c5 - ride height

[PrinceRupert]

Thanks, useful input, I suppose the thing with this one is the level of detail in the advert means the warts are known, the other cars on the market will still have their warts, just hidden. The 16k Eurovettes one has the standard "minor cosmetic marks expected of a car of this age" disclaimer ie it certainly isn't concourse either. 20 year old cars won't be perfect. If I knew the 16k car was concourse, I'd probably buy that, i have experience of cars costing more than you think to get right, and told myself I won't buy the cheapest again as its a false economy, but not sure there's an immaculate car out there....

One to ponder, until lockdown restrictions lift i can't realistically go and see it anyway...

Edited by PrinceRupert on Wednesday 13th January 00:25

[UTH]

If you could get your hands on it in lockdown, it might be quite good timing to have some time to get it up to scratch/sort out the little issues, hopefully just in time to come out of lockdown and spring/summer hits and you've got your awesome car ready to rock.

[PrinceRupert]

Having looked at the ad in a bit more detail and watched the video, the most off putting bits are (i) the broken driver seat adjuster. It's claimed it is "just a motor" but in the video you can see that some cables etc are show which suggests he has tried to fix it and failed. He is using a seatbelt extender for some reason as well ... and (ii) the seats look very tired. Mightn't be the right car for me.

[daniel-5zjw7]

I think you may be right.. ultimately whilst there is potential with this car and it can at least be bought cheap, given it is quite a way from what you listed as your ideal car (convertible, manual, low miles, late model year) would you be happy most likely ending up with 16-17k in this car? I'm guessing probably not.

I would say this car is most suited to someone looking for a longer term hands on project without money invested against resale value being of particular concern.

[JONSCZ]

Not sure if it's a new listing or one that you may have seen elsewhere, but this has just popped up on the 'American Cars UK' page on F/Book - nothing to do with me.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmericanCarsUK/per...

[PrinceRupert]

JONSCZ said:

Not sure if it's a new listing or one that you may have seen elsewhere, but this has just popped up on the 'American Cars UK' page on F/Book - nothing to do with me.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmericanCarsUK/per...

Thanks, saw it pop up on ebay as well. The ebay description is a straight copy and paste from another advert for a different car i've read im sure. Not clear whether it is 130k miles or km so I've asked. It seems miles, which would possibly be a bit high for me (main concern being resale). It also had an advisory for a hydraulic leak from its mot last week which would need investigating, not sure what it would be from, transmission? Unless that's the reason it was rebuilt
..

Also went a year without getting a couple of advisories seen to...

[daniel-5zjw7]

Yea thats pretty much all my ad with a few details of his own car at the bottom. The cheek of it lol

Looks OK, obviously a few miles on it and not going to be perfect, he also could of cleaned it.. but then its cheap.

Note its missing the top radiator cover by the looks of it.

[PrinceRupert]

daniel-5zjw7 said:

Yea thats pretty much all my ad with a few details of his own car at the bottom. The cheek of it lol

Looks OK, obviously a few miles on it and not going to be perfect, he also could of cleaned it.. but then its cheap.

Note its missing the top radiator cover by the looks of it.

Hah, yes I thought it might have been your ad. I agree, he could of cleaned it, seems a bit rough around the edges again, and the high mileage probably puts me off.

[PrinceRupert]

The hydraulic leak is apparently the power steering pump, "£65 part from rock auto, easy fix", if it was so easy, it would be fixed ...

[UTH]

Would you import?

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-chevrolet-c...

[PrinceRupert]

PrinceRupert said:

JONSCZ said:

Not sure if it's a new listing or one that you may have seen elsewhere, but this has just popped up on the 'American Cars UK' page on F/Book - nothing to do with me.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmericanCarsUK/per...

Thanks, saw it pop up on ebay as well. The ebay description is a straight copy and paste from another advert for a different car i've read im sure. Not clear whether it is 130k miles or km so I've asked. It seems miles, which would possibly be a bit high for me (main concern being resale). It also had an advisory for a hydraulic leak from its mot last week which would need investigating, not sure what it would be from, transmission? Unless that's the reason it was rebuilt
..

Also went a year without getting a couple of advisories seen to...

So this car didn't sell and is now on ebay with a £1 start no reserve. Perhaps one worth watching ...

It does have a few "minor" issues flagged and it does slightly scream "I found a big issue, let's get rid at any price". Perhaps I am being cynical.

Edited by PrinceRupert on Wednesday 27th January 23:35

[Benbay001]

Potentially a good one.

I wouldnt let the gearbox rebuild 500 miles ago put me off.

Having a big outlay like that can make you fall out of love with any car, doesnt necessarily mean he's expecting it to go wrong again.

Still though, im not sure why its dirty in all the photos?

Its not like its a £1k snotter.

How much would a 130k mile automatic be in the states?

_______________________

On a more general Corvette note, i cant wait until the spring.

Parking it for the winter is killing me.

[PrinceRupert]

It seems from a bit of googling that a power steering leak can in fact be an expensive fix. One wonders...

[PrinceRupert]

I'm not going to lie, with the dearth of decent Corvettes out there I am now seriously considering a TVR. There is a much larger number of cars, including from well known specialists, so the likelihood of getting a good one seems higher.

Something like this:

https://shmooautomotive.co.uk/product/tvr-chimaera...

[300bhp/ton]

I like both brands, so won't knock either.

That said, I think if you are expecting a perfect example for the money and age of vehicles you are looking at. You will always be disappointed. Regardless of what you buy.

[PrinceRupert]

300bhp/ton said:

I like both brands, so won't knock either.

That said, I think if you are expecting a perfect example for the money and age of vehicles you are looking at. You will always be disappointed. Regardless of what you buy.

Yes, agreed, will never find perfection, and that's okay. If I went the TVR route, I'd probably buy from a specialist dealer, and/or pay for Phil Phedonos' full finding service at £950 - http://www.sportscarinspections.co.uk/full-finding... He inspected a car for me before, good guy, and I think the £950 could save me a lot of money in the long run if I bought a bad one.

It should, in theory, be easier to buy a good Corvette, with them not having being hand built in a shed in Blackpool, and I would be more confident in buying one from a private sale - there just aren't many out there with the spec/mileage/condition/price combination I am looking for. I'd prefer to avoid one that is particularly high mileage, or with existing issues (i never quite believe they are easy fixes ...), unless it was a bargain.

Edited by PrinceRupert on Thursday 28th January 10:43

[300bhp/ton]

PrinceRupert said:

Yes, agreed, will never find perfection, and that's okay. If I went the TVR route, I'd probably buy from a specialist dealer, and/or pay for Phil Phedonos' full finding service at £950 - http://www.sportscarinspections.co.uk/full-finding... He inspected a car for me before, good guy, and I think the £950 could save me a lot of money in the long run if I bought a bad one.

It should, in theory, be easier to buy a good Corvette, with them not having being hand built in a shed in Blackpool, and I would be more confident in buying one from a private sale - there just aren't many out there with the spec/mileage/condition/price combination I am looking for. I'd prefer to avoid one that is particularly high mileage, or with existing issues (i never quite believe they are easy fixes ...), unless it was a bargain.

Edited by PrinceRupert on Thursday 28th January 10:43

I've not owned a TVR. But the era of the Chims and Griffs are not complex cars. They use a Rover V8 engine (I have two of these, one in a TR7 and one in a Range Rover).

Depending on year they either use a Rover or Ford gearbox. And lots of other off the shelf items. Really there isn't a whole lot that can go wrong with them. I don't think you need to pay over the odds specialists on these to maintain them. 90%+ of the jobs are likely to be things you could even do at home.

Very simple cars really, using mass market proven parts.

That said, I would expect owning a TVR would be like owning a classic car. Probably mechanically very rugged, but likely always having some niggle of some sort needing attention.


As for Corvettes, I've just had a look on ebay and can't believe the number of them for sale under £20k. Must be more now than there has been in the past 5 years. I admit they are all autos, but you do have a choice of C5 or C6 (or maybe even a couple of C4's). I haven't kept up with all of your posts in this thread. But I wonder how you have managed to rule them all out?


As for the one with a rebuilt auto box. In the USA this is pretty common. The 4L60e was really a bit under specced for the LS1 engines.

I will be honest and say, I don't own a Corvette. But I do own one of its 'sister' cars. A Chevy Camaro, which uses the same engine/gearbox and other components. I'm actually on my 2nd and have owned such cars for 15 years or so. Age related issues are starting to show (window motors etc.) But overall they have been super cheap to run and own. The Corvette does have the 'Corvette tax' on some unique parts. But I struggle to believe they wouldn't be comparable in running costs.

[PrinceRupert]

300bhp/ton said:

I've not owned a TVR. But the era of the Chims and Griffs are not complex cars. They use a Rover V8 engine (I have two of these, one in a TR7 and one in a Range Rover).

Depending on year they either use a Rover or Ford gearbox. And lots of other off the shelf items. Really there isn't a whole lot that can go wrong with them. I don't think you need to pay over the odds specialists on these to maintain them. 90%+ of the jobs are likely to be things you could even do at home.

Very simple cars really, using mass market proven parts.

That said, I would expect owning a TVR would be like owning a classic car. Probably mechanically very rugged, but likely always having some niggle of some sort needing attention.

I think this is correct, the big one being chassis corrosion - big bill if you buy one that is rotten. And yes, would anticipate a more involved ownership experience - one of the reasons the Corvette appeals.

300bhp/ton said:

As for Corvettes, I've just had a look on ebay and can't believe the number of them for sale under £20k. Must be more now than there has been in the past 5 years. I admit they are all autos, but you do have a choice of C5 or C6 (or maybe even a couple of C4's). I haven't kept up with all of your posts in this thread. But I wonder how you have managed to rule them all out?

There are three C5s on eBay. The one we were speaking about at £12k - high mileage, couple of marked faults, not even washed in advert. The white one at £16.5k - too expensive (plus a poor advert). The black one at £18k - too expensive (plus a fresh import with a poor advert).

There are four C6s. These don't appeal as much, so haven't been looking as closely at these. There's a blue 2005 at 22k - had ruled out 2005 cars as they apparently have a poor 4 speed autobox. Theres a silver 2006 at 16k - almost suspiciously cheap, unregistered Dubai import, trade sale advert. There's a high mileage 2007 at 20k - probably a decent price, but would prefer lower miles for resale purposes. And one that just appeared at 24k, too expensive.

I haven't looked at C4s, it seems they were pretty low on power and don't seem sufficiently cheap to make this appealing, plus older cars so presumably will be a bit more needy.

300bhp/ton said:

As for the one with a rebuilt auto box. In the USA this is pretty common. The 4L60e was really a bit under specced for the LS1 engines.

The rebuilt autobox doesn't put me off, but the leaking power steering and traction control light might - fine, if it is just a pump and a sensor, no problem, but I never really trust ads that say "it's just a minor problem, cheap to fix" - if this was true, why haven't you fixed it ... a very precursory google suggests power steering faults can sometimes be expensive fixes.

Plus, the advert is a copy and paste from another advert and the car wasn't even washed for the pictures. Doesn't scream carefully owned to me. So combined with high miles would need to be cheap.

300bhp/ton said:

I will be honest and say, I don't own a Corvette. But I do own one of its 'sister' cars. A Chevy Camaro, which uses the same engine/gearbox and other components. I'm actually on my 2nd and have owned such cars for 15 years or so. Age related issues are starting to show (window motors etc.) But overall they have been super cheap to run and own. The Corvette does have the 'Corvette tax' on some unique parts. But I struggle to believe they wouldn't be comparable in running costs.

Yes, the anticipated reasonable running costs relative to performance is one of the big appeals of the C5 (plus the rarity, good looks, pop up headlights). The TVRs have much cooler interiors, better availability of cars (especially convertibles and of course all are manuals), and is RHD; but likely more expensive to run, and don't like the exterior styling as much. I don't like the exterior styling of the C6 as much as the C5, and so would prefer to spend 12-14k on a C5 than 19-21k on a C6. Problem is, a lot of C5 sellers seem to be asking for C6 prices, and I am not willing to spend 16-18k on a C5 if that would almost get me into a C6, unless it was a very good car. There was a decent enthusiast owned C6 sold recently on CCUK for 18k.

There are very few other options in the v8, two seater, rwd sports car mould. The other option I would consider is an SLK55 AMG, but suspect it wouldn't be quite exciting enough.

I have looked at 4th gen camaros, seem a bit expensive for what you get, plus not quite as exciting / weekend car as the Corvette / TVR.

Edited by PrinceRupert on Thursday 28th January 11:56

[300bhp/ton]

I count 9 C5 or C6 on ebay for £22k or under.

I haven't studied the ads however.

There is also a C4 that seems to match your specs:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2017-Chevrolet-Corvette...

Manual and a vert.

Its strong money for a C4, but prices have been on the rise for a few years now. So I'd be amazed if you'd loose money on buying one.

The C4 is a more physical car than the C5 or C6. Probably more akin to a TVR Chim in many ways, although the TVR's are quite a bit lighter.

However the C4 is still a fast and capable car, just a generation older.

300hp mid 5's to 60mph, 160mph+

They are also quite easy to squeeze a bit more power from with ease.


As for the Fbody's (Camaro/Firebird). Usually there are not many for sale in the UK. Although I'd say compared to a C5 they are normally cracking vfm. As you get the same performance for probably half the money. At least with a Camaro. The Firebirds are even rarer and tend to fetch more money, despite being the same car.

When I bought mine, I had gone to a local specialist to look at a C5. But ended up with a z28

[PrinceRupert]

On the C4, I just wonder whether it would stray too close to the "needy classic" over the "reliable modern". Obviously a C5 is not a modern car, but its just that bit newer and probably a bit easier to run. Maybe if they were a lot cheaper I'd be more interested, but they're not.

This Camaro has been up for sale for some time:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1994-Chevrolet-Camaro-Z...

I do quite like it. At 4/5k I'd be quite tempted. I just think at 8k, it's pretty expensive.