a little, the computer would be fried. Also, the CE has a very complex electrical harness and if the car was water damaged, chasing down electrical problems would be difficult.
Not a bad looking car though, the interior components are repairable or replaceable. If you can somehow verify the car was not water damaged, might be a decent deal.
Good luck,
Tom

 

Yes a VIN history would help. A carfax would also do almost the same thing.

Try www.carfax.com

Jim

 

Check the VIN here for Katrina cars:

https://www.nicb.org/cps/rde/xchg/nicb/hs.xsl/79.htm

 

I would pass on this one. The interior worries me!!

 

I owned a CE for a number of years and I really enjoyed it. The steering wheel has a type of foam backing that will go bad especially after 100K mi. This one will need to be reconditioned. The seats should have multi-color leather covers....looks like these have been recovered in cloth. The hood decal looks to have been removed and was painted....these hood decals tend to go bad with engine heat and sun light so that's not unusual especially after 100K. The side decals look to be original. No engine/frame pics?

I would be leery of any C3 w/100k but I don't see anything from the pics provided to make me feel this car hasn't been taken care of. This year C3 has the crossfire FI motor....b4 I bought one I'd make sure either you were comfortable working on it or you had a mechanic that was.

 

Just heard back from the owner. According to him, it was a theft recovery, who ever stole it stole the stereo system out of it. This is from his email to me this morning.

"What I was told is the vet had been stolen from original owner. That the only thing taken was an elaborate stereo system, the car appears not to have been abused, the ignition, wiring all intact, not torn up. Car apparently set for some length of time and owner was paid off, he then bought car back from insurance company, His neighbor bought the car and parked in his garage, this is how I obtained it. I had the vet several years then traded it for a 1985 vet,sold the 85 and went through several other vets. Decided I wanted my 82 back, called the person and he still had it, so I traded him a 1990 vet for my 82 back."

Again this is all according to the current owner. He says it has always been a CA car. I have always wanted a C3, thats why it is tempting to me.

 

This does not sound sufficient for a salvage title to be issued, at least not where I live. Something just does not seem right here, I would be very careful before proceeding.

Good Luck!

 

Some states place a salvage title on a theft recovery. They do this for the very reason we see here. So a buyer askes questions. You can sometimes get a salvage title reversed. I suggest you call the NICB and ask them to confirm all this.

Owning a car with a salvage title is not a bad thing. Provided the stated value reflects that fact. Carfax will show the theft and issuance of a salvage tile. Spend the bucks and do the search or get some one here with free access to check the VIN for you. So is your car worth more or the same as that 1982? Thats a question you need to ask.

Next how does the 1982 run? Here is the deal if it starts and purrs like a kitten...no stumble or miss it passes condition 1. If it drives and changes gears through the entire range with out doing anything funny thats condition 2. You will have driven one of the few 1982 vettes without the usual idle gremlins.

Check it for rust. No rust...perfect..condition 3 passed.. Does it pass emissions...if yes conditon 4 passed.

Values in line with yours...condition 5 passed.

Can you get into a 1982 Collector Edition as nice with the proceeds from selling yours? If not you are getting a decent deal with consideration being given to the salvage title. Go for it. keep in mind it will always be worth a bit less because of the title. On resale you will have to explain all this. Probably best to get all the documentation you can now.

Just noticed you said it has cloth seats. The real ones will set you back $1000 to $2500 if you can find them. Keep it in mind.

Jim

 

Hey Jim, thanks for the info.

I have not yet seen the car, got the offer through email yesterday.

So far from the DMV site it passes smog. I have been trying to get $6k for my 89, so I dont think I could fin another CE in that price range. According to the owner, he wants to do a straight across trade. The cloth seats done bother me that much, but I do have a friend who does interiors who would give me a discount on doing them for me.

Thanks again to everyone.

-Cody

 

Stripe on the hood appears darker than an origional? Compare below.