yes, i know that title is misleading. i love C4's too, but this particular one may have problems.

the C4 i was most interested in getting, an '84 for $3500, has just had a carfax run on it. doesn't look good. :(
in 1993, it had both a salvage and flood car title issued for it.
you think i should just pass it up, or possibly have it checked out very carefully. i would hate to see it not be mine :(

 

Not only would pass I would Run :leaving:

 

The electronics in those cars and floods do not go together very well. RUN! :yesnod: :seeya

tom...

 

I've never been a fan of the C4 :nonod:

 

I believe I would pass.

 

:iagree: Get on the bus and leave. My brother just bought one for $3500.00. Needs a lot of work but he drove it home and it hasn't been in a flood. Be patient, they're out there.

 

Metal, tell you what, I have posters signed by GM engineering celebs from the '99 vette cruise to BG....but as I stood there wit them, I was not wanting to be negative, but could NOT think of anything positive to say...so I just smiled and walked away, saying thanks for the signatures....there they were everyone from Guldstrand to Dave ?? the C4 designer...and a couple of others...and all I could think of was the absolute FURY I still have over that POS '87 I had.....just NO excuses...none acceptable....

To ME, Corvette is a decent looking affordable ride, that handles well, and goes like stink....and is too boot something REASONABLE to work on/modify...not constantly repair due to engineering screw ups....

GENE

 

You get what you pay for - and $3500 ain't much for a fiberglass sportscar.
I paid more than that for my POS rusty 75. Yeah - I drove it a couple years,
but I got what I paid for - not much.

Damn Gene - just when I was considering a C4 for a foul weather driver.
Maybe I'll wait for something in the 90s. (funny - newest car I've EVER owned
is an 89 - driving it today w/ 240k original miles).

 

Haul **** :auto: :auto: :auto:

 

Rusty75, Yeh, not for 3500 bux...but then again...assuming accidents don't take their toll....driving a vette and keeping that mechanical and now a daze also electrical/electronic nitemare alive is as good a FUN ride as can be had...

at least the entire CAR can't disappear in a brown sea of rust...like say a 240/260/280 Z.....by now...even 300ZX...et al....

I seen many a Mercedes sports car with some smaller vintage on it....

sea of rust...look close...

higher prices too boot....yeh, can't knock the vettes too hard that way....but still...compared to former cars, like the C3....the C4 introduced some manufacturing techniques that make resto near impossible, and the premature failure rates are VERY high, and when there are 11++ computers running a damn CAR, some how the failure to support even simple items like intermittant W/shield wiper modules in say late sharks....well that is not a positive thing going forward...the attitude shows....
not that the General is neglectful of old cars, they sure as HELL are better than any other manufacturer, along with Ford....but for sure the electronics industry will make reman/support of old computer nearly impossible on any affordable basis....because they no longer make the damn CHIP...much less retain the tech knowledge to properly repair the damn boards....
now this is not a prediction of IF but of WHEN.....

GENE

 

Let me get this straight? You can buy a running corvette for 3500 bucks about 1/2 of what people here consider a decent paint job and you don't think thats a deal?

Who cares if if has a salvage title if it has been repaired correctly. It boils down to what you are looking for. If you want something to drive around and beat on while you save your "good" car it might be just the ticket. Would you rather drive around in a beater pickup truck for that price or a beater corvette? I'd take the vette. What else you going to get for that price?

If you are looking for something to restore, i guess you should start from a better foundation.

 

Don't walk away, Run. The electronics along are going to be a nightmare ! :eek:

 

Do what the little blue smiley in doing but faster.

:leaving:

 

i did check it out onece before, and she took me for a ride in it (this was before i got my license). alot of things worked, dash functioned well, i can't even think of anything that didn't work. the only thing that kinda bothered me was, after about 10 minutes of driving around, we were at a stop sign. it idled for about 6 seconds, then stalled. fired up again with about 5 seconds of cranking. other than that, it ran fine and accelerated well. i dunno if i should be particularly concerned with that, as i doubt she has tuned it up in a while. she only takes it out like once every 2 months for the past year. i think it would make a great daily driver, but that carfax has me very worried now :(
what i plan on doing is seeing if she'd let me take it to my auto shop class and we could look it over on a lift. after i show her the carfax, thats the only way i'd buy it is if i can inspect it thoroughly.
i rushed into buying my '79, and i got ripped bad on that, so i'll take my time checking this one out.

 

Run away. You could buy a very nice car for what this one would ultimately cost.

 

None of us can say a thing about that car without seeing it. The easy answer, is to run from it. True, water and electonics don't go well together. But if it's been running all this time, you might be okay. I say "might"....

Definitely, take it someplace and look long and hard. And drive it. I would make arrangements to drive it for an extended period of time. A lot of people aren't very crazy about letting you take their car. But if you and she are serious, this might be the only way to do it.

Also, everything is negotiable. How about $2500? Give it a shot. I would buy an '84 with a bad carfax for that price. Might be worth it.

 

:iagree:

If you are somewhat interested, offer her $2500.00. At that price you can hardly go wrong.

But as a general rule of thumb, I stay away from salvage vehicles. I owned one as my first vehicle and it always was plagued by accident related quirks. And it was put together by a reputable rebuilder. That same rebuilder told me the other day he NEVER buys Flooded vehicles nowadays.

 

You would probably cry if you found out about the Vette my dad's neighbor just sold. He had an original red/black 84 with 34,000 miles that he has owned since it was one year old. He decided to buy a new C5 last week. He sold it to the sales guy (a friend of his) for 3,000 bucks! The digital dash needed to be fixed, other than that, this car was damn near perfect. It has been garaged all it's life, and if you average the miles out, it comes to under 2K miles a year on it. Next year, it would be up for a Bloomington Gold Survior award, and this car would have been Gold certified for sure. I don't care for 84's that much, but if I would have found out about this before he sold it, I would have paid him more for it than he got. I always miss the great deals! :smash:

AC

 

I love C4's but I would stay away from one that was flood damaged. People just don't need those kinds of headaches.

 

I'd be more concerned about the salvage title than the flood title. The electronics in the early C4's actually hold up to water quite well: All the stuff in the engine compartment can be hosed down and submerged without damage (I've done it many times to mine), and the early C4 only has one ECM computer under the dash, and the whole thing is available brand new (reconditioned) from GM for $109. No problem with the electronics - cheap and easy to fix.

When a C4 takes a hard hit, on the other hand, they're truly a bear to make right again. They have a unibody construction, and the body is bonded to the underlaying metal frame - no separate frame on a C4. If the car has been hit hard enough to warrant a salvage title, chances are darned good that it's been improperly patched together, and it could be bent. Also, the '84 Crossfire C4 is not all that desireable. You can get really nice '85 & '86 Vettes for just a couple of grand more, and they have the real Bosch injection systems on them - much better value and reliability.