Hi I am new here and thought Imight add just a note about buying a corvette for the first time. I bought a 79 aauto wich needed some work . Well my first misstake was to not talke it to a garage and have them look at it. In 3 years. I put all new susension pn the front end, Had the radiator repaired, waterpump replaced, carb rebuilt, the car still does not handle well, so I took to my (now favorite mechanic) for the u-joints, well they were not bad but both rear wheel bearings are. So from reading this forum I called Van Steel, everything is out from under the rear end but me. While my new bearing are being rebuilt I am cutting out the rot in the frame of the car it is not that bad but I would not have found it if it was not for Tony at the garage. I hope to get it all painted under neathe befor the new parts come back from Van Steel. Hope to get to drive it this year with the way the rear end was we could not take it out of town. I guess what I am trying to say is if you are buying a vette for the first time get a Vette friend to go with you and take it to a garage and have them look at it first before buying. I hope this helps someone out.
Del

 

i would have to agree with you on this one. Although, i kinda enjoy paying $1300 to have all my rotors,bearings *front&back*, calipers, pads, and parking brake assembly done. thats what i get for not looking into the car first, but someone almost beat me to my current love, so it was a tought decision...check car out and most likely lose my one opportunity *sp*, or buy it on the spot with cash...i did the latter. o well, Christine and I couldnt be happier now my car that is...g/f got dumped after she started talking smack about Christine. Bless America and their wonderful relationship with vehicles!

 

My car is named Christine (after the movie obviously) and it drives my wife crazy. My car is all messed up after one year and $1,200. Still idles horrible and overheats at idle and other times...the needle pegs out. I can't seem to be able to fix anything on this car. I think Christine has an attitude

 

yeah buts its a corvette so all this irrational behavior is excused by everyone but your wife.....

 

It can be a tough deal...... I know cars very well... and still found problem after problem after problem that I didn't see when I "checked over" mine too. I bought mine cheap though knowing it needed work, but just kept finding more wrong with it every day. Fortunately alot of the problems mine had were no cost fixes if you don't count my time as money. If I counted my time in with parts........ I could have bought 2 new vettes...lol. My vette didn't have a working light in it. The previous owner just twisted wires together if they were close to each other I guess. most of the time the colors of the hacked up and twisted wires weren't even color matches. Its a wonder it didn't BURN. Like I knew it didn't have a fan shroud, I didn't know that every bracket and even the lower radiator mounts were gone too. But I did drive it home. The BIGGEST mistake about buying mine was that I bought it in Illinois.... and I live in Missouri...... the IL title was a normal title.... but when I got my new title in the mail from Missouri.... right across the font of it "prior salvage vehicle"..... that sucks..... I was not told that and had no idea. They have these "car fax" or something like that now... and I guess I would try that out for now on too. I try not to invest too much into mine, cause I know how people think of prior salvage... and I'll be hard pressed to get a decent price out of her if and when the day comes I sell her. I still can't really see evidence of any serious damage to the car... it does have a new rear bumper, and the front bumper is cracked all over and is unsalvageable. I have it covered with a bra for now. The body lines are great, it is vey even and symmetrical on the frame, and it tracks amazingly straight down the road. It does have new seats console and other interior parts, so I kinda wonder if it was a stolen stripped recovery, and that is why it was salvage.

Any one ever tried out ways to find out why a car was salvage?

Take care,

Loren