68-427Rich

The right front wheel is to far back in the opening.

I would expect to find major frame damage.

Raphiki

1 red flag on the seller is that he's only sold 1 item in the past year. He does have 1 negative rating from 2009 where the buyer said he was knowingly sold a bad vette.

markids77

Shouldn't there be a piece of black plastic ignition shielding snapped over the distributor cap on this car? A small detail I know but the seller states the OE shields are in place. Are the gray carpets correct for an oyster interior? This outfit apparently has a pile of C3 and other inventory... if this thing is as nice as the ad suggests, even in the dead of Pennsylvania winter why is it on eBay? SPeaking of winter... no snow in the pics; howlong has this piece been on the lot... and why?

TexasMadMan

The first number that came into my mind before reading any replies was $12k. I've owned 4 c3s including a 1980. Good luck on your decision.

and yes to markids 77. There should be a black ignition shield.

jr9170

Love the color combo.

PaPaPork

front passenger wheel sits to far back!
seller states "new oil and filter, lubed chassis" etc... and has 14 feedbacks.
stay away from this one....

SuperBuickGuy

avoid it
1) it's from a place that uses salt on the roads
2) those suspension issues (the tire not centered, and such) are a harbinger of doom
3) the light isn't lined up on the driver's side
4) it's missing lots of those pieces that people, when they rebuild cars, don't replace
5) the paint is too good.
6) no frame pictures - no news is ALWAYS bad news, especially since there's redundant pictures

and, presuming you're in portland, there's two reputable Corvette dealers in town - that have been in business for decades...

My bet, the guy's "reserve" is somewhere around 12k. Also, don't forget that vintage of Corvette could be a 305 equipped with a saginaw 4 speed....

pdx-vette

I've been away for a couple of days dealing with a quarter window on my '11 Challenger R/T that some punk busted for no apparent reason. There was nothing inside to take & the doors weren't even opened.

Anyway, I wish to thank everyone for your invaluable advice & opinions. It's been extremely helpful. I've decided to follow rule #2 of 'Ten Rules for Buying Your First C3 Corvette' which is to not buy a car unseen in person & also the advice to not purchase the first car that I find.

I'm really still undecided as to which generation to purchase too. The '80 C3 is hands down my absolute favorite, but its performance may get boring after a while (I want a stock car). The '90 C4 is a performance improvement, but I feel the body is too plain. The '03-'04 C5 has an awesome body & performance to match, but it's out of my price league.

Who are considered reputable Corvette dealers in Portland? I have an idea who one of them might be. I did an online search & found the following classic car dealers:

http://thechevystore.com/

http://chevconnection.com/

http://nwicars.com/

http://memorylaneclassiccars.com/

Also, is anyone familiar with these dealers in the Eugene area?

http://summersclassiccars.com/

http://hamiltonsclassicautos.com/

Thanks again & the research continues...

SuperBuickGuy

http://thechevystore.com/

http://chevconnection.com/

http://nwicars.com/

http://memorylaneclassiccars.com/

I like the 1st one, though I'm always amazed at what he wants for his cars (top of market prices). That said, I've bought lots of restoration parts from his parts store next door - and never been disappointed.

My brother bought a 86 from Chevy Connection. The car "had" 99k miles on it. When it rolled over a couple months after he bought it, it was obvious the odometer had been tampered with. Chevy Connection went well beyond what was required to make it right.

Memory Lane, I know of one person's purchase from them... nothing to report - so that's neither a negative or positive.

NWI - 20ish years ago, a friend bought a SVO Mustang from them - it wasn't a positive deal; that said, I'm not willing to completely fault NWI for the deal - and I think they've got different owners now....

Dale002

No more than 8k without being able to see the bird cage for sure. Low mile car but still 30 plus years old.

HBI

I've watched this dealer's cars on the net for a little better than a year. A tad pricey, but if he had the car I wanted and we agreed on the price I wouldn't be afraid of him. Here's the '80 that's bidding on e-bay for sale on his web site at $17,999.
http://http://www.hobbycarcorvettes....orvette-t-top/

HBI

Sorry - bad link.
Let's try it again...
http://www.hobbycarcorvettes.net/cor...orvette-t-top/