redwing76

If it was me I'd look for a 90-91.
High mileage cars are used up..........look for a car with less than 110k miles.
A car that costs $85,000 new is all gone at 150k same as a car that cost $10,000.
Time, age, and miles are all killers.

Mr. Peabody

Well I would politely disagree. Every car I've owned since 73, I put over 150K on and the first was a 73 vega gt. Granted most every car I've owned since new so my maint paid off. If well maintained your late model LT1 will run for 200K at least.

My 95A4 was the first used car; bought 2 yrs ago this coming March with 36K. I've put over 15K on her each of the two years as I drive her daily year round. You will pay high cost for maintenance there's no getting around it unless you already have the tools and the know-how to do it right yourself. I no longer have the time or the agility to do it myself thus it always goes to the same speed shop for all maint.

Don't be afraid of a high milage vette but one thing you must do: you must drive several examples of the year & model you decide upon. For example, With automatics like mine theres a big difference between a 2:59 rear and a 3:07 and you know what that difference feels like and means to you.

Good luck with your search and enjoy the looking and careful test drives

Regards,

FF1wms

He pretty much covered it. If you don't have an ol' lady, Your corvette will fill that spot. If you do have one, you have to hope she shares the same love for corvettes that you do.
Good luck.

teebee

Dale, you sound just like me 2 years ago. (I just recently gave my timing light to a guy with an old pickup, who could use it). I picked up the book Cor-VETTE specs 1984-1996 by Mike Antonick and nearly memorized it. From there I decided which years fit me the best (94-96). Then I started scouring the ads, ebay, anywhere I could. I ended up with a 94 coupe with 96K on the clock. But they had complete maintenance records with it, and it obviously had been taken care of, so I bought it. 13K miles since then I'm not unhappy about my purchase. The right one will show up and you'll know it. Good hunting!

My understanding wife has been with me 31 years, and she likes the Corvette.

Greg Gore

If you do the research beforehand and choose your car carefully you will find much enjoyment without the regrets many have because of getting caught up in Corvette fever and rushing to buy. I wholeheartedly recommend these two books in order to get a detailed indepth C4 education which will give you the ins and outs of selecting a car that is right for you before you buy and knowledge of how to maintain and repair it properly afterwards:

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/...V37566001_.jpg

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

There are too many other factors that affect price besides model year and miles such as:
1) Overall condition and appearance: All the little things that you see now and that you might want to fix someday is very easy to underestimate cost; for example, leaky weatherstrips can turn in to an over $1000 job to replace them all properly.
2) Engine: L-83, L-98, LT-1, LT-4, LT-5?
3) Transmission: manual or automatic?
4) Convertible or Coupe?
5) Color (less popular color usually helps price)
6) Optional equipment- RPO codes.
7) Modifications or deviation from the original.
8) Previous history- Can you verify the car was not ever seriously hurt (rebuilt title, recent hurricane car)?

I purposely bought a high miles 96 in order to get a real hands-on C4 education which one can gain from the experience of completely rebuilding one. One example I can cite which is an example of things you can encounter on a high miles car is engine oil leaks. Mine had the usual intake manifold oil leak and in the process of dismantling it I also decided to check the timing chain. This is a lot more work because the pan needs to be dropped, Opti and waterpump removed and damper hub pulled to get the front cover off but I'm glad I did because the chain was stretched and a lot looser than I would have guessed. I also discovered grooves worn in the damper hub and the waterpump drive shaft which are additional sources of oil leaks. I also discovered someone had been in there before possibly to address oil leaks and the job was apparently shortcutted and very sloppy and reason I am doing it again now. To do this job I bought special Kent Moore tools for the waterpump shaft seal and puller/installer for the damper hub. The exhaust system was completely removed and left side cat pulled for access to the pan. Your mileage may vary.

Archaea

I bought a 1990 c4 with 98,000 miles from a dealership "as is"

In three weeks I replaced the clutch, a day later the engine spun a bearing and I'm throwing in a new 383.

My 6400 dollar good deal, turned out to be a 12,000 project. It'll be a blast when she's done, but my exp tells me that you shouldn't buy the car unless you can afford the extra POSSIBLE repairs that would be required.

The dealership wouldn't offer me a warranty and it's probably my fault for buying it. But they made it very clear I was buying it "as is"

I drove it 700 miles home without inccident, and then in 3 weeks of driving it around KC I started getting the problems.

so good luck with your purchase - they are fun cars - I just hope you get a good one and be prepared for expenses...You HAVE to be - it's a 20 year old car --- the rubber bushings, window seals, etc are all 20 years old and beginning to - --if not already deteriating.

But it'll be worth it in the end.

DaleD

Thanks for the sobering advice.

B!@cK 86 V3tt3

cv67

These are OLD cars...Now if they were 5 years old Id steer towards the lo miler every time..These things its a crapshoot.
70k miles is not low, neither is 50k. Once a motor sees 30k the best of its life is about over.

If NCRS is your thing buy an ultra lo mile car with original everything., keep it in a bubble and open the door once a month, sniff the leather and get yourself off.

Personally I dont want 15 year old paint, injectors, wheel bearings etc etc. Id rather see the stuff replaced with newer better parts/materials. I dont care what the mileage is, it is still OLD and parts go bad from that alone.

Heck, I have a motor I put together 3 years ago, never run stored inside. I guarantee it will probably leak as some of the gaskets look to be a bit dry and appear to have hardened up some.. Get my drift?

If you want a NEW car, get a new one.
This hobby is all about fun, dont think about an old C4 for one minute as an investment.
I have a rule when I buy a car I put a dollar figure on what Im comfortable with putting into it total. If it looks like its going to get out of control I dump it and get another one. Thats just me.

Frizlefrak

Won't that get the leather messy?

I know people that do this very sort of thing. Gotta wonder how much real pleasure they get from their car.

80sRule

I can say low mileage helps on some things, but on others can be awful.

This spring I get to replace a leaky seal on the front of my transmission(~$10), on a now 51k mile 87 Vert. This last year, I replaced:

-New GM Radiator and all hoses.(~$200)
-MAF Sensor and relays($80 used + $20 new)
-2 digital dash panes($200)

However, as a whole, the car was worth it. The former owner(corvetteronw) had taken excellent care of it, and a lot of expensive items had been done recently.

High mile cars mean stuff will die from use and wear, and low mile cars mean the parts die or leak from lack of use. What do you want to fix?

RWD_tech

people seem to want a lot for their C4's. if you have a budget of around 10-12k you can only find cars around 90-100k miles. i hate high milage cars. the interior and paint tends to look crappy, and ur that much closer to any major repairs. there are some things on a car that just go out with use no matter how you maintain them.

baldpuki

I just bought an '87 coupe on ebay and picked it up and drove from San Diego back to Utah. It wasn't near the condition I hoped it was, but not bad. It has 93,000 on the clock and in finally getting it in the air yesterday I found that the entire suspension is due for at least a bushing rebuild. In addition, the motor drinks about a quart in 1,000 miles, bad rubber trim and it has had a real bad paint job...bad leather inside etc etc. I figure that I bought it for $5,000 and will take one project at a time and end up spending another $5,000+ in the next year or 2. What other kind of car can give this kind of owner satisfaction for that kind of money?

By the way...any knowledgable enthusiasts in the Salt Lake area? I don't even see that there is a Corvetter Club of America chapter here. Thanks!

redwing76

A quart every 1,000 is acceptable. It could have been worse.
Good luck with the car.

Bob89c4

That is about the best advice....

Buy something you like and it helps if you can work on it.

These cars were made to take a beating but they sometimes do need help along the way and it can add up in a hurry if someone other than yourself is doing the work!

When looking for a C4 we came across two that had well over 200,000 miles on them. They ran great and if it wasn't for the odometer we would have never known the difference!

They had been well taken care of and looked like they were never abused but enjoyed!

The price on both vehicles did not reflect the high miles though (at least we felt that way) and soon found a 89 6 spd coupe for slightly more with only 79000.0 miles.

Our C4 we bought to drive.....if and when we sell it I am sure it will have a couple hundred thou on it!

Greg Gore

I recently bought a 96 with 110K miles for the purpose of having a project car and below is a list of things I decided to do if for no good reason other than to see if I could make a nice car out of it. All items shown were not completely necessary or the most cost effective way for proper functioning of the car of course but I list them here as an example of how easy and expensive it can be to get completely carried away with one of these:
AC Delco 7 year battery (came with usual cheapie that was half dead and leaking acid down the side)
front air dam, 3 pieces (C4s usually need these)
intake gaskets (leak was so bad entire bottom of car coated in oil, even dripping off mufflers and rear axle)
valve cover gaskets (leaking)
timing chain & gears (loose- stretched more than I expected, glad I decided to check it)
oil pan gasket (leaking)
oil filter adapter "O" ring (leaking)
new timing cover with front seals (front seals leaking) Seals sold separately but nice to get new cover with seals.
new GM waterpump (car came with a rebuilt- OK, but would rather have a new GM)
cooling system hoses
serpentine belt
belt idler (can detect flat spots in bearings while spinning by hand)
belt tensioner (bearing in this one probably not far behind idler)
Optispark (original was disassembled for cleaning sometime in past, two screws missing)
AC Delco plug wires (good time to put a nice new set on)
AC sparkplugs
rebuild kit- throttle body
good used cats from 4.5K mile car (broken element inside my originals- rattle noise on acceleration)
four new O2 sensors (replacing along with cats only due to high miles)
four rebuild kits, brake calipers
brake pads, front and rear
brake rotors, used from parts car w/ 1200 miles- look like new
windshield (pitted and sandblasted)
wiper arms and blades
complete set of weatherstrips including doors and hatch (water leaks)
weatherstrip retainers (leaking water at foam seals underneath- not enough to replace weatherstrips only)
power window guides and antirattle adjusters (windows slow & loose, disassembled both doors for cleaning & lube)
door panels (originals cracked, won't stay in place at top)
new dash pad (edges curling from Sun)
instrument panel lower trim, both sides (appearance scuffed and worn)
several instrument panel trim parts (Dulso coating scuffed and worn)
Bose radio bulbs- disassemble to replace all 6 (5 mini bulbs soldered to PC board to light radio face burned out)
console trim panel (Dulso coating scuffed and worn)
shift **** (leather worn appearance)
14 foam tape strips, antirattle- installed on dash parts for noise reduction- disassembled entire dash to replace
windshield header trim (cracked)
sun visors (floppy ears)
complete carpeting from parts car with low miles (original ruined from water leaks)
steering wheel from low mile parts car (grain pattern worn off high mile original, nice to have a better one)
nice sport seats from low mile parts car (much better condition than high mile originals)
new GM seat tracks (stripped gears, power seats were not working in all directions)
nice set of seat belts from low mile parts car (originals worn and dirty)
carpeted console side trim from low mile parts car (originals cracked)
multifunction turn signal switch stalk- balky & painted legends worn off
parking brake handle (rusty from leaking weatherstrips, wet under carpeting, sticks, won't release at times)
shifter mechanism (rusty from leaking weatherstrips, wet under carpeting)
transmission pan gasket (leaking)
transmission shift shaft seal (leaking)
transmission speedometer adapter "O" ring (leaking)
front fog lamp assemblies (sandblasted & pitted)
all four corner lamps (scratched and some lenses cracked)
tail light lenses (scratched)
high mounted stop lamp (scratched)
back-up lamps (cloudy and discolored)

To the car's credit it came with the following work performed by the previous owner just prior to selling:
rebuilt waterpump with new Dexcool coolant.
claimed Opti replacement too because of waterpump failure, really only disassembled and cleaned the original
new Edelbrock shocks (may or may not replace with correct Bilsteins, undecided about that for now)
new blue tint roof (original was sun checked, owner painted white and included with car but I tossed it out)
Michelin Pilot tires (am considering replacing with original GoodYear GSC's)

Car Stickered for $41,149.00 and Had These Options:
Preferred Equipment Group #1- adds C68 Electronic Climate Control to power driver's seat & Bose upgrade $1333
RPO AG1 Power driver seat (included in Preferred Equipment Group #1)
RPO AG2 Power passenger seat $305
RPO AQ9 Sports seats $625
RPO 24S Removable roof panels with blue tint for coupe $650
RPO G92 Performance axle ratio 3.07:1 $50
RPO U1F Delco-Bose stereo system with compact disc changer (included in preferred Equipment Group #1)

Car is really just an ordinary and rather common LT-1 coupe with perhaps a few nice to have options. Having G92 is maybe worth half a mention and is the only thing that takes it out of the very average category.

There were several things I observed about this car that helped me decide to do the purchase:
Good Carfax, 3 former owners, car never out of SC, have original window sticker and build sheet
Nice original paint on a good straight no hit body
looking inside oil filler cap engine was surprisingly clean and bright inside (discovered later during disassembly it was cleaner than I would expect even a 10K mile engine to be. Intake ports, guides and backsides of valves shiney as new- not even a trace of deposits. Don't have an answer for this unless the engine was replaced. Have not checked numbers yet to see if this is the case but will)
cooling system was clean, rust free coolant bright orange-red
transmission fluid was bright red.

I probably would not have bought this car had it not been for the above which I consider important. The car was basically sound and worth getting involved with at the time at least to me as my goal was to acquire a good C4 education by going through one hands-on. The car taught me this: I could have bought a nice low mile LT-4 convertible for what I have in this one now (just parts, I did all the labor) but the problem is you can't learn anything with a good car because of no good reason to take a good car apart. The project car also equipped me with enough knowledge and experience to look at C4s from now on with a pretty good idea of what the car really is. I did not have this ability before. Your mileage will vary.

cv67

Youre fingers must be sore

bdvdvh7

If it was high mileage, I would look into one that had maybe one or two owners. Especially an owner that keeps records. To me, that would mean the owner cared for the car regardless of the mileage. Lack of records and lots of owners to me would lead me to believe of a car not too cared for.

J1corvette

I can certainly understand the opinion of getting the newest corvette you can afford. Indeed every year of the C4 was improved over the next. I was also in the same price range when looking for a Corvette. I chose to go with the older, less milage car. I have a 1987 Coupe. The 87 is probably considered the last of the "introductory" C4's. Although I wanted a 93 or newer because of the features like the LT1, air bags, one touch window down and the new A/C refrigerant, I was willing to trade those things for a compromise.

The L98 is only 240 hp for that year and getting it close to 300 as the LT1 is, is posible with not too much effort. The tourqe is definitely there and that's what's important for leaving the stoplight. usually I don't get to go 120mph on the local highway, so zipping away and up to 60mph in a heartbeat is a good enough feeling for me.

I don't miss the air bags as long as I don't crash and one touch down windows to me are a pain anyway. The air is a climate control system like found in newer cars and blows ice cold (so far).

I think that the older distributer may be less of a hassel than the optispark unit, and with after market distributers, coils and wires run just as well as the optispark and are easy to care for.

Yes, I do have to replace the weatherstripping and I am doing so a little at a time so the expence doesn't hit all at once but I don't drive the car too much in the rain anyway. The suspension rubber is in good shape as is the rest of the car as it seems to have been well cared for. I have had to replace rear hatch struts, a steering rack and a drivers door panel but it is and older car.

I bought the car for $7,000 with 76,000 miles on it and now I am up to 81,000 in a year and a half. I don't drive it every day but I try too drive it as much as possible and it feels like it will just keep running all day. I love the way it drives. Great handling, decent ride and super acceleration! A great sports car for the money if you ask me.

Anyway I just wanted to give you the other side of the high vs. low milage, older vs. newer debate.
After all you did ask for opinions.

Greg Gore

As mentioned above I started dismantling my engine in order to replace the intake gaskets and decided to also include the front seals, timing chain and pan gasket. I also removed the oil pump to replace the plastic coupler (couples pump to intermediate shaft) and disassembled the pump for a look inside. The previous owner reported frequent oil changes with Mobil 1 and I'm pretty happy he did. The engine is cleaner inside than I would expect a 10K miles engine to be; no deposits anywhere, not even any discoloring and no wear inside the oil pump. Based upon this if you can confirm a good oil change history I would not be afraid of a high miles LT-1 other than maybe the timing chain which will be stretched and seals and gaskets which degrade and harden over time and use and lose their ability to prevent leaks.