need opinions on '95

[BarryK]

Hi all

the wife found a '95 for sale today that she really likes so we went back to look at it.
Was interested in your opinions of the car and the asking price.

it's a '95
Aqua color exterior with light grey interior.
Paint and interior are in excellent condition except for the common issue of the rubbed/worn drivers side seat bolster and a very small paint chip in the gap between the drivers side door and hood.
78,000 miles
new battery and new BFGoodrich G-Force tires
current owner has garage kept the car but i can't answer for previous owners.
Overall the car looks in excellent condition. the only fault I can really find is under the hood. it's not that it's in bad shape at all but you can see that the front suspension componets and the aluminum? componets on the engine have some oxidation on them. For a ten year old car that's really not unexpected but it does take the car down a step from "show-level" condition. Shows would not be a big priority as it would be more my wifes car and "toy" but i used the term such so hopefully you would get a better idea of how i'm evaluating and trying to accurately describe the car. Other than that and a light layer of road dust on the engine the car looks pretty well cared for and maintained.
we are supposed to take it out for a testdrive tomorrow to see how the wife likes it but with the condition I saw the car today i'm not expecting any unpleasant surprises......... but you never know of course.

opps forgot to mention the two things I did see wrong with the car:
1. starting to get cracking on the door weather stripping. I think it would be fine for another year or two but eventually will need replacement.
2. the top is the tinted clear top, not the solid color top and on the passender side front corner than along the front edge are two cracks. You can see this in one of the pictures I have of the car in the link below

here is a link to where I put pictures of it up on my website.
http://69.253.166.197/page1/page74/page74.html

asking price is $13,500 but I get the feeling it's negotiable.

any comments or feedback is greatly appreciated especially since I know a LITTLE about C4's but basically i'm a C2 guy.
Thanks!

 

[mike t]

I purchased a 95 last year with 48k six speed. Since then I have put about 16k on the car , no problems whatsoever. Though not needed replaced pads and rotors, Hawk pads, power slot rotors now look much better, zo6 chrome wheels, 315/35/17 rear. Silverstar head lights much better. Would like a little more power which if I were to do it again would go for the LT4. Had all fluids changed and tune up done at local GM shop. They did a fine job. Love to drive this car. Yesterday drove from williamsburg VA to Boston MA 750 miles plus in an Audi 4.2 12 hours. Really wanted to take the corvette but old lady cant stand the noise(borla exhaust). So today(need my fix) drove 240 miles in the vette to see an ill daughter in NH. Have somebody go over the car and run a check on the history. The more you drive these cars the better they seem to run. Good price, if all pans out you will love this car . Good luck my friend. mike

 

[Fick]

From looking at the pictures I'd say you may have a lot of negotiating room. The For Sale signs appear to be very faded; the car may have been for sale for a long time. Desperate seller?

 

[regalniz]

engine compartment needs some attention. i dont think its anything that a set of rags, couple of brillo pads for the suspension parts, time and elbow grease wont fix. its just been neglected. i dont think its permanent. tops can be found new or used. if you want a color coded top it my be a little more difficult and expensive to locate. bring him an ecklers with the price of a new top and take it off the 13.5. same with new weather stripping. very pretty car. let us know what happens.

 

[koolaid117]

Well, I don't see the weather stripping lasting another couple of years. You might be able to stretch it, but it should be replaced soon. Subtract $800 for the GM replacements (that's for the whole car). The car has definitely been sitting outside for some time, the windshield shades in the back tell me that. The roof panel can be replaced at Ecklers for another $800. I don't think any of these things are too bad, especially since it's not going to be a daily driver. The roof panel and the weatherstripping can come into play if you get caught out in the rain as water will find a way in. I know, I have that problem with my weatherstripping right now.

I must say that I love that color combination though. If you can get him to drop the price some and it runs okay, I'd say you are in business. Here's what I found on the Kelley Blue Book site. I used my zip code because I didn't know yours

Ohio • November 6, 2005
1995 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe 2D [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]


Engine:[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica] V8 5.7 Liter
Trans:[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica] Automatic[/FONT]
Drive:[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica] RWD[/FONT]
Mileage:[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica] 48,000[/FONT]

[/FONT][/FONT]Search Listings for This Car

List Your Car For Sale Online

Quick New Car Price Quote

Free CARFAX Record Check

Auto Loans fromdocument.write( capOne3year ); 5.29% APR

Insurance Quote

Print "For Sale" Sign

Payment Calculator

Equipment [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Glass Roof Panel[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Air Conditioning[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Power Steering[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Power Windows[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Power Door Locks[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Tilt Wheel[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Cruise Control[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]AM/FM Stereo[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Cassette[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Dual Front Air Bags[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]ABS (4-Wheel)[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Leather[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Alloy Wheels[/FONT]

[/FONT]Consumer Rated Condition:Good [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]"Good" condition means that the vehicle is free of any major defects. This vehicle has a clean title history , the paint, body and interior have only minor (if any) blemishes, and there are no major mechanical problems. There should be little or no rust on this vehicle. The tires match and have substantial tread wear left. A "good" vehicle will need some reconditioning to be sold at retail. Most consumer owned vehicles fall into this category.

[/FONT]Private Party Value[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Search Local Listings | List This Car for Sale[/FONT] $12,050

Good luck and keep us posted!

Jim

 

[BarryK]

hi all,thanks for all the feedback.
I looked at his old ebay listing on the car, turns out he has had it on ebay at least twice and it didn't meet his reserve. once in Sept and once in Oct so he's been trying to sell it for at least a month and a half.

I'm thinking of this......... what do you think?

his asking price of $13,500
deduct the following off it:
new top = $1,250
weather stripping and labor to install = $1,000
new seat covers and labor = $1,000
oxidation and deteriation under hood and suspension componets = $500
total deductions off asking price = $3,750
Total new price = $9,750

offer $10,000 for the car

it's not that big of a deal if I don't get this car so I figure if I can get it at a good price than great, if not i'm more than willing to walk away.
This way I can get it at a price that I can still fix what needs to be fixed and not be over the true value of the car.
I checked ebay last night and '95's seem to be averaging $12,000 - $13,000 in excellent condition and with the "improvements" this car needs I'd be at that pricing AFTER making the improvements and spending the money to make them.

this seems to be my best option of going in and approaching him with a $10k offer.
It's a big drop from his asking price but at the same time his mother that answered the phone when we called last night mentioned he needs to sell it as he needs the money AND he has been keeping it in the parents garage and dad wants it out as he has been having to keep his car outside and is tired of it

 

[tigmaned]

well i see you eBay so i am wondering why your prices to replace items seem so high? prices on ebay are better then eckler;s and other. and remember those ebay vettes, a test drive is worth alot! but you may get lucky and the poor kid needs the cash, hey alot of us get our vettes from guys like that. every man has his price! but i think starting at 10k and possably a little back and forth you can drive it home for the wife.
good luck.
oh, how long has it been seating in that tall grass? check the under side good.

 

[BarryK]

tigmaned
I only check ebay to see what current pricing seems to be.
my pricing for my deductions I didn't think were so high.
$1,250 for a new top is the same pricing straights out of both Ecklers and Mid-america catalog. Seats are the same - $650 for the new leather covers than the local labor to install them. In fact the labor is on the low side as I had to price local shop labor amounts not long ago to redo the seats in my '65. Same again on the weatherstripping - the w/s costs for the parts is about $600 in the catalogs than factor in local bodyshop labor rates to install it.
the $500 deduction on the oxidation is a negotiating play

it's only been in the tall grass a couple of days, the mothers drives it there in the morning to show the car for sale than drives it home at night. It's only been out there for a few days but it's there because it's at a busy intersection and that corner property is owned by friends so it is a good place to expose the cars to people for sale.

 

[BarryK]

ok, just got back from test driving the car.

start, idles, runs great. The exhaust is a Magna flow system or at the very least Magna flow mufflers. A nice low rumble and a little bit, but not an annoying amount of cabin resonance from them.

everything seems to function correctly except two things:
1. A/C - when sitting still right after starting the car before driving it I couldn't get the A/C to blow anything at all. As soon as I started to drive it kicked on but wasn't blowing very hard at all, barely any output although what little air was coming thru the vents was cold. When I would stop such at a traffic light it stopped blowing again until I started to move.
Any ideas on the possible issue on this?

2. The remote wouldn't control the doorlocks as it's suppose to. When I mentioned this they said it was just the battery on the remote but that idea went to hell when I hit the button for the rear hatch and that worked and poppped the hatch so the remote's battery is fine, just won't work the doorlocks. The doorlock button on the doors themselves work fine though.

so, it looks as though the main issues on the car are the cracked top, worn seats, A/C problem, and the remote not operating the doorlocks.

BTW, I'm used to my 40yo '65 vette with obviously much lower performance and handling capabilities. Things got a bit interesting while I was testdriving this '95. I was NOT deliberately trying to see how fast she would go, but at one point I had an empty stretch of road in front of me and punched it to see how the acceleration on the car was........ a few seconds later glanced down at the dash and I was at 142mph!! Good thing the brakes were working fine.
My '65 can't even do 142mph and even if it could I'd never want to as she gets REALLY light in the front end at over 100mph. This thing felt rock solid, had plenty more left, and felt as comfortable and stable as it did at 60mph.

 

[So Bay Vetter]

The remote wouldn't control the doorlocks as it's suppose to. When I mentioned this they said it was just the battery on the remote but that idea went to hell when I hit the button for the rear hatch and that worked and poppped the hatch so the remote's battery is fine, just won't work the doorlocks. The doorlock button on the doors themselves work fine though.

The key fob may have just been turned off for the doors. I've done that myself by accident. It would be interesting to know how close the E-Bay bids came to his reserve. Might be a good Idea to do a crawl under & look for oil leaks and hard hits. 145 on a test drive . . .Ye Haw!

 

[MBDiagMan]

ok, just got back from test driving the car.

start, idles, runs great. The exhaust is a Magna flow system or at the very least Magna flow mufflers. A nice low rumble and a little bit, but not an annoying amount of cabin resonance from them.

everything seems to function correctly except two things:
1. A/C - when sitting still right after starting the car before driving it I couldn't get the A/C to blow anything at all. As soon as I started to drive it kicked on but wasn't blowing very hard at all, barely any output although what little air was coming thru the vents was cold. When I would stop such at a traffic light it stopped blowing again until I started to move.
Any ideas on the possible issue on this?

2. The remote wouldn't control the doorlocks as it's suppose to. When I mentioned this they said it was just the battery on the remote but that idea went to hell when I hit the button for the rear hatch and that worked and poppped the hatch so the remote's battery is fine, just won't work the doorlocks. The doorlock button on the doors themselves work fine though.

so, it looks as though the main issues on the car are the cracked top, worn seats, A/C problem, and the remote not operating the doorlocks.

BTW, I'm used to my 40yo '65 vette with obviously much lower performance and handling capabilities. Things got a bit interesting while I was testdriving this '95. I was NOT deliberately trying to see how fast she would go, but at one point I had an empty stretch of road in front of me and punched it to see how the acceleration on the car was........ a few seconds later glanced down at the dash and I was at 142mph!! Good thing the brakes were working fine.
My '65 can't even do 142mph and even if it could I'd never want to as she gets REALLY light in the front end at over 100mph. This thing felt rock solid, had plenty more left, and felt as comfortable and stable as it did at 60mph.

Barry,

You are a very wise used car buyer. At the beginning of the thread it sounded like you were going to make your decision based on color and cosmetic condition, never a good strategy when buying a used car of any kind.

You are now down to an analytical test drive as it should be. Yes these cars will not only get to a high top speed, but they will get there in a hurry.

I am not intimately familiar with the climate control in that particular model, but I do have lots of auto a/c experience. The problem with the a/c very well could be a low charge. Since you are looking at the car seriously, I doubt that the seller would have any problem with you hooking up a set of gauges. Get the low and high side pressures and ambient temp. Get the pressures after the system has stabilized for 5 minutes at 1500 RPM. Post the information along with the behaviour of the fan and vent temp during this stabilization and we can probably give you a rough diagnosis.

Good luck with it,

 

[BarryK]

Hi Doc
yes, I do try to analyse anything I buy pretty well before making any purchasing decision. In my first posts all I had to go by was cosmetic issues simply because I hadn't had a chance to testdrive the car yet but I'd never buy a car based only on that.
Yep, these sure will get up to speed fast. Believe me, I had no intention of getting the car up to those kinds of speeds and I was very surprised when I saw I had done so. I don't drive cars, especially cars that aren't mine, like that intentionally. At least I'll now know what to expect and how better to keep things more under control the next time I do a testdrive on a C4.

As mentioned, other than the issues listed above, the car ran fine on the testdrive, but with what I've found out about this being obviously a low optioned car, when I consider the asking price and the $$$ it will take to replace the top, redo the seats, deal with the doorlock and A/C issues, plus the clean-up on all the underhood oxidation, we have decided to pass on this car and keep looking for something better. Although the seller is willing to negotiate somewhat on his price I'd now have to drop my asking price below the $10k I initally was thinking about to cover the doorlock and A/C problems we found. I'm sure he wouldn't have found the $10k offer very appealing and if I went and did an offer of $9k it might be realistic for me but it would be insulting to him and I know not acceptable as he already turned down $9,100 during one of his eBay auctions as not meeting reserve. He still owes $$$ on the car so is trying to get at least enough to cover his payoff so I'm assuming he owes at least $10k or a little more.
I'm better walking away on this one and finding a car that is more highly optioned and without all the little issues this one has. None of the issues on this car by themselves is very big, but all of them together just add up to more than it's worth to deal with when I can find other cars without these issues for about the same price he is asking.

Thanks everyone for your feedback, I'll post back when I find another car that catches our eyes.

 

[Achilles]

I'd say by Calif. standards, he's asking a fair price. Maybe less on the east coast. Keep in mind that this was probably a daily driver that is 11 years old. If you can get the car for 10k, thats great. Seems like he may have considered the items that need replacing when he priced the car though. We get a lot of compliments on our Aqua. It's a unique color.

Good luck!

 

[Vettelt193]

Hi Doc
yes, I do try to analyse anything I buy pretty well before making any purchasing decision. In my first posts all I had to go by was cosmetic issues simply because I hadn't had a chance to testdrive the car yet but I'd never buy a car based only on that.
Yep, these sure will get up to speed fast. Believe me, I had no intention of getting the car up to those kinds of speeds and I was very surprised when I saw I had done so. I don't drive cars, especially cars that aren't mine, like that intentionally. At least I'll now know what to expect and how better to keep things more under control the next time I do a testdrive on a C4.

As mentioned, other than the issues listed above, the car ran fine on the testdrive, but with what I've found out about this being obviously a low optioned car, when I consider the asking price and the $$$ it will take to replace the top, redo the seats, deal with the doorlock and A/C issues, plus the clean-up on all the underhood oxidation, we have decided to pass on this car and keep looking for something better. Although the seller is willing to negotiate somewhat on his price I'd now have to drop my asking price below the $10k I initally was thinking about to cover the doorlock and A/C problems we found. I'm sure he wouldn't have found the $10k offer very appealing and if I went and did an offer of $9k it might be realistic for me but it would be insulting to him and I know not acceptable as he already turned down $9,100 during one of his eBay auctions as not meeting reserve. He still owes $$$ on the car so is trying to get at least enough to cover his payoff so I'm assuming he owes at least $10k or a little more.
I'm better walking away on this one and finding a car that is more highly optioned and without all the little issues this one has. None of the issues on this car by themselves is very big, but all of them together just add up to more than it's worth to deal with when I can find other cars without these issues for about the same price he is asking.

Thanks everyone for your feedback, I'll post back when I find another car that catches our eyes.

The keyless entry on C4's is passive... the car finds the key fob, so you don't push the button to unlock the doors. You push the button to unlock the passenger door only... and only if the system is not set up to unlock both doors.. (or the door button is to turn the system on and off, you do that by holding the button down until the locks 'cycle')

The metal on the C4 suspension was not polished from the factory. A 'factory correct' car will have dull components, but with sort of a natural sheen on them. It actually takes a bit of effort to get them to shine because of the natural roughness in the metal they used.

 

[tnovot]

Hi all
the wife found a '95 for sale today that she really likes so we went back to look at it.

Does your wife have an old maid sister?

 

[vee93]

All around--I'd offer him say, $11,500 and stop the closer it got to $12,000.
Will you be doing the labor for what's needed with this Vette or are you buying replacement parts and then paying labor fees to some tech?
That Vette has 78,000 miles on it. The seller's asking price is too high
because of the "issues" you mentioned and all of them will be costly to replace or repair.
*That cracked top has got to be replaced. That top is the brace for the car--it flexes badly with it out--bumpy roads will shiver yer timbers!!!
*The intermittent A/C is a problem on its way to not working, i.e., leaky/-ing hose(s), blower relay, compressor failure, etc.
*The PKE might just need a battery.
*The GM weatherstripping ain't cheap!
Does everything else in the Vette work? Like---
-Vanity mirror lights
-Acceleration slip control
-Cruise control
-Windshield wipers
-Horn
-Headlight doors open and close
-Headlight motors shutting off properly
-Turn signal lever
-Rearview mirror light
-Control knob for both side mirrors
-Bright light activation working
-Does the emergency brake hold
-all interior courtesy lights working
-window shade
-tray in rear compartment
-does the speed compensated volume work
-turn the stereo way up--any popping, static
-license plate light working
-back up lights working
-steering wheel tilt tilting
-look in the console-should be an ashtray, cig lighter and a rubber cup holder liner and the roof panel ratchet wrench
-how easily can you remove the targa top
-owner's manual
-interior dimmer switch working
-push the button--do fog lights come on
-got power seats? They work?
-Do the FUEL INFO, GAUGES, ENG MET, TRIP ODO buttons work
-Is the clock working
-stereo working
-Got a jack and tire iron behind the driver's seat? (My '93 came with a set back there), don't really know about this '95. So...,
-Spare tire in the carrier?
-Fuse box have a cover

That's all I can think of right at the moment. If everything checks out ok and he takes YOUR buying price, I'd say, y'all've got yourselves a Vette!!!