Considering this '81 - thoughts?

[nut4crew]

Hello all,
I'm considering this 1981 corvette, for sale for $12K. It has been owned by the same family (mother to daughter), and has nearly 17K miles. No mods except for stereo, paint/pinstriping, wheels (owner has originals), and possibly exhaust tips? I'm not interested in matching numbers, etc. I'm taking it to a shop this week for a pre-purchase evaluation, otherwise they said the brake light is on, and the choke light. What do you guys think? Thanks for looking

 

[Tom Bryant]

It looks like a decent driver that's had some dress up mods done. Interior looks very nice. The wood trim is an add on aftermarket thing as are the exhaust tips. Distributor shield is missing.

If the brake light is on I'd be expecting to replace calipers and brake hoses. You should be able to pull a code to tell you why the choke light is on. Be sure to get a definitive answer on these 2 items when you take it in for an inspection. Also an estimate of cost involved. Also check wheel bearings all the way around. Are the original wheels alloy or Rally wheels? That would make a difference too. I think I'd be looking in the $9500. to $10500.00 range with both sets of wheels less the cost of the brake and whatever the choke light fix will cost.

 

[nut4crew]

They showed me an appraisal sheet by a local custom restoration shop, valuing it at s$12.5K. Based on the center caps he showed me, I believe the wheels are alloy. The owner already did the wheel bearings, as well as valve cover gaskets. He described something that popped the brake light after bleeding the system, but I can't remember. Figured the shop would tell me He said the choke works as it should, so he wasn't sure about that. Thanks for the wood trim and distributer info, I had no idea. I knew the speedo only went up to 85 on original dash systems, but wasn't sure about the rest. I have an appt with the shop on Thursday, so we'll see what happens.

 

[Wayback]

In the 1st pic it looks like thay got some brake fluid o the paint.Theres some sort of brake valve that has to be reset to get the light to go off/no big deal.Usually comes on when the brake fluid is low.Ill agree with Tom's appraisal on the price.You usually find more that needs some attention after the sale. Good luck.