According to the seller, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Corvette has a rebuilt engine and a new clutch ahead of its six-speed gearbox. That’s a good thing considering the car overall has 185K on the clock. Let’s decide if the price is as high as the miles, demanding it too requires a refresh.
On June 29, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation funding the construction of the U.S. Interstate Highway System. Just thirty years later, more than 45,000 miles of interstate highway had been built, connecting cities and counties across the nation.
We can then extrapolate that Eisenhower is to blame for last Friday’s 2003 BMW 540i M Sport having almost 200K under its belt. Dang it, Ike!
While it had been carefully cared for and had a number of bits and bobs replaced over time, the mileage hung over the Bimmer like a black cloud. As a result, so too did the car’s not insubstantial $21,999 price. That combo conspired to give the sporting saloon a solid 80% No Dice loss to close out the week.
C Notes
Here we are now with a new week and a slightly newer 2005 Chevy Corvette coupe that has (checks notes) 185,000 miles on it. Dang it!
Before discounting this Vette entirely due to the substantial odometer count, similar to Friday’s E39, it’s worth noting that the seller assures us this C6 has a rebuilt engine, new ancillaries, and a fresh clutch ahead of its desirable Tremec T56 six-speed gearbox. It’s also claimed to have “new wheels,” with just 2,000 miles under them. The Atlas Force UHP meats wrapping those wheels have 37/22 date codes, so those at least are at the halfway point in their tour of duty. Oddly, the mechanical work is claimed to have been done around the same time as the tires’ birthday, but there’s 10K on that work. In the here and now, though, the car is claimed to have “zero problems” and to run and drive “perfect.”
The Earl of Gray
From the pictures, the car looks to be in good shape for its age and the miles. According to the seller, it’s been garage-kept and is in “excellent” condition. There is the issue of its paint color, though. It appears to be a single-stage color rather than metallic, and is a sickly gray hue more appropriate for something Hannibal Lecter might eat with some fava beans and a nice Chianti than a sports car.
A quick perusal of the Corvsport page for 2005 Corvettes indicates that this is unlikely to be a factory color. Maybe it’s a trick of the light in the pictures in the ad, and the color is really Arctic White. That color was available with the Cobalt Red interior, as this car comes.
That red leather interior appears to be holding up well and has the later additions of a double-DIN touch screen stereo and an elbow pad on the driver’s door. It otherwise appears stock.
Elbow grease
As noted, the engine received a refresh 10,000 miles ago. That mill is the LS2 V8, introduced in the Corvette this model year. From the factory, the pushrod engine made 400 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque out of its 6.0 liters of displacement. Per the seller, this one has been imbued with a cold air intake, headers, and an aftermarket exhaust, so its dyno dynamics may prove to be outside of those factory specs.
About that aftermarket exhaust. While it does sound pretty sweet in the short video in the ad, it is sitting kind of cattywampus with the right-side twin exits protruding farther aft than the left. As long as it works, that shouldn’t be a deal killer. Everything else on the car is said to work. The A/C is cold, the heat hot, etc. Having put the ad up on Facebook Marketplace, which doesn’t mandate such details the way Craigslist tends to do, we don’t know the title status, so that’s one red flag. The other is that exhaust and the fact that there are no pictures in the ad of the car’s engine. Has it been de-catted? That’s a possibility considering that the seller says the factory exhaust has been replaced with headers. There’s no CEL indicated on the dash when the car is running, so perhaps that’s something a prospective buyer needn’t worry about.
No Trades!
Those prospective buyers will have their hands full checking out this Corvette, since we do have questions regarding who did the engine work, and whether there are receipts for that work and the parts. Plus, what is going on with that paint?
Fortunately, the seller has set $15,000 for the Corvette’s asking price, and is NOT interested in any trades. That’s not as wild a pitch as the $32K Miata we saw a couple of weeks back. Is it low enough to engender some interest? This is, after all, a pretty solidly spec’d Vette, despite the questions.
What do you think? Is $15,000 a fair price for this Chevy sports car, considering the extensive mechanical work balancing the high mileage? Or is all that a gray area?
You decide!
Nice Price or No Dice:
Facebook Marketplace out of Macclenny, Florida, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T Eric Weigand for the hookup!
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