What's your best suggestion to discern i.e 132K vs 32K on a C3 Vette especially the later 73-1980's cars

I am knowledgeable having owned numerous 50's cars and early 60's Mustangs where you can bet your bottom dollar the odometers have all gone around
unless chain of repair records show otherwise. I realize the C3's are a different animal. They were relatively expensive, two seater performance,
cars and often infrequently driven second car.

Many examples showing 35-75K on the odometer may indeed be original miles. I know enough to look for obvious signs
like a garaged example having decent original paint, wear on brake and gas pedals, wear or hand tarnish on gear selectors
, condition of undercarriage & drive-train , front end etc.

Not familiar enough with the C3's to tell "original factory" vs aftermarket interior soft parts.i.e nice original front seat covers ,
Any tips welcome as cut my teeth on these .

 

As old as these cars are. Mileage means far less than condition in the first place. However, rolled over Odo's generally have slight miss alighnment in the numbers.
But on any car claiming to gave very low miles should have paperwork to back it up.

 

I know my 80 has been around the horn. The seller disclosed this fact, and the service records (98K miles in 1998) proved it. If you suspect the seller is not being honest, don't buy a car from that seller. There are lots of other C3s, and people selling C3s, that will be easier to deal with.

Otherwise, brake pedal wear, drivers seat and armrests, grime underneath, etc. Anything can be cleaned or replaced, though. As @4-vettes said, buy the condition of the car. Mileage means almost nothing for a 40 year old car. Even 32K on a vinyl bumper is not low enough to get a low-mile premium.

 

I know there are certain components that, when replaced, are not installed as the factory did it. True low mileage cars would not have needed much by way of wheel bearings or ball-joint replacement; these parts should still be retained by the factory rivets.

 

Amount of wear on the carpeting and the foot pedals. At 32K, the pedals will have NO worn-thru or worn-thin spots on them and the carpeting will not be trashed.

P.S. If the carpet has been replaced, you should assume the car has 132K miles on it....or 232K miles.....

 

General wear and tear on things used almost every time the car is driven, especially on the driver's side. Worn inner and outer door handles, broken door seals, window crank mechanisms, wear and chipping around the ignition switch, sloppy headlight and wiper switches, sand-blasted windshield, right lower corner of the brake pedal pad, carpet under the gas pedal, do the sun visors stay up?, etc, etc.
It's usually pretty easy to tell 100,000 extra miles, because that's about 2,500 hours spent using all those things, (at an average 40 MPH, which is usual).

 

All good answers and much appreciated. I respectfully wonder about the mis-aligned odometer point. It's my understanding that numbers get out of wack if someone removes the cluster
and physically tries to flip a single digit. 90,000 mile car becomes 20,000. When the odo clocks the numbers become aligned.again.
Try playing with a trip meter, rolling it backwards a hair. Numbers out of wack but if you roll forward (or press reset button) they align again.

I don't have personal experience with manually rolling back so I may be wrong.

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When I phone screen "original miles" ads my question about documentation is often answered with "well it's been sitting, on non-op or I hardly drove it during the last xx years I have owned it ". Nothing said about the previous 30 years . Or it belonged to my uncle Harry's cousins friend and his uncle Harry's friend before that & they told me the mileage was original. Sigh......

The adage letting the car's condition speak for itself holds true. At least I can discern the seller's credibility on any other volunteered info by how high my bullshit meter goes.
If someone gives me crisp, credible info I will more or less buy what they are telling me.

Otherwise some excellent input here and I continue to take it in !
>True low mileage cars would not have needed much by way of wheel bearings or ball-joint replacement;
>Worn inner and outer door handles, broken door seals, window crank mechanisms, (play) around the ignition switch.....
>Anything can be cleaned or replaced, though.

 

I bought my '76 last year with 129,000 miles on it, and sure enough, had to do a bunch of work.
But, what I paid for the car plus what I invested in parts, tires, etc, adds up to just about exactly what the car is worth.
And, I know exactly what I've got, a completely new, high quality brake system, completely new ignition system, including distributor, top-rated tires that haven't been driven over curbs, all new fluids throughout the car, etc, etc.
Unless somebody can PROVE low mileage, with documents, I would ignore it.

 

Are the front rotors still riveted on? 32k Drilled out? Most likely 132k

 

Interesting post, I always like to see good photos of low mileage original C3's for comparison.
"When I phone screen "original miles" ads my question about documentation is often answered with "well it's been sitting, on non-op or I hardly drove it during the last xx years I have owned it "."

Hey, I'm that guy! I purchased my '71 in 1975 from the original owner with 28,152 miles when I transferred the title at the DMV. It was my daily driver for a couple of years until I bought a new car. Don't really know why I kept the Corvette, but I still have it. As of today, I have driven the car 27,238 miles since Oct. 1975, which were mostly up until around 1990. I have always had full coverage insurance and new tags every year, so you can imagine my costs per mile to own it for 45 years.

Yes, I would expect a potential buyer to question the mileage, so I can only state the mileage is true as a 45 year owner, and the car can represent itself. The only bushings that have been replaced are the upper control arm bushings, the ball joints are original, the rotors are original...(the rears were drilled out to replace the parking brake springs), all original interior, and the lacquer paint is 50 years old.
I know it's sad that the car hasn't been driven much over the past 30 years, but that's just the way it turned out. Looking at some old photos, I see that I have driven the car 36 miles since 2002, it currently has 55,390 miles. It has always been garaged and repairs made as needed. Strange how things can break or go bad just sitting. I'm sure there are others out there, but it seems like when they are stored in a barn they don't hold up as well compared to garaged.

If the potential buyer thinks my '71 has 155,390 miles, all I can do is disagree.

Odometer 9/2/2002


Odometer 8/19/2020

 

Steve; First is condition. Take the time to look up some of my threads on 'how to tell a high mileage car'.

Primarily; Check glass for date codes and then pitting and damage....basically a 100k+ mile car will either have the glass replaced or it will be pretty obviously pitted.
Then you look at the brake rotors....are the rivets drilled out? Hard to believe a 30k mile car had to have its rotors replaced or turned...possible...but it s a clue.
Look for wear across the entire car.

Odometer....an odometer that is below 100k will have the numbers basically lining up....all in a neat row....especially the left hand three digits....if they are all 'skew-wiff', it's gone around again.

Hope this helps.
Unkahal

 

I am impressed by the wealth of knowledge and accurate info on this forum.
A far cry from the knowledge base I am used to in the early 65-70 Mustang world.
That crowd has some knowledgeable old guys like me, also lots of kids, hacks and the misinformed.

Thanks to all !

"My other car is a Mach One "


Other Car

 

Larry Schinoda Industrial Designer and stylist extraordinaire was the designer of the Boss 302 and the Mach 1.....so a little bit of INCEST here.... he designed the C-2 and the C-3.

Unkahal

 

I helped a buddy swap out his "broken" speedometer on a 74 years ago. He called around to a bunch of junk yards and found one in good condition.
We reset it to his mileage, easy to do on the old ones. Even got the numbers to line up perfectly (which they were not on his).
Remember when used car dealers used to do it until they got caught?

 

Venting here; this seems as good a place as any;
Browsing ads for C3's on Craigslist ....the Bathroom Wall of Ads. E-bay a little better. This forum great.

I understand that condition rules & finding a continuous record of mileage docs will be the exception.
Still, When an ad says "original miles" my first couple of (text or email) screening questions include "title in your name" & "any documents or repair records to verify miles"
If I get a yes answer encourages me to possibly make a long trek to look at the car.

One ad I texted about got a reply about how the car is in excellent condition, short list of the fine points blah blah blah.

I replied "That doesn't answer my question". Turns out it was a she ...left me a couple of text about how much interest she has in the car, how it was very fairly priced, great shape
please don't waste her time etc I let it go then and there. She finally followed up with a voice text about how she was well known, been dealing in classic cars for 30 years
how she knew the previous owner, The tone was "how dare I doubt her integrity". Geez.... all I did was ask if she had doc's not to reveal certain parts
or her anatomy .

Another ad today....guy called me & before I had a chance to speak said it was in great shape, he was only selling to help with a down payment on a house , when do I want to come
see it . When i asked about the mileage & docs (again advertised as original) he went into a monologue about how he knew cars 'cause he owned a Porsche & a GTO,
it was his friends uncles alien-sister from Pluto's car, came with a Utah title (California Smog?... he swore it would pass). on and on. I gently again asked about repair records & he said a he had a folder of papers
including specs etc. "Bingo" I thought. "Send me a picture of a few of the repair records". He did send papers... the cover of an old Corvette parts catalog, some specs on front end alignment and other such non-sense .

I wouldn't even comment here except these are self-professed experts, They know what I am asking unless I am somehow speaking in a foreign Pluto-like tongue.
So I continue my search & am open to any nice car regardless of what the odometer does or does not say. Meanwhile please don't yank my chain by adverting
original miles & I won't yank yours by asking about same.

One thing I have found, makes me extra cautious is there is a certain population of guys & gals selling used cars, classic's and other-wise feel they have a right to embellish,
feign expertise & out and out bullshit. I am talking about otherwise honest guys Something about the used car world gives then license to do so.

"Buying a used car is like buying a horse from a horse-thief"

 

Mileage on these old cars, that depends on what you want to do with the car. When I was looking for my C3 mileage was not the number one concern, I was more concerned about the bones of the car. Chances are as mentioned in other posts, these cars will need work done and parts replaced to be safe, reliable and enjoyable, no matter the mileage. When looking at a C3 don’t start it up first. The owner will want you to hear the engine etc., do that last. Walk around the car, get on your back and belly, review the frame condition, the birdcage, pull the interior trim from above the visor, pull the kick panels, look at the frame in front of the back tires. If the above is bad, walk away. If the above turns out good continue with your inspection. When ready start it up, take it for a spin if possible, test out all the items like lights, vacuum operated items like the lights etc., other electronics. You may get lucky and find someone like myself and rebuilt the car from the nose to rear in my garage, replaced most parts, rebuilt engine, resealed tranny, rearend, u-joints and the list goes on. If you know none of that work has been done start putting together a list of projects required on the car. Then you will know the true cost of your purchase and value. I would rather buy one of two cars. One that has had nothing done, a true honest car, no matter the mileage and do the work myself and know what I got. You will find one of these at a lower price and if you are lucky has great bones. The second option pay for one that has all the above already done with receipts and paperwork to back it up, and be ready to pay a premium price.

Hope this helps someone looking for a C3.

 

There is no situation where the term "buyer beware" is more suitable than buying any kind of used car, including, more than ever, classics like ours.