Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend. Time for more cheap-car foolishness, but this week we’re going to make a little change: instead of the weekly roundup on Friday, which is getting to feel a little bit like reruns, we’ll have five matchups, but Friday will be something a little special. So here are the results from last week‘s roundup, which might be the last one for a while:
And it’s the VW Quantum by a nose. You’d think that AMC’s giant schnoz would put it in front, but the Quantum’s long front overhang from that Audi five-cylinder was too much for it.
Now then: Raise your hand if you ruined a good car when you were young by doing something stupid to it.
I’m betting there are a lot of hands up out there, and mine is certainly one of them. I did more than my fair share of dumb kid tricks to cars, both in the form of idiotic driving and pointless modifications. Sometimes such dumb-kid damage can be mitigated, sometimes it can’t, and sometimes it’s just not worth trying.
Today, we’re going to look at two cars that have suffered at the hands of young owners in two different ways: One was mightily abused, and the other was taken apart to “modify” and then abandoned. Let’s see which one is more worth saving.
1991 Chevrolet Corvette – $1,500
Engine/drivetrain: 5.7 liter V8, 4 speed automatic, RWD
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Odometer reading: 141,000 miles
Runs/drives? Yes, but transmission is on the way out
I’m showing my age a little, but until the C8 debuted, I still thought of the C4 Corvette as the “new Corvette,” and everything that came after as just refreshes of it. I think the reason is that I was 11 years old when the C4 debuted, and it was such a radical departure from the previous generation in both styling and ethos. None of the generational changes that came after it felt quite as revolutionary, at least until they moved the engine behind the seats.
I was an enormous fan of this era of Corvette when it arrived on the scene, and it’s still the generation I’d be most inclined to buy, if I ever decided I needed a Corvette. These are the “cheap” Corvettes now, but rarely do you see one quite as cheap as this. But there’s a reason for that, and it goes beyond the trahsed leather seats and worn-out weatherstripping.
No sentence that begins with “after last night’s burnouts” ends with any sort of good news. It seems the seller of this ‘Vette (or someone in possession of its keys) had a bit too much fun lighting up those big rear tires and cooked the 700R4 (or 4L60, if you prefer the newer nomenclature) automatic. The seller says it won’t go into “4th or 5th” gear, but I presume they mean 4th (overdrive) gear and lockup. Presumably this would mean you could put the transmission in “D” instead of “OD” and at least get it home. But further burnout attempts are not advised.
Apart from the transmission issues, if you want a cheap scruffy ‘Vette, it looks like this might be a good candidate. It’s from GM’s tiny-button era of interior design, which at night looks like it might have been inspired by George Bush’s “thousand points of light” speech. But if it all (or mostly) still works, then it might be worth junkyard-diving for a new Turbo Hydra-Matic to slap in there.
1985 Nissan 300ZX – $1,500
Engine/drivetrain: 3.0 liter V6, 4 speed automatic, RWD
Location: Aberdeen, WA
Odometer reading: 180,000 miles
Runs/drives? Starts, but not drivable as it sits
It’s a tale as old as time: Boy meets car, boy ruins car, boy loses interest in car. This hapless Z was apparently left behind when its young owner left for college, and now his folks want it gone. But naturally, Junior wants to save the wheels and the steering wheel for his next victim, so they aren’t included. The stock parts, fortunately, are.
Luckily, from the sound of it, Junior didn’t get too far in his destructive rampage, so all that’s necessary (allegedly) to put this car back to rights is some reassembly. With a little luck, everything is all still there and useable.
This particular Z31-chassis 300ZX seems an unlikely candidate for the young tyke’s drifting dreams anyway; with its naturally-aspirated VG30E engine and Jatco automatic, it’s better suited to a cool cruiser than a tire-smoking monster. But 49-year-old eyes see cars differently than 18-year-old eyes (and require more corrective lenses to see them at all), so where I see a nice example of a classic Japanese GT, perfect for popping the T-tops out and cruising the twisty roads around wine country on a sunny day, this car’s former steward envisioned it being a bit faster. And more furious.
In any event, even if you have to change out the wheels before you tow it home and undo the indignities, when you’re done you’d have a really nice car. I always liked the shape of these angular 300ZXs, and the engine and transmission are rock-solid reliable if you just leave them alone and keep up the maintenance. Maybe this car was saved just in the nick of time.
Neither of these cars is likely to be worth a fortune, though both are old enough to be considered classics now. Base-model automatic sports cars just aren’t as desirable as manual or higher-spec versions. But that makes them cheap to buy. I think either of these cars is worth consideration as a cheap weekend cruiser with a little work. Which one would you rather put the effort into?
Having knowing the ins and outs of corvettes, that gets my vote. Run through it, get the trans fixed…check every nut and bolt and you’ll have a cheap freedom Cruiser.
I’m a big Japanese car guy and do like Z31s a lot but I went Corvette. I already have one 30 year old Nissan to deal with and I don’t really want another from the same era. But I’ve never had a “real” American car and the C4 is a trans rebuild away from having a seemingly decent Corvette for not a lot of money
Buy them both and make them fight to the death. Only one can survive!
OK, if the paint is savable, the Vette wins for me. I had a 85 300ZX, and loved it (even the same interior colour as this car), but that engine needs a stick to get the most out of it. They had 160hp (IIRC). Also, Chevy parts are generally cheap, though I am aware of the Corvette tax. Also, the right front wheel on the Z is a bit out of position, which is concerning.
At any rate, both of these will have a ton of little issues on top of the bigger ones. At least the Vette has a V8 to makes them all fade away.
Is it just me or does that right front wheel position within the fender arch look way out of whack in the one pic of the Z31?
Yeah, that bugged me too
The Z is definitely the cooler of the two. Love that silhouette. Granted, I’ve never much cared for Vettes younger than I am. This is compounded by once having a jerk boss who owned two of this vintage, one black and one white, that he left parked in the spots closest to the front door of the shop, so further guilt by association.
Absolutely the V8. Everything about it is cheap to fix and it’s practically hoon-ready already.
If you’re not picking the vette you’re most likely doing so because you’re afraid of the jean-shorts/white new balance stereotype. It’s the clear winner in this comparison.
“I’m showing my age a little, but until the C8 debuted, I still thought of the C4 Corvette as the “new Corvette,””
This is exactly how I feel. It was the new Corvette when I was a kid, so that’s how I still feel about it. And I do have a soft-spot for the C4, but I voted 300ZX – the stock parts being available is a big plus – because c’mon, look at that. It looks pretty decent, especially in contrast with that banged up ‘Vette (which I don’t have much of a use for anyway, since I don’t plan to become a cocaine dealer in 1987).
It would have to be the Nissan for me. My brother had a C4 Corvette when I was in high school and even then I thought the bone-crushing ride was too stiff. The C5 is the sweet spot for Corvettes.
Nailed it. That C4 is going to be more fixable but also probably require more overall. That Z, while super neat, I remember is a beat down under the hood. My brother actually picked one up dirt cheap as a project at one point but because it had been even slightly messed with by a previous owner it only took a few weekends of beating our heads over it for him to decide to just sell it on.
The Nissan is the far better value just for the body shell. This is worth about 5x the asking price around here, once you get it all sorted, even without upgrading the engine and transmission. That’s the one I’d take first. 30 days in the garage (plus any delayed parts shipping time) would get you $3000-5000 in profit, easy.
I would also take the Corvette! Although it needs more money right now, it’s also very underpriced. Invest $3500 or so into parts and upgrades, make a 3 season driver’s car, and then sell it at any time for every penny you have into it, probably more. It doesn’t take much money at all to bring Corvettes far worse than this back to life, and then the possibilities from that point are endless!
How is this selling for only $1500? This doesn’t even have severe accident damage. Remove the interior and make it an awesome track car? Absolutely! A Safari Vette candidate for $1500? Shut up and take my money!
Today’s only correct vote is “Both”
I went Z. I loved the C4, especially the Callaways I’d read about in various magazines… But something about the Z calls to me…
Those Callaway Corvettes were a grenade with the pin pulled. I remember about half those magazine tests ending with blown head gaskets or bottom ends.
I once had a 92 Vette Convertible and loved it, and have always wanted a Z so this is quite the choice for me. I suppose the Z gets the vote just to expand my virtual horizons. Also, the seats in the Vette – that sure didn’t happen from last night’s burnout
Would take the ‘Vette all day.
Tough call but I went with the Vette as the boneyards a littered with transmissions or you can go manual swap.
Seats are fixable.
For $1500 it is worth 2-3 grand to try and fix it.
Doing a straight what you would think easy route of using a GM trans costs 2-3 times the cost of this car. For some reason GM manuals trans are thousands of dollars, even for older garbage ones that will bolt to a small block. The cheapest way is using a Colorado 5 speed with a bell housing swap. Even that will run close to $1500 or more all in.
I’d say worth 2-3 grand to fix it. But not to try to fix it. I don’t like any vette from 1970 forward as they seem to share more than Vette with chevette. Really don’t like this particular model, and let’s top it off with hate this particular abuse one of the worst design ones with an automatic.
Totally the Vette! Replacing that transmission isn’t too hard or expensive. As for the seats, I’d try for a good set of boneyard chairs from a wrecked Vette of the same generation (I wouldn’t care about the color.)
I would guess you could buy this for $1,500, drop another two grand in it, and you’d have a decent $6,000 Corvette.
$650 to rebuild the 4l60, assuming you can drop it yourself. New seat covers are readily available and a DIY job. And the trans might not even need a rebuild. Could be something simple.
That’s a lot of car for $1500. Want.
You’re right, a valve body rebuild or some new servos might solve the problem.
But if you know the car’s been abused, it might be better to just swap it out. Since this isn’t a particularly powerful Corvette, even a trans out of a pickup would work.
Trans fluid change and inspect for glitter and Sludge and smell
This will never be a decent Corvette as it sucked in design and performance when new. What you would have is a $6000 Chevette
Agree with this for the 80s C4 variant but the 1988 models saw new powertrains that weren’t half bad. As far as performance goes they weren’t slouches for the 90s. 0-60 was 5.7 seconds and 1/4 mile was 14.1s. That’s not half bad by 2010 standards let alone 1991. Miserable by 2022 tho.
That 300ZX is a steal at that price. And the body is cleaner than a prisoner after entry processing at the Gulag.
Never been a real fan of Corvettes outside of the 1st, 2nd and possibly 3rd generations.
The Vette. I had a ’91 Corvette and it’s a great year – mid-cycle design refresh for the C4, but it still has the L98 engine, which (IMHO) was so much better than the LT-1. Yes, it was slower, but it had plenty of torque and wasn’t over-engineered to death. Mine had a 6-speed, but if you’re wrenching, the automatic is a much cheaper rebuild/replacement.
Still, beware the Corvette tax.
I also had a ’91 6-speed, and a ’94 T/A LT1 6-speed.
And I agree the 87-91 L98 is the better engine. It’s all about TORQUE. That older engine makes 345 ft/lb compared to the 300 ft/lb of the newer LT1.
Looking at the specs:
The 94 LT1 had 300hp (5000 RPM) and 340 tq (3600)
The 91 L98 had 245 hp (4400 RPM) and 350 tq (3200)
the torque is more similar than you may remember. Having owned Camaros with both engines, I will agree the L98 felt torquier, probably because it delivered at a lower RPM. The knock against the L98 was always that it ran out of breath so soon, but for street use it was a lot of fun, plus you didn’t have to deal with the LT1’s quirky ignition and model-specific parts.
Totally agree with the replies! A few years after I got rid of my ’91 Corvette, I got a ’94 Trans Am with an LT-1. It definitely delivered its torque differently, but it was also a constant source of frustration trying to track down all the problem codes it was throwing up from it’s OBD-1 system. And yeah, I stopped short of ever trying to replace the OptiSpark. It’s also the only car I’ve ever had throw a rod with zero warning. I’ve heard the L98 is very popular among autocrossers because of it’s torque delivery. I also enjoyed the 6-speed mated to the L98 because of it’s old school longer throws. I’ve heard the clutch is a super complicated job, though.
JFC, what the hell happened to the seats in that Corvette? It looks like a starving opossum got in and started eating them.
Get the 300ZX if you eventually want a running car. The Corvette is at the part out stage of its life. You could make a pretty penny selling those parts, but I’ll take the base model Z that still has some potential.
What happened? 1980’s GM quality is what happened. The C4 is a really solid chassis that got saddled with GM cost cutting everywhere else.
C4 for Lemons money. I’m in.
As much as I love the Corvette, the Z31 is the deal for me. Though I would rip out the automatic and switch to a 5-Speed, and find a RB26 motor. That Corvette looks like you need several STD tests before and after you exit.
I’d take the Vette. It’s the least violated and it moves under its own power. That Nissan has seen abuse untold, the Vette simply looks used.
Yes, but the Vette has spent its life on the mean streets of Philadelphia. I don’t even want to imagine the abuse that suspension has taken on the poorly maintained streets of the City of Brotherly Love and Cheesesteaks.
I’ve got a friend with one of those Z’s. Heard enough horror stories from him about his current issues, he might just have a lemon though.
Still, I’ll take the ‘vette. Can always take the suspension and engine and slap them under something a good 20 years older than it is and have something that handles. better than it should
That, and 8 cyls with an automatic has got to be more fun than 6.
I see there’s already a landslide. Not surprising as that vette is trashed.