Motors used corvettes - do they exist cheaply?

So I am in the market for a car in the next year - I have cash now - about 5000, and I have a decent summer job when I'm not in school. I love corvettes and would love to restore one. I dont want to do a ton of body work - I can put in a new fender and bondo a scratch, but I dont want to have to do a ton of that. I also WOULD like to do engine, trans and work like that. I have a friend who knows a ton who would be more than willing to help me. So I am looking for an old corvette with mechanical problems, a little body work, and a paint job. Are there many of these out there? I can work with anything from a 65ish - to a 85 or 90ish. Not a big deal. Is there enough out there to pick one up for between 2000 and 5000?

 

well seeing as 95's and stuff here go for around $10,000, with pretty low mileage (around 100k or less) and are in perfect condition too

u should be able to get a beat up one for pretty cheap

 

For 5grand. Ive seen c4's with 340's carburated engines go for less than 5grand with good body work.

%grand will get you a decent working example. 2grand will get you a beat up model.

Check out your local craigs list and just look around.

BTW: when it comes to purchasing cars. Leve emotions out of it. And always cover your ass. Be carefull of scamers and always look at them live and not only online.

Ive been looking at c4's for a loong time. I think they are awsome cars. Just keep the lt1 and tweak it, dont just swap it with a regular 350.

 

ok - so i have heard about craigslist alot - all i know is that it puts stuff on google maps???
when you say leave emotions out, explain that further....like dont say ohh I like this car its blue...but rather be like this is wrong, this is wrong, this is busted...etc??????

 

i think its more of, man i love these cars sooo much, and its soooo sexy, even though its salvaged, i cant resist buying it!!! type of emotions, maybe not

but ya, just make sure its nothing too bad that you would need to end up spending a **** load more money on

alot of car auctions have alot of stuff, alot of the cars are sold because of stupid minor problems (transmission probs and stuff like that) that can be easily fixed and are sold for real cheap

Example: my used to be coworker (got fired after 2 weeks) bought a 99 grand am, for 200 bucks, because it had a tranny prob, he fixed it, cost him 25 bucks to fix (his dad owns a tranny shop though :/ )

and then he sold it for 2 grand

 

carefull of luisiana cars. There are allot of flood cars being sold. And trust me you dont want a flood car.

And what he said about emotional.

I saw a 89 vette for 2grand a fiew weeks back, cosmeticaly it was perfect, sold so cheep cus the card needed a rebuild (was an lt1 converted to carb). If I had the cash I would have bought it and slaped on a demon carb on it and called it a day.

 

Hmm, I myself have an LT1 and love it. I think converting an LT1 to a carb would be a horrible thing to do.

I think a late 80s early 90s corvette would be the best buy.

L J

 

I agree on the conversion being horrible thing to do to an lt1, but it is the cheepest way to gain horsepower. Lt1's are great engines, I like them more than ls1's especialy because of the hidden potential in those engines. Ive seen 500hp streetable lt1's and 700hp monsters with a simple turbo setup.

I just wish I had enough money to get a sledgehamer vette. Easily that vette is the best car from its generation bar non. 200+ mph vette with racing suspencion is a beutifull thing, and the sledgehamer was just that.