What in the Hades did I do!
 

So I recently acquired a '93 fairly clean auto LT1 30k miles car from a friend. Only problems are the typical stuff like headlight gear, radio antenna, weather stripping etc etc.

This is my first vette and was my dream car growing up, not sure if buyers remorse or fantasy fulfilled. Plan was to have something to tinker with, drive in local parades, take on track while my boy(14) is younger and still enjoys hanging with dad. Thinking now to only fix the typical problems and turn it and move onto something like a c6 or c7.

If you ask what i paid.....traded a john deere mower for it.

Not sure what to do, and curious if you all have ran into these feelings. Mandatory pics below

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...8c1ce081d9.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...d5aa5251be.jpg

I WANTED A VETTE SINCE I WAS 16 and in high school, My olr brother had a 61 fuelie and let me drive it to school , dates , stuff like that. EWe did some dragstrip runs with it as well. I have a buddy that I served in Vietnam with that has me taped aying I am goin to buy a vete when I get home..that was 1972. Took me until 2014/15 or so to finally buy one. Its many different reasons why us older farts buy a corvette, Ny ounger neghbors kinda giggle when they see me riing mine. Who cares. The old Plymouth minivan never made me feel or enjoy driving like the vette does. BTW, good looking car. and welcome to this forum.

From your post I can't tell if you're happy with your purchase or disappointed. :confused:

Fix the little things, then drive the wee out of it. I bought the same car, same color...didn't run, to fix and sell...make some $$$. I had a C6 at the time. I fixed the C4, drove it, and still have it...10 years later. I sold the C6 4 mo's after I first drove the C4 and have never missed it. The C4 is a fun car to drive. Drive it. :thumbs:

Me either!

You should be happy, you got a cool car with low miles and looks good for a freakin lawnmower!

You made out like a bandit on this deal. Fox or up and enjoy it, nothing you mentioned is hard or expensive, and maybe you can teach you boy how to do stuff vs paying people to do it. That's one of the things I'm most thankful for that my dad did for me. Now I can fix my stuff, vs paying people to do everything. I have a friend who pays people to change her headlights. I hate paying people to work on my stuff.

Same here. Being mid-life and having a red Corvette is about as cliche as it gets. But a dream was fulfilled and I get to enjoy it with my 12 year old son. Doesn't get much better.

Nice C4, enjoy and welcome to the Forum.

I couldn't afford a Vette during "mid-life" so making up for it now with the "new" '89, bright red, MN6 vert that I recently bought...:lol:

Well, a John deere mower can mean a lot of things. What value do YOU put on your car?300,500,1k, 2k,5k,8k,10+k?

john deere zero turn worth 10k roughly.

I think car is maybe 10k-12k...not too sure what market is like here in Texas.

Drive it as it is for a while then decide what to do. If you can manually open the headlamps there is that solved, Antenna? I'd try to do something manually with it too.

JM2¢

Joe K

Fix the little things, then go drive the snot out of it while C5, C6 and C7 prices go down. You never know what your situation will be in a year so make sure to enjoy the heres and nows that you can. A C5 or C6 is better, objectively speaking, but a C4 still brings the whole Corvette experience. Sure it's not as refined as the C6 (my father let me use his when he got his 427) but that's part of the charm

Guess what you picked a great generation to have for a first corvette. There are several of us that have not been willing to give up our C4's when we've acquired a newer generation of corvette and some who have even sold their later generation car and come back to a C4. Why is this?? The C4 is a great car to drive and some of us find it's actually more fun to drive than other generations.

You made a good choice enjoy the heck out of it.:cheers:

You got a good deal for the mower... Id say a 30k mile LT1 car is worth around $10k... if it was a 6 speed youd be ahead... I do like the white interior, dont see that too often really C4s offer a unique driving experience unlike other generations.:cheers:

Sell it now if you are unhappy since you already are money ahead, assuming the JD was an expensive one. If you are going to fix it up, it will probably not help you recoup any money when selling after you figure time and materials. I'd sell it today and buy what you want as opposed to fixing it up for the next guy to get a deal unless you can obtain the parts for pennies on the dollar and labor, be it your time or someone's time is free (NILIF). If you fix it, keep it for a while to get your money's worth out of it.

I think we will keep it and drive the wheels off it! Started on the weather stripping last night with son and both had a blast.

I'll give you two lawn mowers for it... seriously.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...f7778d3735.jpg
I kinda felt the same when I got this one home after owning some 500+ HP C-5s and a few 427s it was what I do with this well I figured it out ( have a good time ) in the thing and I do . I put some stiffer springs a little poly replaced the usual stuff were it would be reliable ,here in TX had to work on the cooling SYS. big ass radiator new Opti and HD water pump good tune. I might have $10,000 in it new paint all insides new tires new ,cleaned it up drove to a Corvette show got best in class Ok . Now for the fun part went for a little spirited driving with my club buds and hung right in the pack with all the new C-7s $65,000 stock C-7s and few new Zs $90,000 and me in the old $10,000 + - C-4 and as much fun than they did .. I got a few rock chips Ok who cares .. and its an AUTO as well .. Cheap Corvette fun ..

That car retails for at least $11k so I think you got the better end of the deal

On a limited test like that, sure. All out, probably not.