May I ask if anyone here are familiar with Unique Corvettes Inc, and/or Mr. Jason Scorsone?

 

I only scanned the above replies after the first dozen or so - but, as others may have noted it was likely repainted because the stock under-hood came from the plant with a matte black finish - this one appears to be silver beige. Also, the oil dipstick appears to be painted the same color. Mine came stock with a dark-ish green paint. As an aside, the stock oil filler cap was black; and, to respectfully counter-point one comment about the difficulty of servicing the normally reliable stock radio, "Dr. Don's Vintage Radio Repair" in Texas can fix just about anything with his eyes closed, including these.

Good luck guy - the '82's are a blast and the one you are looking at has clearly been a loved mechanical family member.

 

Lakeside....good points. Tor is probably asleep right now! The dark green zinc-dichromate finish on the dipstick tube is correct for a CE.....I think you are looking at pix of MY CAR...in which I made some subtle changes. Chrome oil filler cap, CE cloisonne' emblem on the super-boring plastic distributor EMF cover...L-83 numbers..Chrome alternator (130amp), polished alternator mount, polished PCV tube...stuff like that. Super large Radiator, big block fan.....
I too love the car to pieces...literally! I felt that this surely is the 'most boring' Corvette engine compt. EXTANT....so I waved a magic wand over it.

Tors' car is exceptional...There is no doubt in my mind he should buy it...I'd rate it as a 95/100. The only thing Tor is not sharing is his purchase price. (I don't blame him...I'm not sharing mine EITHER!).

As a funny story...I show my car frequently. An older guy shows up festooned in NCRS regalia. He say's " I'll judge the car for you". Me "knock yourself out!" He also gives me a 95 and MISSED ALL THE STUFF ABOVE!.. I used to be NCRS, having been doing the Corvette C-3 thing since 1977...
I do not need their approval. LOL

Unkahal

 

Hi Lakeside49 - thanks for the input. As L-46man or Unkahal wrote, perhaps you looked at his pictures?
I'm not syncronized with you guys because of the time difference. But I check this thread daily for valuable input. I appreciate all your help very much.

After reading a little last night, and looking at pictures of 1982CEs for sale (Vanguard Motor Sales has a nice one for sale, and also a couple in the "sold" section), I noticed some cars have silver colored rivets on the "gutter" under the hood, where those black rubber hood bumpers are supposed to be. Whereas other cars have rivets that appear to be in the same color as the car; silver beige. Could this be a clue? My thought is that originally cars have unpainted silver rivets, but when a car is repainted, the rivets will be painted in the same color as the car. Here is a close-up of the rivets of the car I am considering:



I will travel this weekend to take a closer look at the car. I am very excited. I will look for overspray or lines from masking tape. I still have a theory that it has original paint. Any advise on what to look for to verify whether the paint is original or not is greatly appreciated. I've been told it has the original exhaust, interior, windows etc. I will make sure to take lots of pictures, some of which I'm sure will find their way to this thread.

The seller is asking $23,000. But please remember this is after he paid approx. $2,000 to have it shipped over here, and then paid 25 % tax on everything (!) to Norway for importing it. So the price is not comparable to US prices. Which is unfortunate for me...

 

 

That price does not sound unreasonable to me. I think you would be hard pressed to buy a CE from the USA that nice and import it for the price he's asking. Not the best judge of value but I've seen classic car dealers here asking that or even more for CE's in that condition.

 

Grab it not many out there in that shape. Original paint doesnt matter imo just what shape its in.
Sharp looking car!

 

@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Hello all

Back from my trip, which was a wonderful one involving a private roomette in a nighttrain sleeping car (8 hour long trip each way). The owner met me at the train station, and he was a very friendly, hospital gentleman who not only showed me the car, but much of the city. But let's stick to the car for now:

My biggest question beforehand was whether the car had been repainted. The answer is no. And yes.
I looked over the entire car, slowly and carefully. Taking a lot of photos and video. I found absolutely no lines from masking tape, but a few stone chips and scratches, as to be expected on a soon-to-be 40 year old vehicle. No overspray visible. Color looks uniform all over the car. However, I'm quite certain the hood has been repainted, as I both saw and felt lines from masking tape running along the edges of the fader decal. I was told by the owner that he had spent over $500 on cleaning, polishing and sealing the paint at a local Mercedes dealer. I don't know anything about products used for this, as I only use wax on my car two times a year. But it would seem odd if paint sealing resulted in such a line. Also, why not cover the decal with the product, but instead masking it? And there were no other lines like this elsewhere on the car. Under the hood I found that the screws holding the hood to the hinges were missing some black paint, further leading me to believe the hood was removed from the car and repainted at some point.

General impression
* It started right up, first attempt.
* Idle was a little high at first, but after a few minutes the engine started to run more slowly. The owner pointed out it always does this, almost to the point where it sounds to stall, but then it evens out to a steady, wonderful rumble.
* Right after start-up, the exhaust was very visible with some white smoke (no blue smoke or oil smell). Soon after, when the automatic choke (?) closed and the idle came down, the exhaust was invisible.
* The sound of the V8 gives goosebumps and puts smile on face
* When sitting down inside I was pleasantly surprised by headroom, legroom and the comfort of the seats. Everything looks original and clean
* The smell is fabulous. Same smell as I remember from car museums in the US, or inside old US traincars or airplanes in museums. Is it the leather, perhaps? Old European cars have a distinct smell too, but it's different.
* The owner drove the car, which gave me more chance of noticing things
* The car had good pick-up, engine does not stumble or falter, smooth acceleration. Shifts nice. Rides nice. Doesn't pull to the sides. OK breaks, but no hard stops attempted.
* Original tyres (on original turbine style wheels). These quickly develop flat spots, according to the owner. During the ride, I felt this, but the shaking seemed to go a away somewhat at the end.
* Hand brake does not work well
* Front lights go up quickly and simultaneously ("in sync"). New original vaccuum actuators (or what these are called?) before shipping from the US.
* The car was bought in Houston, Texas. Texas is good when buing old cars. Dry, no rust, no salt in the winter. But Houston has that moist, salty air?
* Rubber trim is original, but seems to rot a little in some spots
* Radio with orange colored LED works. Rear antennae motor works.

1 - Original paint or repainted?
That interesting spot under the hood

That orange stuff was some goo sitting on top of the paint. Tree sap or something? Or residual glue from the hood bumper? But why just from this one? But hood aligning bumpers are all missing. The rivets are silver. Running my fingertips up and down I felt no lines from masking tape. Some patina and small paint defect lead me to think this is the original paint. Perhaps the two indentations on the gutter or sill at the bottom of the picture is where the black rubber bumper was located originally? How were these attached to the car? Would they leave a mark?

2 - AC Compressor

Anyone able to say if the Delco Air AC compressor is original? It just looks so darn new. Everything under the hood looks new...

3 - Origin
The seller told me the car was exported to Norway from Houston Texas. The company used was called Unique Corvettes, and he dealt with a Jason Scorsone. According to what I can read, they are out of business, but were located in Florida. From the VIN number and help from Google, I have found out the car was put up for auction in 2014, but did not sell. The seller has told me a Corvette expert in the US found it, and recommended he buy it. Under the hood I found this sticker, indicating it is has at some point been in Kentucky?

Searching online, it seems these guys are still in business (https://huntandknight.com/). I thought I could send them the VIN number and ask what they have done to the car. My guess is painting the hood. But sadly they don't have any e-mail-address. Is paying for CARFAX a good idea? Does it give me track of ownership, accidents and repairs?

4 - The hood
It seems the hood has been rubbing up against the fender, causing the paint to be worn away (due to the lack of hood align bumpers?)

Along the edges of the fader decal on the hood, I see lines from masking tape:


This must be from repainting the hood, and instead tearing off the expensive decal, they masked it and painted around it. I think, anyway. I don't see how and paint sealing should give this result. Especially just here, and no other place on the car. Here is a picture showing the top part. Seems the old decal in the middle has slight beige overspray at the very edge. Also it looks as if the new pinstripe decals are ovelapping with the old, further strengthening the hypothesis it was repainted:



5 - The decals
I am guessing that the other decals are original, because they show some wear, especially at the end. Like here:


But there are some overlaps of decals in some spots that I find a bit concerning. One example is the dark part of the fader panel on one side, which shows a rip and overlap (the other side of the car is perfect):


The pinstripe around the licence plate also shows overlapping


6 - Rust
Rust is not a big concern because the body is fiberglass and not steel. But every time I see red-orange color on a car, I get scared.
Are the areas shown below anything to be concerned about?



7 - The windows
How can I see if the windows are original?
I was looking for a GM-stamp. What I found were text and numbers. Windshield read LAMINATED AS-1 DOT 177 M52 A and a logo that looks like "LOF". followed by 0000 34 Y A W 893.
Rear hatch also stamped LOF SOFT RAY SAFETY AS-2 SOLID TEMPERED HEATED DOT I5M8, sidewindows also LOF SOLID TEMPERED AS-2 DOT 177 MI05 LNSG. T-tops are stamped BRONZE-08 SAFETY FLO-LITE AS3 LOF SOLID TEMPERED COATED DOT 15 M94A

8 - Other
Then there are some spots only visible when the doors are open that seem a bit wonky. I guess this is some filler or rubber material used at the factory when joining body parts. I'll just post some pictures. Please shout out if you see something that does not look right.





The area pointed out by the red arrows above looks a bit dodgy. What is this?

 

The fast idle when cold is normal. Mine did seem excessive but once I fixed the base timing it did calm down a bit. Remember this was one of GM's first fuel injection systems so not as refined as a modern system.

The decals looks just like mine. Probably normal? Not trying to be snarky but the early 80's was not a high point for quality from GM.

If you plan on driving it, plan on replacing the tires!

 

Thanks for writing back. Interesting info.
Does your 1982 CE have joints or overlap on the pinstriping on the hood as well?

 

My hood pinstripes look exactly like yours with the overlap.

 

In the past ten rears i have purchased two 1982's with original tires that began to disintegrate within the FIRST mile I drove. I would not drive this vehicle at all without new tires.

 

Thanks for the advise. Safety first, right?
It seems I have misunderstood the seller on this point. I picked up that these were the original tyres, so I asked how much new ones would cost. He has responded back that the ones on the car are from around 2000. But still old tyres, no doubt.

 

Tor too much time to write answers in detail right now.
All pictures and questions are NORMAL Chevy production. The Decal paint means the car probably has original paint but was RE CLEARCOATED....all okay. Tires Here in the USA run about $135 each for Radial T/A RWL 255/60/15 I think TIRE RACK can ship internationally.
The car looks fine....the hood bumper WAS an issue...all can be adjusted and touched up. GOOD LUCK!
Unkahal

 

Thank you all for the feedback.
Now she's mine.

 

2 grand for 15 inch tires? lol
More like 120 ea

 

CONGRATULATIONS TOR!

Buy Tom Falconer's book 'the Original Corvette'.....He's ALSO a fan of the 82 CE.

He is also a closer source to Norway for parts as he is in the UK.....which is still EU for the next five minutes.....

Unkahal

 

#6 pics....the first one looks to me like sloppy application of weatherstrip adhesive. The second pic...many of the original weatherstrip pieces have metal forms embedded in them which are prone to rust over time.
Congratulations on you new Corvette! Have fun with it. That's what they were made for.

 

Vanguard Motors has a beautiful one for sale and a not so beautiful price. $39,000. I guess you get what you pay for.