Never had a Vette, loved the later C3 bodies, found one
advertised as good condition, only a couple minor problems.

First, let me wholeheartedly admit total agreement with
some posts I've seen on here - NEVER BUY A CAR ON
EBAY. Nuff said?

Well, I've had some nice Chevy's in the past - 61 Impala
Sport Couple Bubble Back 348, 65 SS 327 El Camino,
67 SS Camaro 396/375 - they all were a joy to drive
and not bad to work on.

Also had my share of other brands.

Got my 81 Vette home (barely), started to fix the things
I'd already noticed, one thing led to another, ended up
at the back end.

What a POS design!!!! Not only is the basic design worse
than any of the multitude of muscle cars of any brand I've
had over the years, once it gets a little rust & corrosion
on it, it's an absolute freakin nightmare!!! Yeah, I'm talkin
about the trailing arms/hubs/spindles/lower arms/ park brakes.

Had to cut them out - would rather have had my wisdom
teeth cut out than to go thru that again!!!

Whoever designed that abortion is spinning rapidly in their
graves the last couple hours, and they won't have peace
for quite some time yet.

And that doesn't even consider things like the body mounts
that you can't get at without removing the entire freakin
body, the wiper intermittent control made of unobtainium,
and a number of smaller **** *****.

I sure wish I'd of found this Forum and read it before I
bought that damned Vette - NEVER would have bought
one irregardless of condition had I known of even half
of the design quirks and repair impossibilities!

Now I've got a loan on my wife's car I can't pay off
because I can't sell this POS without investing another
several grand - that I don't have.

In this case, beauty is definitely ONLY skin deep!

Anybody wanna buy a beautiful Vette?

 

 

I have to disagree about the design issues. Granted, the rear suspension is not easy to work on, but if it's maintained and repaired correctly it seldom gives any problems. There's quite a few good people here that would be happy to help you through your project, myself included, but you'll do a lot better if you lose the attitude.

 

The turkey I bought it from is a finance mgr at a big
Chev dealer in Cleveland. He claimed it was in excellent
driving condition. The trailing arms are so corroded they're
not even rebuildable - would never pass safety inspection.
And that's just one of the major problems.

Well, after I get done taking pictures and documenting
his fraudulent statements over the internet, he's going
to have one chance to make it right OR he's going to
be trying to explain his claims to the FBI internet fraud
division. And he better not forget about the civil suit
that's coming right afterwards if he balks.

I had worked and saved quite awhile to be able to have
one of these cars - have had it for nearly a year and
I'm not even close work wise or cost wise to being
able to drive it. Not to mention the loan I can't pay
off till I invest a couple grand more to get it saleable.

Been such a disappointment - not to mention the frustration
of struggling with the unique difficulties of repairing it -
that I likely never will license and drive it.

Attitude - yeah, I've got one about this pile of crap.

 

Dude, sorry you got screwed on the sale. That is very unfortunate.

Try dealing with wiper doors and fiber optics, cross fire injection and mechanical fuel injection if you want an engineering challenge! None of these little gems are on your '81.

You think a Corvette has engineering quirks and is hard to work on? Try a Jaguar (especially one with rust), Pantera, Porsche 911, etc. Corvettes are a dream in terms of parts availablility, cost, and maintenance. There is only one other classic American car I can think of in which parts are more readily available for and this is a Mustang.

At least the body on your '81 won't rust.

Good luck.

 

Nightmare to paint it? Sand it down to glass, epoxy primer, then respray. Not too difficult. No rust to deal with or dings.

 

SALT belt car check it over real good ...Sorry but don't lose heart

 

caveat emptor

 

I've had basically the same vehicals you have including some sweet Mopars.
I can easily say building up this 'vette has been my favorite. Driving it, which it sounds like you have not done, is incredible.
-Dan

 

I don't want to sound like the devil's advocate, but you said twice you have a loan you cannot re-pay because you can't sell the car. My question is, "Did you buy the car to drive it, or to try and make some money off it?" If you truly bought the car to drive it, I think you might find some of these "design problems" are not as hard to deal with as you might think. Just my two cents.

ltlevil

 

But you did, you have been a member since June 2003.

I read your post, and all that I can think of is, "This is way we love Corvette's, and all that that implies."

 

Working on the rear suspension is much different than the other cars you mentioned. I am in the process of re-doing mine. There are some things that are tough to get apart. At times I blame the engineering but then I realize that the car is 28 years old and it would not be abnormal for some of the parts to be slightly rusty or frozen together. Chances are that once it is put back together it will go another 28 years (my bushings are being changed because I have the rear susp out of the car, not because it was in need of repair).
I think the chance of winning any law suit is slim at best. It been almost a year since you bought, you should have looked at it better, some of the problems you mentioned are typical problems for a vette. Did the ad state the trailing arms were if good condition? Anyway, good luck with the car at this point. Once the current problems are repaired, enjoy it!

 

I too, am confused. If you've been on the forum for a year or more and did a little homework you would have known what to expect. I find that all cars are a royal pain in the a$$ to work on. The fact is that the 3 link rear suspension is an excellent set up for handling - lots of other cars use them including some exotics - Duntov was a brilliant engineer. I've done a little work on various muscle cars but my 64 was the first that I totally rebuilt. I've had the rear apart and together more times than I can count. I can have it torn down in 1/2 an hour and back together in about 60 minutes. What's the problem? Sounds like the real problem is that you expected the car to be in better shape then it is. That's not an engineering issue.

 

It's a shame you are having such a bad time with your Vette. They are such fun to drive, but they can certainly suck you dry on time and money if they aren't maintained properly. I hope things work out for you - and this is coming from someone who bought their Vette on E-bay.

 

I am a professional auto mechanic. I have worked on every kind of car from Yugos to Rolls Royces and everything in between. In my opinion,
The hardest mass produced car to work on is almost anything that says 'Honda' on it. The Corvette, on the other hand, is cake work. It is obvious you do not have outstanding mechanical skills, and should let someone work on it who is used to working on old cars. You probably should sell the Corvette and stop bitching to a gang of 'Vette enthusiasts. Not too swift to expect empathy here, what with all the euphemisms you are tossing about. Leave the Corvettes to the big boys. YMMV.