I have been away for some years since I sold my minty 1988 IROC. In between, I had a C5 for a little while, life caused me to sell that also. Well, I cannot go too long without my muscle cars, so I am in the market again. I got excited, I thought I found one not too far from home.

It is harder to find a gen 3 or gen 4 in the South than it was in the North east. Up north, there were a lot more put into garage storage and preserved, most that I find down here are used up pretty good.

Anyway, this one is over an hour away and I appreciate that the guy sent me the pictures I asked for. There is some sub-frame (I think) damage underneath. Certainly, it is not pretty. My biggest concern is if it could throw off any of the geometry, ride, tracking, etc. I can't help but think if the thing went off the road at some point, it had to have beat the crap out of the front end. I am not sure about how much it can be repaired after that.

I read a couple of other threads that some sub-fame damage could be from being jacked up. Sounds odd, but it would be great if it was harmless.

What do you think?

On its own, this does not look too bad, but combined with the other picture, I don't know.

I don't like the way this looks.

 

It almost looks like damage from blocks? Maybe someone stole the rims and tires at some point. The pics are kinda fuzzy but is doesn't look like it happened on the road, just my opinion. The car can get damage there from jacking but that looks to buggered for that. As far as it hurting the car, I think it won't affect the way it drives or tracks unless the frame has been pushed inward.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/cama...-a.htmlI'd be inclined to wait for another car. If you have doubts, then the next person may have doubts. Would be more difficult to resell.

Just did my typical Craigslist Camaro search of Tennessee and area. I agree your options are fewer compared to other states. The listings of good cars was slim. If you can save a little longer for travel money and expand out of your area the payoff will be greater.

Hold off for one that looks like this underneath.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/cama...85-z-28-a.html


Edit: Ha!. Just noticed you posted in the above thread.

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@Saxondale I probably would have that one home by now if it were not for distance and winter road conditions. Even trailering it, could still get a slurry of salt and road debris coming that distance.

 

Resale does tend to be an issue with me too. I will buy a car with the best of intentions of keeping it for the rest of my life, then life will get in the way and I will need to sell it. I suspect that nastiness, even if it does not impact drivability, would cause it to sit in my driveway too long if I needed to sell it quickly.

 

I would consider a 4th gen 1999-2002 LS1 also, but those are still few and far between in TN. When I do find them, they tend to be overpriced in this area because they are scarce.

 

That looks like floor jack damage from using a jack with a small puck and no blocks. It shouldn't cause any structural or alignment issues, but it just looks a little ugly. For me, it would depend on the condition of the rest of the car and the price. If the rest of the car was super nice, low mileage with a high asking price, I would probably move on. If it's a nice driver with 100K miles for a reasonable price, I would still consider it.

 

It doesn't look like anything major to me, either. I work at a body shop.

 

I kind of already told the guy I was not interested. But just curious, the body and paint are in great shape, 130,000 miles, auto, regular top - not t-top, mostly oem, interior good, dash is torn up pretty bad, not original steering wheel, $8500. I think that is high compared to some one here, but since they are so hard to come by here in TN, prices are a little higher. What do you think?