Buying a 88'

[Auzzie88]

Hi, i'm new to this site and was hoping that some of you expert vette owners could give me a little information. I'm a 20 year old college student who has owned nothing but camaros. My dads friend currently ask me if I was interested in buying his 88' vette. He needs to move it out of his garage and needs the money to finish his grandson's race car. He has rebuilt the engine and the car has about 126,XXX on the clock I believe. A couple of questions have arose during the discussion of the car. I was previously looking at buying an LS1 camaro unitl this option came up.

1. If I were to buy the vette I would have about 4K-5K to spend on it compared to nothing with the camaro. Can I make it as fast if not faster than the LS1 cars?
2. It would become a daily driver, back and forth from school. Would it be capable of surviving the the constant road time? It would have to be driven in the colorado winters. Good Idea?

So what it cames down to is whether or not the vette would be a good purchase or not, or should I go ahead with the camaro? I would mod it similar to that of a camaro, 1/4 mile based (headers, exhaust, gears, intake). I know that you all will be a bit baised, but any information would be great. One of the main reasons I would get it is that no one in my group of friends or other have a vette and I thought that it would be a good change.

What do you all think?

Thanks

 

[Edmond]

No matter how much faster the Camaro is than the Corvette, the Camaro can never capture the mojo or the cool factor that any Corvette has. 'Nuff said.

 

[GS Diva]

I've owned a 1988 convertible, and I live in Boston. First thing...an '88 is never any good in the snow...or even in bad rain, for that matter, and don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise!

Secondly, you're talking about an 18+ year old Corvette with high mileage. You will most definitely have problems coming up so dependability for use as a daily driver might be questionable.

With a car that old with that many miles, you'll probably have a lot more things to do with your $4-5K than think of things to add to make it faster than a Camaro.

I'm really not trying to discourage you, but an older C4 (1984-1996) with high miles is not the way to go! Please re-think it.

Elaine

 

[Auzzie88]

I have taken the mileage into consideration with the age. The motor has 3 miles on it, only driven around the yard and he said that he is going to give me a deal that I couldn't pass up. Even the the extra money spent of maintance parts and refreshing a few things, it is probably could a good investment? And the whole hp thing was not right away, but down the line here and there. I was thinking about cleaning it up first with some wheels and possibly a ground effects kit. I am going to take it for one last drive and look this week, keen on the idea of driving a vette, but then again, being in college full time may conflict with drivability of the car.

Thanks for the response.

 

[Edmond]

As an investment, look somewhere else because a regular '88 isn't going to be worth investing in anytime soon, if ever.

If you're going to be putting ground effects on it, forget about driving it in any snow because it'll make the already bad snow manners even worse. I've been caught in snow storms before and trust me, it really sucks. You basically slide to a stop. Remember slip and slide? Imagine that behind the wheel in a 3300 pound car. It's not fun.

 

[Scottsredvette]

Hmmmm, viewing a few of the responses here so I might as well throw my two cents in, let me ramble on a bit.
1, I drive an 89 Vert almost every day, reliability hasn't been an issue for me. 107,000 miles on it.
2, I live 30 miles north of Pueblo. Snow isn't that big an issue here. The days it is impassable for a Vette, he could take the excellent bus system if needed.
3, Sent my daughter to Boston for College (BU), It does snow up there and a Vette would be useless there in the winter.
4, Friends of mine with Camaro's/Firebirds/Mustangs also have problems when it does snow. They aren't much better than a Vette.
5. Ground effect kits are not a good idea in Colorado. Too many speed bumps.
6, Drives? 30 minutes away from the mountains, mountain roads, great curves, beautiful scenery
7, Investment???? an 88??? Naaaa, but a lot more fun than a normal chunk of steel. Oh, I average 26 mpg on mid grade out here, combined city and highway.
AND, www.rmcsc.org check us out and see a few of our drives

Scott

 

[tyrel]

Yes a corvette is a cool car, but unless it's been restored, an 18-year-old car with 126,000 miles on the clock is going to need regular maintenance. If you have a backup car to drive, I'd say go for it, because the corvette will be laid up once in a while. These are some of the things I've replaced over the life of the car: starter, alternator, battery, u-joints, a/c, radiator, radiator hoses, fuel injectors, fuel filter, spark plugs, distributor cap & rotor, plug wires, heater core, fuel pump, headlight bushings, air pump, water pump, numerous gaskets, basically once the car gets to a certain age everything on the car becomes a never-ending cycle of maintenance, so you should be preapred for that.

 

[MoeJr]

Let me address this as best I can to your original questions.

No matter whether you buy the Camaro or Vette you are not gonna have any fun driving it in the snow. However up here I see a guy that drives his c4 year round and in the snow. He has to climb a hill to get home and he manages. Personally I would not drive it in heavy snow but light stuff with careful driving is possible.

4-5k would put you faster than an LS1 Camaro I would think easily. The L98 engine is a durable piece and I think the car as a whole if it has been properly maintained would hold up fine.

One thing to remember on the Vette is that if you change the gears you will have to change the speedo gear in the tranny to bring the speedo back in line.

Also contact Mad-Mic on this site. He has an 87 Vette with a 2.59 rear auto trans and he runs low 13's in the 1/4.

Purchase the Vette. It is much cooler than the Camaro any day.

 

[Vettefan87]

As long as you are careful and can do some work on it yourself a lot of it you can fix/replace yourself. These cars are not that bad to work on, and they are a heck of a lot easier then a LT1, or an LS1 to work on.

I hope you are not worried of being faster then a stock LS1 because that is not hard to achieve with some minor parts on these cars.

If the person that rebuilt it is good, and knows his stuff with regular preventative maintence the car should run a long time.
​

 

[Auzzie88]

The guy is highly respected around NW AR, mainly for his racing engines. It appears that it was maintained quite well. I will first spend a few $'s on a few small things (every car has a few flaws), but nothing major. And yes, it will be the only car that I will be able to drive. I will be able to work on it myself and also have plenty of help and equipment, though me help is not to found of vettes (money). I don't have to be faster than a LS1, but it would be nice because everyone I hang around is all about the LS1 cars.

Thanks

Kane

 

[Edmond]

Okay, I just want to know who that is in your avatar.

 

[Auzzie88]

Cristina Scabbia, the lead singer of Lacuna Coil. Why? I think she is hot!

 

[Edmond]

I think she is hot!

I'd marry her!

 

[DJ's LT1]

I'm not sure if you are wanting to have better track times than LS1 equipped F-bodies, but I will tell you that from a dead stop, an L98 will consistently out accelerate most LT1's and early LS1's and it takes some distance for these higher HP engines to eventually overtake the L98. This motor, although somewhat limited in stock HP, delivers tons of low end torque. With some intake, exhaust, and gear upgrades, an L98 equipped Vette can more than "keep up" with the Camaros and Rustangs. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Auzzie88]

DJ by intake, exhaust, and gears, how about LT-chambered mufflers-3.73, cai, and possible trans go shift kit, don't know about intake yet. I just what something with some get up and go if some little punk in a s**tstang or ricer decides that the old vette is well "slow and old."

Edmond, I will be seeing her at Ozzfest next week and can't wait to see her on stage.

Thanks for all the input and I think that you all may have pushed me into buying it now, thanks alot, lol.

 

[Scottsredvette]

DJ by intake, exhaust, and gears, how about LT-chambered mufflers-3.73, cai, and possible trans go shift kit, don't know about intake yet. I just what something with some get up and go if some little punk in a s**tstang or ricer decides that the old vette is well "slow and old."

Edmond, I will be seeing her at Ozzfest next week and can't wait to see her on stage.

Thanks for all the input and I think that you all may have pushed me into buying it now, thanks alot, lol.

I just want to know why girls that looked/dressed like that weren't around when I was your age.....
Scott

 

[Edmond]

I hope you're taking your camera. I love those boots.

 

[Toms007]

I just want to know why girls that looked/dressed like that weren't around when I was your age.....
Scott

Come on Scott, they were around when you were that age, after all I'm sure you remember the "summer of love" "free love" "the sexual revolution". Yea, I don't remember any either. I think the "good ole days" were a figment of someones imagination.

Oh, Auzzie88 good luck with the Corvette purchase and welcome to the brotherhood.

 

[Auzzie88]

A can not say enough about the people on here. They seem to almost be too helpful (if possible). You all know your stuff!

 

[Bonnell]

I own an '88 and it has been my daily driver for almost 4 years. It had 88K when I purchased it and now has 165K. It uses a little oil between oil changes and recently one of the plugs seems to foul after 22K miles. I have replaced the u-joints, thermostat and rebuilt the transmission. Other than plugs, distributor cap, brakes and tires I have had no other issues. I often have Mustangs try to mess with me at stop signs. If they do it at two stops in a row, I try them out. I have yet to have one that can keep up stop light to stop light. They always pull up after I have stopped at the next light or stop sign and they simply stare ahead-particularly if they have a girl with them. These things have lots of torque and will really accelerate. It is a lot of fun.