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One Man's "Pristine Corvette" is Another's Fixer-Upper
I was thinking of selling my '96 LT1 and saw one similar to mine for sale on Craigslist, in CA the other day. It was the same Torch Red color as mine, but with the Light Oak (tan) interior, which I really want instead of just black like mine. This seller also was the original owner who only had 44,000 miles on this 24 year old car...less miles than mine. It even had the bronze tinted acrylic roof panel which looked cool. In his ad and in text messages, he constantly stated that this '96 Vette was in "Pristine" perfect condition. He stated everything worked, no issues, and no engine leaks at all. Now, I've only been a Vette owner for about 2 year but have learned a lot about the LT1 C4s in that time.
So, I told myself that if this lower mileage Torch Red, one owner C4, with the bronze acrylic roof and tan interior, was truly in better condition than my current '96, I'd try to quickly sell mine and buy his. He was only asking $9,400. I eventually met the guy and saw the Torch Red Vette parked out front of his house. As I began to inspect his "Pristine" car I found the following within just 10 minutes: The pop-up head lights continued to "run/click" after opening and closing for about 8 seconds each time. The front/ A-Pillar weather stripping needed to be replaced soon. The wonderful tan leather seats (I was so excited about) were actually in worse condition than mine and there were obvious small cracks (not tears or rips) in the bottom of the driver seat. It could be prevented from getting worse, but looked too worn for me. Then I peeked underneath the hood and saw that the engine bay was not exactly clean. Lastly I looked underneath just from the side and could see a drop of apparent engine oil or trans fluid clinging to the area near the torque converter shield.
I stood there for a moment trying to rationalize if this could be a good deal and how easy it would be to fix the issues. Then I thought of my Little Red Corvette and how perfect it currently is, especially compared to this "Supposedly Pristine" Vette. I politely pointed out the issues and didn't even take it for a drive, other than start the engine. I swear, I so wanted to school this guy on what pristine condition really means, but he was in his early 70s and I didn't want to be charged with mental elder abuse.
I learned that one man's definition of "Pristine" condition can sometimes be another man's fixer-upper. Now I really appreciate the condition my Vette is in. It's not totally pristine, but a hell of a lot closer to that definition than his car was!!!
I'm always looking at the cars I'm interested in on several sites including eBay and craigslist. I run into this all the time. Pristine, perfect, mint words that are well to say the least used incorrectly by the seller. You just have to laugh at them. Then move along. Not worth the time or trouble to school or teach them. Most cars our age or older your going to be able to pick apart. When I was looking for my current car my son and I drove about one hour and twenty minutes to look at a red 91 ZR1 with about 20 K miles on it. The car had obviously sat outside for a long time and near the ocean. Under the hood it was just awful. The paint on the fuel filler door was pealing. All the weather strip needed to be replaced. Really made me think the car had many more miles on it. We didn't even drive it. The seller wanted 20 K for it and wasn't going to budge at all. I took some pictures of under the hood.
Here's my first 91 ZR1 with about 60 K miles and it looked the same with 90 K miles.
i ran into that A LOT when I was looking for my car. Unfortunately that is common and my car was the same way. The PO didn't mention anything about the oil leak from the crank seal or a few of the other items I found on the test drive. He knocked enough off the price to where I was ok with the purchase, but it was still frustrating.
Tan interior YUCK!!! In fact on any car, YUCK!!!
But that's just me I guess
I agree that an all tan interior is Bleh. I currently have an all black interior. Soooo, I've finally decided to keep my '96 and going to have only my seats and center arm rest top reupholstered with a similar Ferrari tan color faux leather, with some black stitching to tie it in with the rest of my black interior. Going to have the black stitching added to the center arm rest too. It's gonna lighten-up my dark interior just enough and look retro hot with my Torch Red exterior paint..."Ferrari-Vette"
Similar to this color seat in an actual Ferrari pic, but with black stitching...
This is 96 "Light Beige" , I wanted red. But as some guy from England said "You can't always get what you want". I may get some black mats to change it up a bit.
(3 posted pics of a cherry car) followed by 8 pics of a stripped rusted hulk.
Followed by "This is what it could look like" . wow
Most sellers have never had anything mint, or are on drugs. Flipper city
Seen cars/trucks that have been listed for a year, still hoping to rope in a sucker.
Now offer something decent they want it for free. actually demand it..had someone come over the other day so insulting I came real close to knocking his teeth out. The level of entitlement these days is shocking.
It is truly funny. The definition of adjectives used to describe used cars varies greatly. In my case, the seller said he'd owned several Vettes over his lifetime. He told me many times his Vette was in "perfect condition", "pristine condition" , everything works, nothing wrong. I should have known something was up (and he was the original owner) when he said his all stock '96 LT1 auto trans Vette had 350 HP. Proves he didn't get to know his car over the last 24 years.
01-23-2020, 09:42 PM
One Man's "Pristine Corvette" is Another's Fixer-Upper
But it's getting there.
