Buying first Vette. What do I look for?
 

My neighbor across the street has a 81 Vette that he is wanting to sell and I have had my eye on it since I first saw the car about a year ago. I haven't gotten all the particulars out of him as to what he has done to the car. He owns a real estate company and can't hardly track him down. Oil pan gasket replaced and power steering has had work done to it from looking under the car. No leaks coming from underneath that are visible. I was wondering what to look for that might be problem areas for this model year. I do know that he put new wetherstripping throughout the car and had it repainted. Interior is in average condition and ac and heat work. Brand new tires. No rust was found when I crawled under it yesterday. He doesn't drive the car at all. It shows 78K on the odometer and his wife says that this is actual mileage. Just looking to see what problem areas I should look at and what kind of price should I be trying to be around.

Welcome to CF. Do a search in the tool bar above or just scroll down a page or two. This question gets asked at least twice a week by a new member. :thumbs:
Your next question will be what is it worth?
:cheers:

You'll get plenty of help, some very savy people on this forum. The main thing you'll hear is rust, rust, rust. Check the frame, you don't want to see rust, especially of the kick ups in front of the rear wheels. Also, pull the pillar trim off the interior of the windshield and look for rust on the windshield part birdcage, also pull the kick panels and look for rust where the pillars meet the frame of the birdcage, which is the structure that supports the passenger compartment of the car. Also, check the paint and interior close, both are pricey to repair depending on the level of perfection you want.

They'll be many others offering help to help you here, they sure helped me. Here's my 81, bought it last year in April, new paint, 74K miles, good interior and everything works. I paid $8,500 for it. You need to weigh how much your neighbor wants for the car and the work it needs. An 81 is usually a 10-12K car in very nice shape at most. It's easy to get buried in one so you need to make sure you know everything it needs.

Good Luck

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http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...ollPark003.jpg

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Very nice Vette, Jon. Thanks for the info. He told me that he had 9K in the car and would like to get that back. I really don't think it needs a lot of major work. I am just looking for the problems areas to look at that aren't readily noticeable. I will go back over there tomorrow if the weather gets any better and check out the areas you mentioned. It's snowing here in Shreveport right now of all things. Not exactly t-top weather. I 'll also do a search and find out what else has been said on this subject.

$9k for a car that has newer paint and a decent interior without any major mechanical flaws and no rust would be a good buy. Keep us updated and post some pictures when you can.

Thanks for the kind words about my vette also!

From the description it sounds like a fair price for the car. It helps when buying, knowing the owner and how he took care of the car.

i'm not that good, the forum helped me too.

the only advice i have is to stay away from the 83's. awful year.

What's wrong with 83's? :( I've owned 2 of them and both where great cars!

Here's my paste and copy answer to this common question.

No question, befor you put your hard earned money down, pull the kicks, just one screw in back, up near the firwe wall, and the sill covers, first 3 screws ought to do it, and check the lower cage to body mount, second there are little covers in the front rear wheel wells, 6 1/4in bolts, pull theses and check the rear cage mounts, the other two, called #1 and #4 you can see from underneath the car, there open to the air. Don't let a little surface rust scare you off on htese, the main thing is that thier not pitted or seriously rusted, no holes! I've included pics off mine,, these are "ok", but no worse would be acceptble. If that checks out, and you like the car and price, It Needs to go on a lift to check the frame for ters and/or rust, same thing applies, a little surface is ok , but no pitting, pay attention to around the front suspension areas and to the take off areas for the rear kick-ups, the front for ters and the rear for rust. the windshield surround can be fixed for about $2k, so it's not that bad if it's rusty, but the cage is a death knel for everything but a high value (+35k) Vette, loking upwards of $10k for that, and I do mean upwards. put a camera in the front kick panel holes and take a picture up into the cage rails, you can see the condition rails. cage and a frame inspection is a must for any C3 buy, and if he won't let you do it, I'd walk away from it.

Front:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/a...BodyMount1.jpg

Up into the front rails:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/a...BodyMount5.jpg


Rear:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/a...BodyMount7.jpg

Good luck! :thumbs:

Good informative post:thumbs:
You killed two birds w/ that stone, answered questions I had as well.

then you're a lucky man. i've heard nothing but bad things about them.

They never sold an 83. I think they only made 2 and both are in a museum.

Really? i never knew that....

ever.

Thanks for the post runningman. I will look into getting the vette on a lift. I know a classic car repair place that did some work on a 76 BMW that I have. They might let me borrow theirs for a small fee and stick there head under there with me. This is the kind of info I am looking for. Keep it coming and thanks for the info.

You should also pull the passenger side pad, that the map pocket is on, it only takes 7 screws to pull it, and nothing is holding it in, the small round vent slides out od the vent tube in the rear and the flasher is easily uncliped from it on removal, you can trhe see the condition of the inside of the dash for rust, there is a inaccesable plate over this one, but you can spot bad rust issue here too. Drivers side requires pulling the steering colum, so it's probably a no-do, but they are usually pretty similar, mine were.

Mine show that the top piece is probably pretty rusty, but the cage channels and lowers are in good shape. the top piece is fixed with windshield surround job, and needs to be done on mine, and I knew that. The 2 most important things are the frame and the birdcage channels and lowers. Pretty much everything else is repairable at a reasonable cost. C

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/a...perB-Cage1.jpg

:rofl:

door, panel and hood alignment. If it has been smacked and repaired poorly there will be misalignment points that will stand out. Front or rear bumpers, doors to quarter panels, hood. Not always posible to correct these issues and they tend to stand out more when the car is all restored.

Like everyone says, check for rust in the places they suggest. Rust is a deal killer. It doesn't pay to look at the rest of the car if there are major rust issues.

Good paint is a major plus. Paint is very expensive, and even a $7-8000 paint job can look like crap if it isn't done right.

The shape of the motor is almost irrelevant. You can buy a brand new GM Goodwrench crate motor for $1300, or alternatively, the gearheads here can walk you through how to turn your motor into a collection of parts on your workbench, identify what's wrong with it, and put it back together.