1981 Potential buy - Need experienced opinions please
 

There is a chance I take a stab at this 1981 vette. The gentleman owning it said it was an '81 with an L82 engine (you can even seen the marks of the tape for the L-82 badges). The problem with that is. . . .in all my research (and VIN look up) it def came with the L81. The trim tab also shows a dark blue interior with white paint (code 10L). I am not sure if this car is too far gone or not and need people with more experience to lend their input.

As for mechanical skills, I have a toyota tacoma, mid travel "race" suspension, supercharged, piggyback ECU that overwrites the OEM one when needed, glass fenders, on 35's, stand alone fuse block for all accessories (compressor, rear locker, lights, winch) blah blah blah, and I do ALL my own work. I am comfortable working on cars.

My concern with this one in particular is the rust in the floor boards and the fact that the dash may be missing completely. Is this something a confident person on cars should run away from?

Also, how much would people offer for it? I have a number in mind but dont want to sway anyone's opinion. The rear suspension has supposedly been redone and cost like $2,200 according to the owner.

Please, flood me with your thoughts.

(the gentleman mentioned at one time he was looking for 4k for it, but now 3k may be reasonable. I personally think its worth less than 3k.....by a good amount. Please advise).

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Wouldn’t recommend it at all! Helluva lot better deals out there than that. Rust, interior, body, there’s not one good thing based on what I’m looking at. You can find a better car at a similar price.

yeah. youre looking at least 5k alone in parts to get interior and trim gauges dash electrical etc. Theres much better out there for that money.
Id probably be a buyer at like 700 bucks lol. I can make my money back on the wheels and drivetrain if it turns out its a rust heap based on the rustoleum painted floors.

Walk away, actually maybe run away from it! There are a ton of nice project 73-82's out there. My advice is to buy the best car you can afford. Having restored these cars I can tell you it is always way more to restore them than you think. Even if you are going to do a restomod and not original, I would start with a much better car, it will make a way better car in the long run. Good luck!

I agree, don't walk. RUN.. you would be upside down about 4 times over by the time its done.

Agree with all the above and the only way that rear suspension would be worth anything is if it were still all in a box, new.

$1000-1500 TOPS
Gutted interior, paint trashed, sitting since Reagan was president, engine bay has more dirt than a garden. WALK

All that land, and he couldn't be bothered to build a garage, or even a carport/shelter. That would have been a better use of the rear-end rebuild money.

Neglect killed that car. There are lots of better cars for the same or a bit more that won't leave you $15K in the hole before you begin.

If you can get it for a few $hundred, the rear end could be swapped to another 80-82, assuming the differential and trailing arms were properly rebuilt.

I see $20K to build a $10K car.

If you buy that car, you will make three dozen mice homeless.
And yourself.

It would make a good Parts Car though.

:iagree:

I would run from that car. that is a parts car at best.

Instant "Divorce Kit", Just add MONEY!!!! :willy:

Looks like a lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of money. How do I know? I bought one in similar condition about 4 years ago and have experienced all three, lot's of work, lot's of time, and lot's of money. Would I do it again? Yep I sure would. I'm already thinking about the next project! Will I get my money back? Nope, never had that expectation. I do it because I love spending time in the garage working on it, that's where I get my money back. It's not for everyone, so I guess it's up to you but that's a big project and will take a good chunk of time and money. Check out my thread and see what it might entail. Good luck in your search, hope this helps.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ect-build.html

That is sooo optimistic...

A good sounding board on pricing is to look at the completed sales on ebay. You can look at all the ones that have sold in the last several months and what they sold for. I did a search on 80-82 and here is what you will find. These are the most recent sales dating back to November.

Projects - needs full restoration, but are complete cars - $1,600-$2,200
Drivers - one level above a project, probably still needs a lot of work, but are drive able - $5,000-$8,000
Higher end - these are the ones that probably don't need much or any work at all, low miles, nice paint, most everything works as it should, just not a fully restored car. $8,000-$14,000
Restored - only one example found, but it sold for $19,900

These are actual sales so the numbers will give you an idea on what to expect.

Unless you specifically need some parts from this car, forget it. There's not enough left to start a project. The low dollar price sounds good; but add the cost of the parts needed, and then compare that to the cost of a decent [and complete] car which you could purchase for $5-7K. It's a 'no brainer" to walk away from this one.

If you buy it & put 15000.00 in parts not counting paint plus your labor you could possibly get 7000.00 for it

A little optimistic on both numbers but I agree otherwise. If he gave you $10k to take the car, you’d end up upside down by the time it’s roadworthy.

He would be lucky to get 500 for it. Total pos thats too far gone, too much missing.

Run!

I'd buy a mint one for 12k.

Me neither. I owned a nice 81. Which can be bought for far less than it would take to make that thing right.

Is yours for sale?

Thank you all so much for everyone's input. I offered 500$ initially and thats when he came back with the "was 4k but probably let it go for 3k". I thought at MOST maybe 1500 cuz he said it still drives.

I did walk away (actually before seeing all these great replies)! But it just reaffirms my thoughts personally on what is worth saving vs not. Everyone's input is much appreciated. It's nice to have a site to turn to for experienced input. To me, it was not so much about the money on this one (I was preparing mentally to put 10-12k in it by the time it was over, to make it driver quality) but for a first restoration project, it may be a little too much to swallow.

In a perfect world, I'll find a good paint/interior car and just have to worry about all the mechanics in it.

The hunt continues!

No, but it took me 3 months to find mine. Be patient.

Personally I think he should be offering you the cash to take it away.

Just checking I would love to have another Black/Black 80-81 4 speed only

That car is junk, plain & simple, it basically needs EVERTHING! As far as a L81 or a L82, they were both low power non desirable engines anyway, find something else

Look for an earlier model, preferably '69-72.

Here is one that just came up for sale on the forum, under 10k: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...nnecticut.html

I would fast walk away from it. Fast walk.

well I think I am going to pull the trigger on a '74 stingray, 58k original miles. runs and just had brakes completely redone. I think I may be test driving it tomorrow (inspected the crap out of it today) and we'll see!

Good luck on the drive! And let us know how it went and if you decide to pull the trigger, post some pics. I've got a '74 and I love it. It has the same interior as the earlier C3's as well.

The MORE you spend up front, the LESS the car will cost in the long run. No one on this board will argue this point. (Well, we like to argue anything).:lol:

Truer words have never been spoken :yesnod:

thanks. I have been working that fine line between too far gone and too much completed already. I am looking to get the car so I can work on it for a project so its been a little bit of a balancing act as far as finding the "right" one.

We'll see how the drive goes today

welp, I got it today!

I will post pics when a get more than a sec.

So excited to start this new chapter. my supercharged tacoma, fiberglass front end, 35's, regeared, air locker, mid travel Fox suspension front/rear truck is going to be put on hold now (by order of the wife haha) for this new project.

:confused:

So here she is:

walked away paying $5,700 for it. It drives and shifts fine with no issues. Needs a little work under the hood to spruce it up and the interior needs the most attention but nothing is too far gone in this one. So fortunate to have come across this and make a deal.

fiberglass bottom which makes this car virtually rust free; got extremely lucky. Bottom of the frame (both sides) has next to no surface rust.

If anyone can ID the wheels that would be great. I cant seem to find them. they appear aftermarket though (unfortunately).

The shop I got this from already redid the entire brake system, distributor cap and wires, flush radiator and filled with new, drained xmsn and engine oil for new, new Cobra tires. I think I got a great deal on this one!

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Also, as a new but eager learner, can anyone fill me in on exactly what the "stingray" brings to the table that other '74s dont have? I thought this was a base model car but stingray. . . . I'm a little confused what the difference.

That looks about like mine when I bought her (The 80 in my signature), and I still had to do brakes and tires myself! I think you'll find that white C3s are just a bit faster than any other color. You should just throw those carpets away and buy new ones, but the rest should clean up. No steel floorboards to rust, but make sure the fiberglass isn't saturated.

I believe all 74s had a "Stingray" badge on them. This site will help you decipher the trim badge, VIN, engine stamp, and other bits.
http://corvettec3.ca/
For example, the 5th digit of the VIN will tell you what engine your car came with (L-48, L-82, or 454).

Dive in, and keep us posted with photos! You may want to start a new build thread, with "1974" in the title. :)

Thank you. And I just got the new thread started haha:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ld-thread.html

The interior is def the beef of this project and I plan on gutting it completely and replacing what needs changed. Very excited for this opportunity!

Cant see too much but they look like ET mags.

:iagree:
I would NOT take that POS if you tried to give it to me.

Run..don't walk away.
Unkahals estimates

paint=$10k
Interior$3k
Engine= L-81 ugh!

Just buy one that's 'mostly there'.

There are 5 'subsytems' in a car.
Body
Interior
Chassis
Engine
Wiring/vacuum

it's okay if ONE of them is F/U.
Not ALL OF THEM!

value= parts.
Keep looking.
Unka

:iagree: :thumbs:

I have found that it is better to just wait and save your money for a really nice c3 instead of buying a basket case unless you want the thrill and have the expertise to do all the work yourself.