There is I guess an 80-82 vette sitting at a house near buy that looks in need of TLC. I have asked the wife if whe would be interested in such a car and she did not say no. What are the draw backs to this year? What are the problem areas or what bad signs should I look for in a fixer upper. It is sitting with no wheels on it right now. :nopity Are they standard with a removable top? I really know nothing about this year vette Sorry. Thanks. :seeya

 

Even though the 80-82s look the same, they have some major differences between the years:
80 - standard carb. engine L48/L82, 4 speed manual or 3 speed auto.
81 - electronic carb.
82 - fuel injection (CFI) w/ECM, only 4 speed auto.

Al C3s, except the verts., came standard with T-Tops, in these years a mirrorred glass was optional as it was in some of the previous years.

As with any car, sitting idle is one of the worst things that can happen to it. You need to find out what year it is to get more specific answers.

Hope this helps.

 

Check out corvettefaq.com. I believe there is a collection of articles titled "Mechanical Inspection of a C3".

The web address is http://www.corvettefaq.com/misc.asp. Good luck.

Regards,

Jim

 

no wheels, that says alot. You will be looking to spend some $$, but if you can get it for a cheap enough, and you :smash: some, well welcome to the vette world. Some parts are easily available, most not too much problems, just how much do you want to spend. Some parts are being discontinued for 81's, so we get more creative. Send back some more info and forum can probably tell you more. good luck with the $$

 

If they don't say NO, then it's a yes. What kind of limit do you have on your VISA or Mastercard-it's everything you want to be, including being a Corvette owner :lol: :lol: :lol:

On the serious side-if your interested, take a "Corvette" person with you when possibly buying. You could get very deep into debt here if the car had some or major problems you might not find, but a more experienced C3 owner could. Many people here on the Forum have helped others here and I have done it several times. Most people here enjoy going and looking at Corvettes.

 

Thanks all, that is exactly the kind of start I was looking for. Of course I will find out the year when I actually stop and inquire about a sale. I will let you all know.

 

things i checked that needed replacing on my 1980 were the radiator suport frame which rust out on these years (replaced for under $100) calipers with ss and the clock and tack seem to go on these years also..other than that the normal procedure of checkin the frame for rust, headlights,engine run ect. hope it works out...lol

 

It was also possible to get a 1980 with the electronic carb & computer... there is one sitting in my garage right now.

I believe this was a California flavor.

FYI

They can be "trying" to work on.

 

On the serious side-if your interested, take a "Corvette" person with you when possibly buying. You could get very deep into debt here if the car had some or major problems you might not find, but a more experienced C3 owner could. Many people here on the Forum have helped others here and I have done it several times. Most people here enjoy going and looking at Corvettes.[/QUOTE]
i couldn't agree more. my brother-in-law got the hots for a vette a couple of years ago. not knowing anything about them, he asked me if i could help him find a "good" one for a fair price. i got a call a few weeks later and he had already bought one. since then i believe he has already spent as much in repairs as he did buying the car, which was in the mid to high four figures. :rolleyes:

 

:lol: Couldn't have said it better myself! :seeya

 

Hey Jenny; if you want to part with some of the stuff Tom454 is working on LMK
:smash:

 

The '80 Calif. computer system seemed to be a 1st attempt. Wouldn't store fault codes in NVR & are a PITA to diagnose (so I read). The system fitted in '81 was better. If it turns out to be an '81 then don't let the computer put you off buying it if all else is OK. The computer is your friend :crazy: (at least as far as fuel consumption goes).
Shame Bill Gates didn't have anything to do with it. If he had, then if it ever played up you'd just have to get out of the car, then get back in & everything would work again :lol:
'80 - '82 look really :cool:
:cheers:


[Modified by UKPaul, 2:48 PM 3/6/2002]

 

Now if the computer in the '81 gets fried, then it is a real PITA to get things working right again

 

If Bill Gates had made it the thing would be built to not work correctly, then rather than make it right with people by fixing it under warranty, he'd make you buy something to fix what should have worked in the first place. :rolleyes:

 

Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated "If GM had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon"

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: "If GM developed technology like MIcrosoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the road for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen all the windows before you could continue. For some reason, you would simply accept this.
4. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.
5. The oil, water temp and alternator lights would all be replaced by a single "General Protection Fault" warning light.
6.The airbag system would ask "are you sure" before deploying.
7.Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
8.Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
9.You would have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

 

Thanks for all your insight! I am making it apriority to stop by this week end. I just learned one of my friends has sold his very clean 76 :sad:

Razz-what can I say. wow maybe I can talk my better half into a shot like that.

 

Microsoft told GM that they were interested in doing the software for car computers.

GM said "Ctrl Alt Delete" does not work for us !

:cool:

 

if the computer fries, get a spare, I did for my 81. Reman form Ecklers are $99.00 last catalog.