Ok, wish me luck, this is my first attempt at posting. I have a 1981 Corvette showing 11,500 miles on the odometer. I have the carfax that indicates that this is actual mileage. I believe that I am the 4th owner. I have spoken with the person I bought it from and the owner before him. They purchased the car back in 1996 from Pro Team Corvette in Ohio with aroung 3500 miles on it, and kept it at their vacation home, driving it very little. I have emailed Pro Team and not heard back yet, hoping that they can tell me where they got the car, etc. Other than that there is no History from 1981 when first registered in Huntsville, Texas until 1996 when sold by Pro-Team. Can anyone provide insite on how best to ensure the mileage is correct, either through history, or by the car itself. It has been re-painted, but everything else is still original. Thanks.

 

do the math, that is around 230 miles a year from 1981 to 1996, and around 570 a year since then. that is extraordinary..

 

OK, good luck. That posting stuff is pretty tricky.

 

Hi CC,
I don't know if you can do more than decide if the mileage indicated 'makes sense' at this point.
I'd begin by looking at at the interior. For example... signs of wear on the seats, carpet and heel-pads, and pedal pads and trim.
I'd expect the the suspension 'wear parts'... ball joints, bushings, etc, to still be the original St. Louis parts.
The paint and exterior trim can tell you about the car's life too, but since yours has been repainted that's not going to help.
If you post some pictures of the exterior, interior, engine bay, and chassis, you'll get LOT'S of opinions.
It'll be interesting to see your car.
Regards,
Alan

 

Your '81 is 10 years newer than my original '71 with 55,000 miles. Look at my corvette photos, yours should look a lot better.

Sounds like you have a really nice car.

 

Thanks for all the input. I will work on getting some pics posted.

 

With 11,500 miles you should have almost all original factory parts on the car. If convenient have someone with NCRS (National Corvette Restorers Society) have a look at it. You should have the original brake pads! Engine belts should be factory original. You'd wonder if the spare tire wasn't the factory original,etc.

Of course if it has 111,500 miles on it, you'll see wear in the engine, differential, but that's pretty intrusive and a lot of labor.

 

OK, this is my opinion, and only my opinion, not intended to offend anyone, just my view of the world. When I read ads for C3s on the internet, it seems like every third one has a claim of incredibly low miles (for reference, a 29 year old car with only eleven thousand miles meets my definition of incredibly low miles). On any given day, I am sure I can find 5 or 6 active ads for cars with less than ten thousand miles. The idea that this could be true, stretches the imagination to say the least. Let's take my car for example; when I bought it in 2008, the odometer read 36,530 miles and the seller had some weak documentation to support the idea that those were "actual" miles and insisted that the clock had never been rolled over or rolled back. However, the car was without it's orignal carpeting, seats, and paint. I wasn't born yesterday.

The point here is that people selling used cars lie, especially when it comes to the mileage on a car. As a result, I generally ignore it when a seller claims low mileage. For the most part, the mileage on a car, even if accurately known, is just a data point anyway. I have friends who buy new cars, and by the time they reach 50,000 miles, the thing is a piece of junk. Another friend of mine is close to turning over 300,000 miles on his car, and aside from getting close to needing a new driver's seat, the thing is in great condition. In other words, you shouldn't be paying for low miles, you should be paying for condition.

 

Even with 115K miles, that's not a lot for an 1981. Enjoy your ride and don't let it bother you to much.

 

 

Probably correct mileage. ProTeam would not have wanted an '81 unless there was something out of the ordinary about it.

Does the car look like it has more than 11500 on it?

 

This is not necessarily unbelievable. Many folks like myself use their corvettes, both old and new, sparingly. Only 3,500 miles from '81-'96 is unusual, but not incredible.

I agree that Pro Team would not have been interested in this car, unless it did only have 3,500 miles on it and was virtually factory new, back in '95-'96. PT would not have paid any attention or money restoring this car.

It seems to me that it should be pretty obvious to the OP if this car has 11.5K or 111.5K, unless the last 8,500 miles were put on it during off-road racing.

The interior pieces should be like new, with that small amount of use despite the age. This model year of corvettes are not worth the cost of restoration due to their vintage and lack of desirability, so it is highly unlikely anyone would have spent the money to restore it back to "like new" erasing 100K miles from its life. If it doesn't "seem" like a low mile car, with condition consistent with 11.5K miles, then it probably has 111.5K.

 

Pro-Team (or any dealership) would not be interested unless it could be convincingly sold as a low mileage car. Not saying that it is or isn't...but if it looks like a low mileage car, then it can be sold as one.

If you don't get your call back from Pro-Team or they just can't find the info on that car....you already know your answer.

P.S. My car looks and drives like a 10,000 mile car...but it has 201,600 miles on it and I'm proud of it!

 

As much as I know that there's tons of B.S. out there, strange things do happen.

My '80 had 53k and change on it when I got it last year from the original owner. She had been in a wreck in the early 90s and had trouble getting in and out of the car, so she simply didn't drive it anymore.

Among the very complete docs was the warranty booklet with a sticker on it from some service station local to her. She had the front brakes done at 52k and change....in 1991. So 1000 miles driven in 19 years.

It has all it's original decals, tags, U joints and calipers on it and is in shockingly original shape inside and under the hood. It also had ancient tires on it. There was a Supertramp 8 Track tape in the deck....you get the picture.

As mentioned by so many other posters here...you can just tell a resto from an original, and the mileage is reflected in what you see.

Other than a new (non stock) exhaust system, I plan to leave it alone as it speaks for itself.

I love it, but would rather mod a car conservatively. Maybe the next one.