well i have driven it before, it's smooth and everything runs. He uses it as a daily driver still, but it's all body work needed. And i need a new car.

 

i have a 95 z28, 138k. New opti, waterpump, wires, plugs, nicely rebuilt 4l60e with almost 500 miles on it now.. runs great. front left brake squeeks a little sometimes, needs a new headliner a little.. body and frame is great, only a couple little cosmetic things wrong..

 

As a general rule if someone let one thing go on the car chance are there are other things that were ignored. A well kept car that was in a fender bender would be a great find!

I wish I had a good way of explain. You know how you take your car into a mechanic to see what is wrong with? They cannot always tell you what is wrong but they know something it wrong. A mechanic with 5 years under his belt has ridden on 100’s test drives in most makes and models of cars. Some customers are extremely picky. I can tell what the sound of cotter pin makes if it is not tight on the front wheel bearing. Yes it can make a sound! As a wrench you drive the car, you hear\feel the problem, you fix the problem, you drive the car again. You do this all day long every day. Dealing with Corvette owners can really sharpen your skills. I had a customer that complained about “slop” in the steering in a Vet. I could not find anything. He took me for a test drive, Turn out he was a professional driver. The “slop” he was talking about was about .018” of play in the Rack, GM spec allows .010”. That guy could feel that extra play. Then you have people come in saying I think something is wrong and you don’t even get out of the parking spot and your thinking “this was driven here?”

Trying to hide a problem from a mechanic is like brushing your teeth really hard right before a checkup at the dentist. In fact it would take a very good mechanic a lot of hours to trick even a newer mechanic into thinking a car had been well maintained.
I cannot even guess how many times I have check out car for friends and after pointing the issues they walked away. In many cases what I was saying was surprising the owner. Sometimes they get mad sometimes they drop their prices. In many cases I can tell the owners knew about the issue and as soon as I mentioned it they knew this was not going to sell. They just hoped the next guy did not bring a mechanic.

There are people out there that know very little about cars. They take the car back to the dealership for everything and they follow recommendation the dealership made. By the time these cars hit high miles the owners have spent almost as much on the car maintenance as the car cost. These cars are hard to find but they are worth the wait. Because of out “how many miles are on it” brain washing these cars do not sell for much more than a un-maintain POS.

I bought a 98 Sunfire with 91K on it in 2006 for 3K. It was a plain jane but VERY well maintained. I drove till 160K before it needed anything. I gave it to my daughter to commute to collage. When she was done Collage it had 201K on it. She kept it and now it has 220K on it. Besides routine maintenance all I have done to the car is a water pump and TP Sensor.

 

WILL YOU COME CHECK IT OUT WITH ME?! haha. I wish i knew someone like you. I am bring a friend who used to work on all of his own cars with me, but he has no where near the knowledge you have

 

I know there are a lot of guys out there that call themselfs mechanic and are basicly grease monkeys. But a there are a LOT of real mechaincs out there. About the only way to make any real money is open your own garage. I think everyone should find a good mechanic. I have one. That does not mean He fixs my Camaros. He does my inspection, alignment and any work I don't what to do on my Tahoe or my Wifes cars. I know what to look for when buying a car but I really think that unless your buying a newer car with a warranty you should get the car checked out by a pro. A mechanic can learn a LOT about a car in 30 minutes. That could be the best 50 bucks ever spent. Look at this way he is either going to tell you she is in A1 shape or he is going to give you what you need to get the price a little lower and the chance are you can save a lot more then his $50 fee. You could be spending 50 bucks and avoiding $1000's in repairs on a POS. When the machanic know you he is less likely play game. Mechanics like long term customer not someone that is calling around looking for the cheapest price.

Even with a well maintained car things break, I have been very lucky with cars but in my job I have rebuilt motors with 175 miles on them and 275,000 miles and just about everywhere in between. Any thing made by man can break. A well maintained car just gives you better odds.

 

Well are there any other alternatives to a camaro(besides the firebird). even though i have my heart set on a camaro. driving from richmond next week to charlottesville. Hopefully it works out

 

I love Gorn .

 

The only alterative to a camaro is a corvette

 

Yep i already have an estimate of the body work and if it all works out i will be extremely excited. My friend said he could hook me up with halo projectors as well. And the interior of the 2000 camaro is in excellent shap

 

try and get a standard yo,you will get bored with an auto. i regret buying my v6 with the automatic, but yet i wont sell her, i love her to much! LOL