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720 mile transport or drive my C4?

F

Fiddler's Gold

Guest
Hiya Corvette Friends,
I am just about to embark upon a mission to pick up my first
Corvette. I am 28 years old and I have got a fabulous deal on a great car. It is a modified 1986 Corvette located some 720 miles away from my home. The car has less than 10K on new engine and everything seems to be in great order. Current owner used as a daily driver for some time with no known problems. The car has 120K miles on it but the engine & components are all highly-modified. (blueprinted, ported, polished, blown) I am doing a partial trade with a jet boat plus some other equipment so I have to drive up there anyway to deliver the goods to him. It is getting expensive to find a suitable transport trailer (U-Haul wants $500)
and the transport companies want $700-1000 to ship it down for me. He says he gets good mileage on the highway (>20MPG)
New everything on the car. Tires, brakes, belts, suspension, etc.

Questions:
Would any of you risk the chance of driving an unknown but recently rebuilt Corvette down the 720 miles or find some other way?

What things should I look for to formulate this critical decision?

I don't want to be stranded plus I don't want to have to wait for the guy to ship the car and then spend all of that extra money for a transport company. Any help, opinions or insight would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy
 
A thought...

...or two.

If you can justifiably spend less by driving it yourself, do it. If it does break down, you'll have to ship it anyway, but at least you got to drive it part way!

It does sound like the former owner took good care of the vette, and with only 10k on the engine, I'd say it is ready for a road trip!
Silver
 
Get the car and drive it like you stole it

By the time you get it home you will know for sure what you have. Pay attention to the alignment, road noise, engine quirks, rattles, squeeks (100% guaranteed to squeek) ect. Road trip! Sounds like a blast. We bought our 84 without seeing it, flew to DC and drove it 550 miles home. One of the best decisions to date. Go for it, you'll have fun.
--Drew:w
 
I took the splash as well. I flew blindfolded to get my car and drove it over 15 hours home. (Bout 1500Km's)
 
I flew into LA, picked up my car and proceeded straight to San Diego to see my Dad. Next day I headed for Las Vegas, spent the night and headed for home in Utah. Totaled 14 hours driving time and a little over 1,000 miles in the first three days I had the car. Had not a single problem. When I got mine it had 82k on it. Only thing that didn't work was the A/C, but it was a top down trip anyway. If you have to tow the boat up there anyway, you will need somebody to drive the tow vehicle home, so you already have a 'chase' vehicle to follow you home. The closer you get to home the cheaper the car hauler will be if the car does happpen to break. I say go for it.

:beer
 
Thanks!!!

Thanks for all of the info! I will take the plunge and see what happens!

I will post pics etc when I get it back!
Regards,
Andy
 
To quote Nike "Just Do It!".

I bought my GS from a guy 50 miles from me, then my girlfriend and I hopped in the car and cruised to Reno for the weekend (500+ miles round trip). Corvettes are made to drive IMO.

Jason
 

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