mjn76

so as a few of you know I have started to look for my dream zr1. just to make sure that this is what I want I have dragged my wife to every dealer that has a corvette on the floor to make sure I get one that she won't mind having to look at(I work a lot and am gone 3-4 days a week on ave.)as stated before Ideally I want a white 1990 with a red interior ,after that white with whatever 1990, after that we will see 1990. the question that has popped up is with all of the nice really low mile 1990 that are coming on market as of late do I
a) pop for a known history of sitting low mileage "under 10k" for about 30k knowing that I will sink about 2k into it just to make it reliable from long term storage
b)go for the average 25k-45k miles for about 20k and put another 5k for the little things that crop up over time.
c)the wild card. spend 15k on a high mileage example that has been loved but well used plus god knows how much more for fixes, and another 10 to 15k for an above average late c3 for the wife (one of the cars that we saw while looking was a cherry red 77 t-top 4spd and man did she look good in it. )
with some serious horse trading all three of the options are within what I want to spend (and if I really get lucky they could all cost roughly the same price)
i've already killed off option d)for the same money get a nice c5 or c6.
The thing that gets me is I always try to go buy the rule "buy the best you can " but in this case i'm not sure what that is.
anybody and everybody can chime in with opinions

mike100

Quite honestly, I've seen a couple of $15k 40 to 50k-ish mile ones that would have only needed about $1k of general repair/small parts lately with people bailing out to make room for new toys.

Also 91's tend to sell for a tad more than 90's so keep that in mind. I bought mine with 27k miles on it, but it looks like I'll probably put 2500-3000 miles a year on it at the rate I play with it. I would have been happy to have the $15k one for the price difference (I had to put $5k into mine).

BlackbirdZ07

It depends on what you want to do with the car. Will you be driving it often and putting some miles on it? If so, why pay a premium for a very low mileage example? You'll just devalue the car by driving it. You'd be better off saving some money by getting one with a few more miles.

On the other hand, if you intend to drive it only occasionally and it's important to you to own a car that you think will be worth some money someday, then a low mileage garage queen makes more sense.

Maybe you don't really even have to decide right now. Corvettes generally get cheaper at the end of the summer and into fall and winter so just keep shopping. When "the one" comes along you'll know it.

Z51JEFF

Its nice to see somebody that actually wants a ZR-1 instead of the other options out there.Evan though 90s are plentiful I havent seen too many white cars for sale and cant ever recall seeing a low mileage white 90.If I were you Id buy a low mileage car.If your set on white 91 seems to be the year for white cars.Not too long ago there was a white 91 on Fleabay with extremely low miles,under 500 I think.I live by the philosophy by the best,cleanest,price is secondary.What is the most you will pay for a car?

ZR-71

I'd say go for option B. The 25 to 45K mile cars are generally in very good condition. And hold out for your color. White is probably the 3rd most common color, behind red and black. Take your time

mjn76

thats why I killed off option d). to paraphrase nick cage. "if I got one of those i'd be just another pr*ck driving a vette; but If I got a 1990 zr1, i'd be a CONNOISSEUR" but in all honesty nothing against any of the others the 1990 is the one i have always wanted.

mjn76

a)I will drive it as often as I can, which means about 2500miles a year. I have never bought a car with the intention of it being an investment so I'm not worried about devaluation. to me these type of cars are "special" cars but not investments.
b)I have never owned and most likley will never own a garage queen.
c)this is the best part, I have placed a one year search for one limit,and after that I may just get another porsche. the only problem I have now is I have the itch, and I'm sure most of you can relate to that

tomtom72

Hi, just another two cents from the peanut gallery. I bought a 90 w/7400 on it from it's original owner back in 12/04.....then fast fwd to now I have 49.8k on her.

If I had it to do over I would have saved some coin and bought one w/more miles from an "involved owner". The main difference as I see it is the involved owner gets the car sorted out & then you get to have fun without much work.

Okay, I got to go thru the 10k mark and all that, but I also had do all the sorting out and that involved spending some coin...and in the end I still have a stock car. Now that it's almost sorted out with all the stupid stuff you need to do to a 20+ yr old car I can start planning where to find more power, more money.

My incorrect reasoning was that the motor is a capitol sum devalued by mileage....NOT. I swear there is no difference between my motor now than at 10k miles. The car is still tight & the motor is still just sublime. I should have believed all the talk about how well designed & made these motors are.

Okay that's my two cents. Sorry for being a blow hard.

Tom

WydGlydJim

My experience has been, that the low mileage examples have the same problems as a car with more miles on it.......in other words they all go through the same common issues, both low or high mileage. A friend of mine bought one with half the miles mine had on it, and it was so funny, because almost like a check list, he was fixing the same things I sorted out when I bought mine.....so I agree with some who have posted, if you are going to drive it, get a well sorted out car with more miles, and drive it like you stole it.......get one preferrably that has had the injectors, the speakers, the back-up switch, and the engine powdercoating already done. This one has 66k on the clock. Oh and good choice on looking for a
'90!

mjn76

any and all opinions will be considered and respected, it's your time i'm asking for not mine so who am I to complain. but your post is very much the heart of the question. "buy the best" but which is best ?
the mint neglected car
the average driver
or the
well used but cared for example (with a bonus for the wifey )

P.S. I am looking at what seems to be a nice example from a medium distance away. can anyone suggest specific questions and photos to ask for,
P.P.S opinions on pricing one I am interested in is 15k for 50k miles another that is no longer avail was 15k for 66k miles. 16k miles is not a lot but apples to oranges, is it worth being the "I can get one for the same price with less miles" guy or is that a jack*ff move, if not how much is 16K miles worth, and for that matter how much is 5k, 10k, 20k, ect,ect...... worth?
thanks again

-=Jeff=-

See if you can find a current ZR-1 enthusiast/owner near the car and have them check it out.

I bought my 90 from Colorado after a friend offered to look at it while he was there. mine car was a basket case when I got though.. still needs work, but I have the ZR-1 I always wanted.

Also being in IL there is quite a group of us around and Woodstock is not too far from the rest of us

wcvette

I purchased my 1990 red/red with 25.5k mi. for $20k. Pictures only and a 1 way plane ride to pick up the car. The original owner put 6k mi. on the car in the 16 years he had it.(375 mi. per yr.) The second owner did all the "check list" items and put 19.5k mi. in 5 years.(3.9k per year)
Here is the point:
1. $61,000. - $28,500. = $32,500, means cost of $5.42 per mi.
2. $28,500. - $20,000. = $8,500, means cost of $00.42 per mi.

Me. $20,000 - Checkmark on Bucket List = (3 cheers)

So the purchase of a ZR-1 for investment (1) didn't go too well.
Purchase to enjoy (2) went alot better.
My purchase = priceless!!

Paul Workman

I have a suggestion for ya...

The local group (aka Fast Boyz of Illinoiz aka FBI) is getting together Friday night for dinner. If the weather isn't too crappy, chances are you will get to see a few very nice cars and BS with some of the gurus of the Beast! Come join us! (See link for more info)

http://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread.php?t=15282

BTW, the "FBI" group is not a formal club - just a bunch of Corvette brothers that happen to favor the ZR-1s. My point being, anyone is welcome to join us for some fun and BS!

P.

WydGlydJim

^

The FBI group is a resource with a huge amount of knowledge.

Z51JEFF

With the market still in the toilet you can get a low mileage,almost new 90 anywhere from $30,000 on down.Last summer one of the local car mills sold a red 90,2000 miles for $25,000.Go take a look at the cars on Fleabay to gage prices.The responses about buying a low mile car then hurting the value by driving it,who cares.I want the cleanest car PERIOD.My car had 7000 miles when I got,now has 17,000.One thing to keep in mind is the owners that bought these new have sat on them,drove them very little so there are some prime examples out there.Sounds like you need to go fro a ride in the Beast if you haven't already.

mjn76

my main worry with the lo-mile cars is that these cars have been sitting for for up to 21 years now. a few tears ago a friend of mine picked up an original porsche 930 (911 turbo) tht was parked with only shipping and delivery miles (about 130) and was stored in a climate controlled environment for 20+ years (lobby of an office complex). when he got it we spent weeks and he spent cubic dollars getting it to drive at all and never well. (every seal, bushing ect was bad) he kept it for a while and used it for shows only before he found someone else who just had to have it.granted he paid porsche prices for n.o.s. parts but that was an air-cooled car so he didn't have as much to worry about. there is no such thing as a new 20 year old car just old new cars. I've been trying to find a ride in one of the kings but the only one I have found was a very sad example at a very shady dealer. I'm not the kind of guy to waste private guys time test driving the cars they have for sale when I have not interest in them. (all I have found for sale local is red and I'm holding out for a white...for now. ) (but the red is starting to look good, and I always hated red cars)

mike100

^^^ you won't have as much much trouble with a 10-20k mile car that was driven a little here and there. It's really more about who owned it and how much TLC the car got. Original owner is a big bonus if you can find one.

Anyhow, owners didn't drive the ZR's so they kept them nice for people who were too young or missed out the first time around in the 90's. Awful nice of them. I could see maybe liquidating it if the C7 turns out to be all that, but otherwise- it's a good driver since I worked out the kinks.

Z51JEFF

Was the Turbo Rootbear Brown?

mjn76

no sorry "silver grey metallic" which actually did not look very good on it, very bland. but I do love the root "bear" brown (not sure the real name any more, copper brown met or tobacco met) to me it screams classic 80's porsche more than guards red ever will. especially with the psychedelic pascha (checkerboard) interior
porsche actually has a similar color now called macadamia and it just looks sooooo right

ßill

A buddy sent this to me. I don't know any thing about it. Thought about this thread when I saw it. Good luck on your search.
http://www.sprintautosalesonline.com...-Corvette.aspx