ubervic

I'll cut short the long list of cars I've contemplated, but a friend of mine who's an avid Corvette enthusiast pointed out that the C5s are really good deals right now. After doing a bit of research, it looks like I might be picking up a C5.

I'm looking to build up a really good driver's car - thus, going down the "rabbit hole." This would be a long-term purchase, something I'd plan on having about 10 years, give or take. It would be a (mostly) daily driver first, that's track-capable second. I've been reading the forums here quite a bit over the last few weeks and here's what I've come up with; 2001+ manual C5 base coupe or FRC.

Another friend has had a few C5Zs and that's always his answer to me, "C5 Z06, dude." However, I ruled this out pretty quickly as all the stuff that makes the Z06 special would be swapped out; I'm thinking built motor, coilovers, full exhaust, yadda yadda yadda. No interest in a convertible, so that leaves the coupe and the FRC. I like the looks of the coupe better, a base manual coupe should only be about 50 pounds heavier than a FRC, coupe is more common so should be cheaper than the FRC, though it's what, 12% less rigid than the FRC? A 4-point roll bar and aluminum tunnel plate should minimize the difference in rigidity a little bit. Plus, getting to pop the top for some open air motoring would be sweet too. So while I'm leaning coupe, wouldn't pass up a deal on a FRC.

The base cars are more appealing to me as less options means less weight and less things to go wrong. First round of mods, almost immediately, would be seats, steering wheel and shifter - all the points that connect the driver to the car. Beyond that, planned upgrades would be based around fixing weak spots uncovered on track days; cooling, brakes, etc., and/or as things wear out and need replacing.

I've set a target price of $10k, as I've seen a number of cars in the For Sale forum here and on YouTube at this price point that would fit the bill nicely. And that is a "target" price, because price creep is real. It doesn't matter what you're looking to spend, people are always trying to upsell you, and my eyes tend to wander a bit, so it's all good. I'm 14 months into IVF which is nearing six figures and have been remodeling our house for the last 18 months, which isn't far beyond the IVF. I just traded in my daily ride for a Suburban and the wife is looking at getting a new car in 2021. If I want something to play with, $10k is what's doable right now.

With the number of you forum members pushing well over 200k miles on your cars, putting mileage on these things doesn't scare me as they seem to be very well built, with the exception of the steering lock issue, EBCM, and a few electrical boog-a-boos. I'd be fine with about 100k on the car, but would rather something with fewer owners. I'd found one that'd been through seven owners (I think it was), and that's just kind of scary; I'd prefer a Corvette that kept her legs together. And I like salt in my margaritas, not my cars, so I'm looking for something a bit more southern where they don't salt the roads. Clean Carfax goes without saying.

Corvette prices do seem to be up right now so we'll have to see how all this plays out. I'll make a WTB post in the For Sale forum when I'm ready to pull the trigger.

rrwirsi

I looked for 6 months traveled to 4 states to find the car that met all my needs. It was found in all places, central PA at a GM dealership. Paid toward the top price for the year (04) and mileage (32K) but never regretted it. My suggestions: Do a list of must haves and do not compromise. Do not get into the thrill of owning a Corvette when you see one that looks good. Make sure you have it inspected by someone that knows these cars. And, JMHO, either you are willing to do electrical and mechanical work yourself or willing to pay someone to do it. The C5 have issues with both. Especially those that have not been cared for properly. My must haves; no more than 2 owners, less than 50K on the odometer, and a vert when I bought mine. Good luck with your search.

byte_me

I’m sure you’ll find the right car, sometimes it just takes a little time. Good time actually to be looking and most guys have put them to bed for the winter and or looking to sell to upgrade. Except those of us in the south who can drive all year.

I’ve owned many C5’s over the years, and an early C6, but made the move back to an 04 Z06/Z16. I can tell you, your friend is correct for steering you that way if you want the best of the best in a C5. In addition to being more rigid, light weight and more power, you get different gearing in the transmission and hardened rear end gears (shot peened) also, the glass is thinner, the shocks and sway bars are improved, the wheels are wider, and there are an array of other things I’m sure I’m missing.

The LS6 is a great platform, and will give you some grunt over an LS1 stock for stock. Which gives you a leg up when you start adding mods to the car.

My particular Z06 has a carbon fiber hood direct from the factory as an added weight savings which was a Z06/Z16 only option for 2004. I’m just saying that to point out that the race inspired, track proven race car is the Z06 platform.

While a $10k Z may be a tougher search, if you start out with a base car that has already some more horsepower from the factor and a few extra goodies included, it might make for a better overall car to what you plan to do later.

I absolutely love my C5 Z06, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one with higher miles as long as it had a documented past and not a ton of owners.

Good luck in your search, and don’t forget to wave!

Life’s good C5

I don’t know about great searches and all that. I saw mine for the first time on the US Air Force Academy used vehicle lot for 11,500.00 in the window. The next time I saw it was on Craigslist and that’s where I bought it for 8200.00 come to find out I’m the 8th owner and carfax shows a fender bender in 08. I did not buy in as an investment. I bought it to make it my own and drive it. I couldn’t be happier with my car! Now go get yours! :^)

bjones7131

Multiple owners doesn't bother me, guys and gals buy them and don't like them or their spouse doesn't or family needs change or can't afford them or they age and can't get in and out of them as easily so they sell or trade them. Good luck with hunt.

chasboy

My Z had 17k on it and I was 4th owner. No big deal.
Not looking for a fight or to offend, but I think your ‘legs together’ remark is a poor choice.

Fastclient

As I have mentioned in a past post ,don't forget Facebook Marketplace. That's where I found mine.

Adwest52

I don't understand the "must have only had one or two owners". As long as has been cared for and properly maintained over the years number of owners shouldn't matter.

ubervic

How often did you travel and walk away? I travel a good bit for work, got enough frequent flyer miles to get pretty much wherever I'd need, but I'd kinda like to be at least 90%ish sure it's "the car" before traveling.

This is good advice. My wife and I did exactly this for our house. I've already started a few google docs to sort through these issues.

Aside from building up a short block or transmission, I might be handy enough to tackle most things myself. Electrical work does try my patience though. And thanks!



The same friend that had the Z06s is now building up an E36 M3 with an LS swap. It's an LS1 with head/intake/cam swap with equal length longtubes and it's making a good bit more power than the LS6 did, and not just peak power, he's got a pretty fat torque curve too. A base C5 with an LS1 like that and a decent set of coilovers and swaybars... It'd be a pretty stout combination against a Z06. Point taken on the transmission and weight savings.

If a C5Z turns up near my target price, I'd be a fool not to jump on it.

You've got one great looking ride. Thanks, and will do!



$8200, I'd jump all over it myself if it looked solid enough.

Honestly, a higher number of owners doesn't really bother me—my comment was meant more to be humorous—it just gets harder to track how well the car was maintained. If the price is good enough ($8200 is pretty damn great), it'd definitely be worth the risk. I'd certainly not turn down a car with a higher number of owners if the price was right.

We're 100% on the same page.



As I mentioned above, a higher number of owners doesn't really bother me. It just gets harder to track how well the car was maintained. And thank you!



Yeah, unfortunately, no Facebook. But I have been considering reactivating my profile for the Marketplace, as well as having access to local car enthusiasts (with the exception of a few track days, I've refrained from playing with cars for about 10 years now).



Thanks for the input everyone, and Happy New Year!

-Vic

ubervic

Please allow myself to quote myself.

rrwirsi

Rolling the dice on a C5 purchase having multiple owners with records of maintenance but a price that is just right is IMHO a big gamble that I was not willing to take when purchasing mine. Price was not the driving reason for purchase. But each to their own. .

wdcraig

You'd be making a huge mistake to limit your search to a southern car. You'll likely find the best cars and deals in the North right now. Because most owners in the northern climes mothball their Corvettes over the winter months (and they tend to drive them little even when the weather permits), many of these cars are low miles and few if any will show even the slightest signs of rust. If a car happens to have higher miles, there's a fairly good chance those miles will be highway miles. Personally, I'd buy a high mileage highway miles car over a low mileage boulevard cruiser any day of the week.

My '01 car, a manual convertible (owned first in IL, then later in MI) had 97,000 miles on it when I bought it 3 years ago and it's undercarriage was clean as a whistle (and after 18,000 miles of my ownership it remains so). The few times I've been out on the snow with it (I do drive it year round, which isn't to say I daily drive it), I've made a point to get it to a carwash and wash the undercarriage.

Otherwise, my advice is that you'll know the right car as soon as your drive it (it will speak to you). I think you are right to not let miles or the number of owners rule any car out. Also, I think you are wise to look for the 2001+ and manual. I wasn't looking for a manual when I bought my car; but I am so glad the car that spoke to me happened to be a manual. Good luck and happy hunting!

Vetteman Jack

I would agree with wdcraig - lots of nothern cars are kept inside during the winter months and are very well maintained. You could be passing on a lot of very nice cars by limiting your search. While I can understand your concern over multiple owners, you have to remember that the latest C5 is now 17 years old and 2 or more owners are not uncommon. If the car has been taken care of, with documentation, it could be a good buy.

LSgoBRRR

Regarding multiple owners, these are real impractical cars for a lot of people and generally need to be garage kept so they change hands quite a bit when people get divorced or move, every time it's sold you have to figure it was serviced and running well enough to sell and that it was then driven. In many regards a higher mileage car that has seen a lot of use is better than one that has sat in some dude's barn for 10 years straight (if it's been sitting you have to be prepared to replace a lot of rubber, main seals, bushings, etc.).

Regarding Northern cars most Vettes are garaged. I bought this one out of PA and I was hard pressed to find any real rust on it (Z06 exhaust helps and so does the fiber glass body).

FB Marketplace is really your best bet (at least it was around here). I overpaid a bit compared to a couple of years ago because I bought my 01 Z in this used car bubble but well under dealer prices, only 29K miles, near perfect interior, only a little paint correction I will have addressed in spring... and I'm having a blast. Needed new window regulators but I was able to that myself for parts cost, and I think it will need both Door Control Modules refurbed (plan to rip them out and mail them away while I have the whole thing exploded again to do a stereo replacement).

Aside from the usual car stuff, here are some C5 specific checks:

Harmonic Balancer (motor shakes like crazy, hard to miss)
Toque Tube (Listen for a scrapping noise from the trans tunnel)
Battery acid leaks onto the computer under it.

So far it's mechanically great, I had a little oil burn smell but I suspect it was seepage burning off because that's gone now (did 3 hours carving the backroads the other day and everything is good), however I've learned the hard way that it's an old GM car and all the parts bin stuff (like Door Control Modules and Window Regulators in my case) go to **** with age and need replacement/repair. Also everything is made out of old, brittle plastic. You will break the door handle hex bolt access covers taking them off, you will probably destroy your spark plug wires changing plugs, etc.

TCFS

@ubervic all the best in your quest just for the records I think the FRC was replaced by the Z06 in 2001 ...so basically if you want an FRC from 2001 and later, it is a Z06.
my 2 cents
TCFS

MY03C5Z

Agree 100% on this. My z gets parked in the garage from Dec - March here in PA. I see other nice c5’s all the time around me, from Spring till Fall. Next to no one drives their Vettes in the winter around here, they just don’t.

USAZR1

If you're looking for a C5 that's only had a couple of owners, you are really reducing the pool of cars to choose from. I'm the 6th owner of my Z06 and it just turned over 64k miles. The guy I purchased it from was a member here and drove it less than 500 miles. Owners #2-5 were just caretakers and put less than 10k miles. My Z06 was a nice car when I got it and I've probably spent close to $10k just making it mine.
Some people are just too **** and over-think buying these cars. They're a Chevrolet, not a Ferrari.

PerryKing

What difference does a few owners make? If I remember right I’m number 5 on my coupe. It’s not hard to tell if a car is a ragged out POS. Plus you’re talking about rebuilding the engine, suspension, ..... look it over, drive it, and make your decision

ubervic

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Looking at a lot of the ads on the big sites (Autotrader, Autolist, CarGurus, etc), I did find a few cars with 6-8 owners that had really good documentation through Carfax. I realize Carfax isn't the end-all be-all, but it's still okay data when available. It looks like these cars are better cared for than I'm used to, simply because the typical Corvette-owner seems to be a better car-owner than other marques, and I'm sure there are exceptions - there are obviously a few out there that have been beat on and neglected. I'd clarified my statement a few posts back about condition/number of owners, but I get it now... A high number of owners in the Corvette world isn't indicative of problems or a rough life like with other cars.

I'm also leaning heavier toward the coupe. As was pointed out to me, the FRC is available in the earlier cars, it would have to be a Z06 in the 2001+ cars that I'd prefer. Not that I'd mind a Z06, but I doubt I'll find one at my price point in comparable condition to what a coupe would be. Besides, as I mentioned, most of the mechanical bits would be swapped out over time anyway.

Favorite colors are the navy blue and spiral gray. And dig the red interiors, but won't be holding my breath for it.

ubervic

Officially on the market, and got my WTB posted. Crickets on the forum so far, but a Corvette-minded friend has sent me a few cars off the Facebook. He's forwarded my contact info along on the ones that looked interesting, so hopefully I hear back on something.