Non-owner back again. I've narrowed my choices down to two cars. The snow has made my bargaining position even stronger; both owners are anxious to hear from me. I'm not looking for a show-car vehical to be the be-all and end-all of my Corvette experience. I'm looking for a sporty daily driver (even in the winter, when salt isn't on the roads) for my 50 mile mountainous commute. Help me decide which is really the better deal:

#1-$13,500
Good:
Nassau Blue, 2 owner 1998 Coupe
Clean Carfax
80,xxx Miles
Clutch has 600 miles on it
Drilled+Slotted rotors with 600 miles on them
Cold Air Intake
Borla Stinger exhaust
Very clean engine, undercarriage, exterior. No leaks at all.
Bad:
Targa top is delaminated pretty badly
Driver's seat has a split bottom, and a wear hole
No CD player
No Hud
No Active Handling
Tires are new, but front and back are different brands
Has documentation for clutch and brakes, but nothing from original owner.

#2: $16,000
Good:
1999 Nassau Blue Coupe, 3 owner (but all 3 worked at the same real estate office and know each other)
Clean Carfax
74,xxx miles
New Michelin Pilot Sport tires put on for the sale
Two tops, both in perfect condition
15 disk CD changer installed in one of the trunk wells
HUD
New tie rods.
Has window sticker, number of mechanic who did all out-of-warranty maintenance, and receipts.

Bad:
Seat has rip in the bolster that was "repaired" with a piece of duck tape. Cleaning the goo off will be fun.
Clutch catches very high/feels soft vs. the other car. Will probably need to be replaced soon.
Owner not a "car guy." This is tough to quantify, but he drove the car only 1,000 miles in the 3 years he owned it, and didn't seem to know much of anything about Corvettes except that they were cool. He is so dependent on his mechanic (I'm pretty almost positive this wasn't an act), that when he saw the lug key in the glove box he picked it up and said "crap, this must have broken off of somewhere. I'm sorry." He also didn't realize that the car had come with a disc changer from the previous owner. When he saw it in the trunk well, he seemed genuinely surprised. He said he had never rolled down the passenger side window. I'm a little concerned that his inattention might have caused some problems with the car that I couldn't see, but there was no battery corrosion under the battery (the brand was AC Delco, but it was a gel-type, and the mechanic had installed some kind of metal holding box around it, maybe because he was aware of the problem). but he let me test drive it for 50 minutes in the mountains near his home, and invited me in for a beer afterwards and we talked for a wile. He was really kind, pretty old (65 maybe?), and seemed very genuine. He also showed me the car at his house, the other guy met me at a local firehouse.

Anyway, those are the two. Talk among yourselves. Remember, I'm not going to be getting a $3,000 carbon-fiber aero kit for the car or entering it in shows. I love driving, I have an insanely perfect commute begging for a high-torque sports car. I want to drive this thing, and will probably drive it into the ground at 250,000 miles, just like all my other cars.

 

Tough Call...
For that kind of money there some really nice vette's out there in that price range..
Kind of hard to give anyone advice on buying except do your research..

Did you pull the codes?

That's where I would start...

You don’t want a headache especially looking for a daily driver...

 

They both seem a little high imao

 

offer 14k for the 2nd one and see how it goes. mention the issues you found with the car.
worth between 13k and 15k

 

I'm betting that won't go well. The guy keeps talking about the blue-book value. However, I could always try it.

 

Unless I would see them I would have no clue! Good luck.

 

they both seem in similar shape and have similar mileage....#2 having a few more options...but #1 having the new clutch and lower price. Will #1 come down more on price? I don't see #2 coming down thousands of dollars to make it worth your while to buy a similar car that's gonna need a clutch (possibly) in the near future. If you could get into car #1 at 12,500..that would be a decent deal. You can add an aftermarket stereo. HUD is not important to me. You can start watching for a new top in the parts section here. Overall ...pretty similar vettes w a decent price difference between them. Good luck! I wonder if you should wait...save a little more (spend a little more) on a nassau vert? That could make those nice days in the mountains even more fun!

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but I've never really liked convertibles. Otherwise, I would consider it.

 

I wouldn't consider #1 at all. The second you can offer $16000 if he replaces the seat covers and the clutch, if not offer $14500 and you'll replace the seat covers and clutch. If no deal then look eslewhere! Just my opinion!

 

He is asking high blue book in excellent condition. Plus it's going to need a clutch soon. Interior need some work. If he is not willing to deal then i would move to #1 and see if he would go 12k. I bought a fully loaded 98 with 84k almost two year ago for 12k. There were many other similar at around the same price then. I think they are both alittle high on the price. Most people,including myself will price them at the high side of Blue book and seen how it goes from there. Take them on a good long test drive,including stop and go traffic. Check for codes before and after the test drive. Check for oil residue around the exhaust tips as well as the under of the rear bumper.Look for even gaps between tires and fenders,check lower seat frames for rust. New tires always scared me as you can't see how they were wearing,which may indicate suspension issues. Also check frame around jacking points for damage to frame and panels.check for door sagging.If you can spray the car down with a water hose and check for water leaks. Yes,I've done all these things. If you have a mechanic that can put it up on a lift,do so and obtain his bias option. When I see a car with speed mods,I can only think that they were installed for a reason.

 

I'll do that this afternoon. I hope he takes it. He had the car listed at $16,900 originally, which seemed really high, so I don't know if he'd take a $2,500 hit on the list price. I guess we'll see.

Pitty about the other car. I had to email back and forth a lot to get it down to that price from the $14,500 he originally wanted. The owner of that one bought it for $17,000 in 2009, then had to put the clutch in. I guess he's just bugged about having to take a bath on it to sell it (I would be too), but that's sort of his fault for paying $17,000 for an early model 1998 in 2009.

 

#2. Have a local Rayco give an estimate to fix the bolster repair. Take that off the top.

 

The guy had gotten an estimate of $400 from a local place that he showed me. Doesn't mean much to me, because he lives 4 hours from me, but it's a good starting point.

 

If it were me I'd go with #1 (but would ask the seller what's the lowest they would go). Mine has a CD player but I've never used it and I don't have (nor pine for) the HUD option. If those options are important to you then you could use the $3K amount saved (between the price of the two cars in consideration) to add as a DIY later. Could probably replace the top and mismatched tires too and still have a few dollars left over from the $3K. My $0.02 worth...

 

If the guy will come down on #1 to cover the cost of repairs that are needed, then go with that one. If not, I'd keep looking. There are a lot of C5s out there for sale. Don't rush into it.

 

I would go with #1, you could do a lot with the 3k left over. By buying the other car you would gain 6k miles, nicer tops, a hud, a cd changer, and a clutch that might go out soon. Plus the first one has a cold air intake, drilled and slotted rotors, and borla exhaust if you like those.

 

a couple things i might add would be to take CarFax with a grain of salt (as you probably already know). i bought my FRC last fall with a clean report only to find out a few months ago that it'd been wrecked pretty bad at some point (not as bad as i wrecked it, but still...).

another thing to check is all under the car - particularly under the front end. look to see how good of shape the air dams are & how scuffed/dinged the 'fangs' are. check the bottoms of the cradles to see how many time's it's been bottomed out

 

Got #2 down to $15,500, and a mechanic went over it and gave it a clean bill of health. If all goes well, I'll pick it up Saturday.

 

Congrats,You pay alittle too much,but if your happy,then it's all good.
Just don't try to sell it any time soon and enjoy. Hope to see pictures soon.

 

Welcome to the club. Do a search for the Ranger clutch fluid replacement procedure. Very easy to do. Just check your fluid and see if its black. If it is follow the instructions. It just may help you. Found the link http://www.rangeracceleration.com/Clutch_Care.html
Oh yea, I use the hud all the time. nice feature