The picture with the lawn ornament also has the car with a for sale sign in it and the grass is dead-(winter). There is another picture with the same for sale sign and the grass is green. I think he's had it for sale quite awhile, no telling why but it gets my senses going... I try to be very observant, sometimes that is good, other times not...

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It may have been for sale at this price or more for the whole time. Prices finally came up to the point it is no longer top dollar. And you will probably will point out this and that and get away at 12-14. Read that 7 rules stuff I posted. Extremely unlikely but I have seen cars this pretty that were trash underneath. But they usually have undercoat tryna hide the bad stuff. That is why that surface rust underneath is almost a plus. That stuff is unpainted when new. This is-was a production GM car. Not a Ferrari or Duesenburg. Designed to last a decade outside in the rain and snow. My gut feeling is it will pass muster.

 

Take a floor jack with you. Get the two back wheels up and check the wheel bearings for play. If they flop around that’s $2000. It’ll cost you about 1500 but it’s 2000 off the price. Near 100,000 is actually fairly high miles on these guys. So there will probably be suspension bushings and such that are going to have to be dealt with. They’re time consuming in a pain in the ***. They’re not really expensive. The fact it looks like it’s a live car that’s been being driven is in a way a plus. When they sit not moving all the hoses are dead. All the belts are dead. Check the date codes on the tires. Research them before you go there. Because that’s about 500 bucks for those tires maybe more. If they’re over seven years old they’re on their last legs. Although you can sort of safely drive around on them until they are 10. But the real rule of thumb is eight.

 

I appreciate all the input and will do a through inspection when I look at it Friday. He had told me where he always had it serviced and for me to go there and have them print out the records. I did. They knew the car well and he has always kept it up. Looking at the records just a couple years ago he had Fuel pump & sending unit, master cylinder, rear calipers, Blower motor and more replaced. This does tell me he was on top of things I guess. I'll check on the rust stuff, for sure!

 

Only concern is all the corrosion underneath..surface stuff isnt a big deal outside of visual its the birdvcage and frame Id take a close look at...like derek said bushings, ck those out too.

Lots with nice older cars even with low miles skip over that....we all know what age does to rubber.
paint looks real nice I could care less about paint vs decals in fact Id prefer paint.
Ditto on those tires those are super old, gotta go. If its been listed at 15 for mos and hasnt sold its overpriced.
So many ads today call a 90k or even 150k mi car "low miles" not sure where that came from...thats a lot of miles lol
I like TBI cars...they are super reliable easy to diagnose and work on. Not hp monsters but they werent meant to be in the 1st place.

 

What is TBI?

 

Throttle Body Injection..course the CFI has 2 of them.

 

Yes, Thanks. Also, wonder why the odometer only goes to 85 as compared to others,

 

Federal mandate back then had all speedometers capped @ 85mph regardless of how fast the car was capable of..................................

 

^^^back when the speed limit was 55mph.
Only good part about that was you didnt need an OD trans lol
had an 87 G20 van, TBI. Gutless but stone reliable...had 230k when I gave it away idled smooth as glass
Driven everyday or started every 6 mos it lit off immedialtey and never gave an issue I was impressed

Workbeast...i never even maintained it. changed oil 1x a yr and drove the beans out of it

 

That is an 80's thing and a national 55 MPH speed limit. Stupid marketing gimmick forced on auto manufactures by government regulations.

Sept. 1, 1979, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration added a provision into a regulation focusing on speedometer accuracy to place an emphasis on the 55-mph mark, and for a maximum speed reading of 85 mph.

 

From a driving standpoint many feel 82's were the best. EFI and OD trans with a locking torque converter. Nothing wrong with mid-70's cars either. Let's face it, after a couple years you'll be lucky to put on 2k miles a yr, so a mid-70's car, if that's what you were looking for would be great also. So definitely get what you WANT ..not what's 'convenient'. Anyway, CE's are somewhat more expensive to own bc the interior leathers are the most expensive to replace, T-Tops had the bronze tint (as noted above), and that back window can rattle, etc. But overall, like any vehicle, usually the last year has things the most sorted out.

But, again, ...if you had your heart set on a certain 'type' of mid-70's vette ...why even go look at this CE? I myself could see getting a mid-70's vert! . Buying 'the next best thing' (from what I originally wanted) usually didn't work out well for me in the long run. Left me 'wanting'.

Be careful how you jack this car up when you get there. If you don't know what you're doing, you could cause damage. Don't put the jack under the back pumpkin (aluminum differential housing), or the rear trailing arms. Use a block of wood under the front support.

 

Tread lightly on showing up with your own floor jack.

I personally wouldn't let some ole ho-daag internet 'tire-kicker' just show up and throw his jack under a car I was selling. I *might* offer to jack it up for him myself... (ONLY if I felt he was serious). It's not really your car to jack up. Most people are bozo's and i could just see a car slipping off the jack ...and the 'looker' shrug his shoulders and drive away w/o a care of the damage they caused. It sounds like the OP doesn't know enough about Corvettes to understand where and where not to jack up a vette (OP no offense intended, just sensing lack of familiarity). Besides, you'd get a much better look if it was up on a hoist. So if the seller is somewhat resistant about you jacking it up, and you are genuinely serious, offer to take it to a local shop and spend a few bucks to look it over right (on a hoist). Have a mechanic with a little more experience put his eye on things. He/she might notice something you don't.

Either way, it's an old classic car. Looks original. You should expect to find (or later discover) a few boogers that need to be straightened out. Even if it needed new rear bearings packed, which is a big job, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Once you get it done, then you KNOW for sure it's safe and good to go. Let's say they 'seem' good when you buy it, you don't know if they were repacked 20k miles ago ...or never.

 

The ad says Panama City, so I bet the rust is surface based due to the salt air. No salted roads in Florida, so likely not a frame problem. Still need to check the usual C3 spots though and give it due diligence.

The bumpers are still glossy, so maybe the whole car was repainted.

I really like my Collector Edition. Driving it is very relaxing and comfortable. If the car is solid, working AC, strong engine and tranny, that price is very reasonable. I would certainly peek under that dash-mat. I bet the rear hatch doesn’t open either. You can do some research on that little issue.

 

Did you look at the car? And?

 

Yes. Purchased the car Friday. He has had the car for 10 years and only put 4,000 miles on it. The title proved that. It seems to be a pretty good car. Looked it over as best I could. The best thing I like about it is EVERYTHING works, even cold AC. I got all of his paperwork and previous owners as well. Even original owners manual and dealer sticker. $24,197.59 I assume that before him it was repainted because like some of you stated here that those are not the correct graphics. But they still look great (to me). I looked on line to see about getting the original decals and they are like $1,500 so I'll stick with what's on it. There is aftermarket exhaust on it (too loud for me) so I'm going to back to something quite. Another thing, I assume it needs new tires. They have plenty of tread but are over 10 years old. What yall think? The only thing I could find wrong is needs new rear hatch lifts (already ordered). A couple small cracks in the dash. A few small paint chips. A small tear in the drivers seat. And that's really about it (so far). I ended up getting it for $13k which I'm happy with. PS: also gave me several Corvette CE shirts. Hats, Model of the car and more.

 

Congratulations!
The 82CE is a special one, for sure. Not saying it is better or worse. It just has some unique features in body, drivetrain, and suspension among the C3’s.
The 82 is special among the C3’s for some interesting reasons. I will let you read about how the 82 Vette is related to the C4.
Mclelland has an interesting book about his career.
Yes, the tires need to go. Tomorrow.
Don’t forget the spare tire is probably 40 years old. You need to pull it down and confirm it is old and replace that as well.
I am sure you will be doing the normal PMI stuff like oil change, brake fluid flush, coolant flush, etc?
If you live in the Panama City area, I visit the city for my work a few times a year. I would like to plan a short stop over to see another CE.

 

Thanks! Sure, message me next time you're in the area.

 

Congratulations. Sounds very nice. I have wanted an 82 CE since a friend bought one new. I finally bought one last week. 8,800 original miles. Like new. Original tires, spark plugs etc.
They are great driving cars.
Enjoy the new ride.