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Made a two-hour-each-way trip today to see a 2004 CE that, according to the guy who has owned it since new, was in excellent condition. His phone description and photos made it seem like the car was pristine.
Let's just say that I realized before I even pulled into the driveway that it wasn't as advertised and definitely not the car for me.
Above the right rear wheel well was a dollar-bill-sized scrape all the way through the paint, plus a few door dings on the lip of the wheel well.
Walked around to the front and was astonished to see a fist-size chunk of clear coat peeling from near the Commemorative badge.
And it gets better. Owner comes out his front door and acts shocked to see the peeling clear coat, saying it wasn't like that before. Then he says he's really ticked off because Corvettes don't have clear coat (my reaction: huh?) and that the shop that wet sanded the car must have screwed up.
Then he drops this one: "It wasn't like this when I used the pressure washer on it last night."
After a two-hour drive and an expensive lunch, I couldn't have been
there more than two minutes before I got back in my car and drove back home.
Sad that someone takes such shoddy care of a car like that.
My brother was looking for a 67 Mustang. Called to go look at one that had a new paint job.
Go there, get out... horror! Whoever painted it, was the worst thing we'd ever seen. Big sags all along the body curves, front blinker lights completely painted over!! It was... house paint!
Poor 67 Mustang, what did it do to deserve that!?
Got away from "the scene" before the guy made it outside. Better that than what we probably would have said to him...
From: In a parallel universe. Currently own 2014 Stingray Coupe.
C7 of the Year - Modified Finalist 2021
MO Events Coordinator
St. Jude Co-Organizer
St. Jude Donor '03 thru '26
NCM Sinkhole Donor
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Sorry to hear the car wasn't as nice as advertised. Keep your hopes up - there are some excellent C5s for sale out there - it just takes some time and patience.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C5 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
I wasted 2 trips to houston (~4 hour drive each way, so 2 days total) and ate a plane ticket to phoenix before I found mine... I had a deal with the guy in phoenix to fly in and drive it home and a week before he started bs'ing me so I just backed out... I'd rather eat the ticket than waste another day and another plane ticket back... I ended up finding one in kansas and when I saw the previous owner pull into the parking lot I knew it was the one I was looking for... after seeing a few in not so good shape you will know exactly what you are looking for... just keep looking and don't settle, it may not seem this way now but when you do find the one you want the journey you took to get there will make that car even more special
Similar experience we had back in the mid-90's looking at a '78 Silver Anniversary Pace Car. The funny thing about that one was the owner of it really, sincerely believed the car was in mint condition. Going to look at it, we found a 12 year old piece of junk that already need to be restored. Guess it's all about perspective...the guy even pushed the time to see it out a day because he didn't want to take it out in the rain. But the rain would have done the car some good as it would have at least washed away the thick layer of dust that was on top of the 12 year old paint that was not in good shape to begin with. The muffler was even missing some hardware so it was flopping loose.
The guy still insisted it was a real gem, a carefully preserved collector car and I do believe he really had that opinion of the car. All about perspective. GL in you continued search.
I'm not discouraged at all. It's kind of fun to go through this process.
Talked yesterday to the owner of this spiral gray 02 coupe with 34,000 miles. Says it is pristine and sent me photos that seem to back it up. Problem is he wants nearly $22k for a car that (in his words) is a special limited edition 50th anniversary Vette. On top of that, it's still on the original tires. When I pointed out that those tires are 13 years old, he countered with there's nothing wrong with them because there's plenty of tread left. And then said he is rock solid firm on the price.
2002 is not 50th anniversary. Tires are too old and at 30K miles need to be replaced. $22K is too much for a coupe and very high for even a convertible. Move on and let someone else pay the firm asking price. If it's all original it probably needs brakes as well as tires.
2002 is not 50th anniversary. Tires are too old and at 30K miles need to be replaced. $22K is too much for a coupe and very high for even a convertible. Move on and let someone else pay the firm asking price. If it's all original it probably needs brakes as well as tires.
Sorry. My typo. It's an 03 coupe. But still not THE actual special edition 50th anniversary car that he thinks it is.
Looks real clean in the pictures, may be worth a look but he should even know that the price needs to come down a bit. All 2003's are 50th but the special edition ones are all burgundy with the slate interior. I think about 30% in the 2003 model year were special edition 50th's so they are easy to find.
From: Ideals are peaceful...History is violent...St.Charles, MO.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (appearance mods)
C5 of Year Winner (appearance mods) 2019
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'12 thru'22
Yes, you did the right thing walking away from that 2004. It's sad to see the condition of that paint. The 2003 looks like it has potential, hope that one turns out better for you.
Too bad you don't live on the east coast. My 04 is a virtual twin to the 03 you looked at. Too be perfectly honest, it was less than $22K when I bought it 3 years ago.
Don't give up. Plenty of low mile one owner cars out their at good prices. I am on my 3rd vette and I picked up this great 04 Z06 1 owner car with 18,881 miles on it in December of 2014.
I bought my 03 Spiral Gray coupe (6MT) with 49k miles in fantastic condition last fall for $17k. Again, it could just be a regional thing, but excellent condition, low mileage cars are out there for not a ton of money. Just gotta keep on it.
The Spiral Gray "03" coupe looks just like mine except I have the M6. Back in late April I paid 24,000 for mine with 20,500 miles and new Michalin pilot sport tires. I may have have paid too much, but the color and M6 and like new condition twisted my arm............really hard
oh well the search for perfection..my $7500. '99 was a wreck a year ago and 4 g's later it runs and drives like new..I'd probably get $8500 for it on a good day..who cares ? it's a corvette. Seriously, I envy your options, I know you'll find a great car.
I had a clown like that , wasting my time with a bunch of hot air. I don't grasp the logic of deception with these guys.
I only had to drive about an hour , to meet him at a corvette shop, expecting to pay 100 bucks for a mechanical inspection and buy the car for $14,000 or so. I saved the $100 bucks in the first few moments with the car, and made an offer of $6000 cash after going through the obvious problems.
He got all indignant and stormed off. He called me three days later to accept that offer, but I was no longer in the heat of car buying negotiations and knew better than to buy trouble. I have a lot of experience spending money, not so much repairing corvettes.
... and he walked away
... I ended up finding one in kansas and when I saw the previous owner pull into the parking lot I knew it was the one I was looking for... after seeing a few in not so good shape you will know exactly what you are looking for... just keep looking and don't settle, it may not seem this way now but when you do find the one you want the journey you took to get there will make that car even more special
