Soooo, what should I do for buying a C6 Z06. Low miles, mid range miles? High miles?

I'm trying to figure out what is worth what to me.

I'm going to use the car for autocross, so a garage queen seems like a bad choice, but then again the non-garage queens don't really come down much in price.

For instance this has about 40k miles and is a 2007 for $38k.

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?zip=20166&endYear=2012&modelCode1=CORV&showcaseOwnerId=73592&makeCode1=CHEV&startYear=2006&firstRecord=0&searchRadius=50&showcaseListingId=432528419&trim1=CORV%7CZ06&mmt=%5BCHEV%5BCORV%5BCORV%257CZ06%5D%5D%5B%5D%5D&listingId=427512245&Log=0

But then you have this guy that wants $41500 for a 2006 with around 4000 miles.

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c6-corvettes-for-sale/3830353-06-c6-z06-w-4k-miles-immaculate.html

And then there is another guy that I found that wants $32k for a 2006 with 52k miles. I was somewhat tempted by that one, but he hasn't gotten back to me.

Clarification - can you afford the garage queens?

I can afford the $40k range ones. I won't put miles on this car, it will be an autocross car and fun car so I'm figuring I won't lose too much value in that regard. I can also tow it to distant events if I want since I have a truck and trailer.

I dunno, I'm tempted by the garage queens because they are not much more and I know I get a car that is less used.

This one (08 w/65k) just sold for probably around asking price of 31.5k. Looks like a nice driver's car. If you ask the OP nicely he might tell you if it really sold for that.

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c6-corvettes-for-sale/3846076-2008-z06-2lz-31-500-a.html

I can imagine it sold at $31500, that's about the lowest I've seen for a C6 Z06 even with 65k miles.

Do you have any psychological hangups about "mistreating" the car? For me, I spend half the time driving my low-mileage weekend car worrying about paint chips, seat tears, UV damage, and bird poop. I've had more fun NOT worrying about those things, although the IDEA of having a nice garage queen sounds good in my head.

If you can look past the occasional paint chip or scratch, I think you're on the right track.

Supercharged 2005 Z51 at around $22k.

Something else to think about is that it seems the LS7 likes to ventilate itself when driven with anger. The root cause is still somewhat up in the air on whether it's valve guide issues or something else. I have two family members who have 2007 Z06s that had to replace engines in the last year. Both looked like the valves let go.

The ls7s had head issues with the guides. Plan to pull the heads and have new guides put in by a reputable shop. Might as well get them CNCd while they're out too, unless you're doing the stock class thing.

I hear you.

I wanted the car to drive, maybe a few track days. Also not interested in a garage queen. I ended up with a mid mileage car (36k), I figured I'd spend the difference on heads and a mild cam to avoid the valve drop issue and pick up a little power. I don't know that there's a big difference in price between cars with 40k and 60k miles, so I'd rather just stay in the mid mileage range than start low and end up there. That 06 would be a great deal if it doesn't have issues, but I'm suspicious at that price.

That 08 was a great deal, I may have bought that if I could get time to get out there. Most cars seem to be priced quite high and sit forever since few use these as primary transportation. For a data point, mine was 37.5 at a dealer including their random fees. It's an 07 2LZ with new tires and 36k miles, bone stock.

To be clear I want a completely stock C6 Z06 for A-Street autocross. So, no modifications to the car at all and no alternatives.

Harvey wrote: To be clear I want a completely stock C6 Z06 for A-Street autocross. So, no modifications to the car at all and no alternatives.

The head guide fix is permissible. They're great cars. Long gears, good mpg too.

I will get the heads updated with the bronze valve guides when I get the car so I don't have the valve drop issue. I'm well aware of that at this point. There is at least one source that most autocross guys driving these cars use and I can just get replacement heads, swap them on and return the old ones back to them for a core charge. Comes in around $500 or less for the parts.

My response about it being completely stock was because of the link to a supercharged regular C6. Not interested.

turtl631 wrote: That 06 would be a great deal if it doesn't have issues, but I'm suspicious at that price.

Kinda suspicious as well given that he posted his email for people to contact him and then hasn't really responded to inquiries.

OSULemon wrote: Do you have any psychological hangups about "mistreating" the car? For me, I spend half the time driving my low-mileage weekend car worrying about paint chips, seat tears, UV damage, and bird poop. I've had more fun NOT worrying about those things, although the IDEA of having a nice garage queen sounds good in my head. If you can look past the occasional paint chip or scratch, I think you're on the right track.

This is part of why I'm wondering if I should buy the 4k mile garage queen. I don't know if I will be upset at putting cone marks on the thing. I mean, the only advantage is that I will know why it has marks and what not on it since I will be putting them there, versus what happened with a higher mileage car, I might not exactly know.

In reply to Harvey:

Cheap enough that you can afford replacing the engine when the valve train fails?

Are there any instances where C6 Z06s have stopped depreciating? Or have started to appreciate in value? Otherwise you will be storing a garage queen for a long time 25-30 yrs before seeing any real increase in value.

C4 ZR1 hasn't really curved upward

C5 Z06 are holding steady in the low-mid $20s

C6's will continue to trend downward (for many years) as more C7 performance models come out

WOW Really Paul? wrote: In reply to Harvey: Cheap enough that you can afford replacing the engine when the valve train fails?

Replace valve guides and this is a non issue, so that doesn't worry me.

DanyloS wrote: Are there any instances where C6 Z06s have stopped depreciating? Or have started to appreciate in value? Otherwise you will be storing a garage queen for a long time 25-30 yrs before seeing any real increase in value. C4 ZR1 hasn't really curved upward C5 Z06 are holding steady in the low-mid $20s C6's will continue to trend downward (for many years) as more C7 performance models come out

The point is that I'm not going to store any garage queen I buy, so it probably doesn't make sense to pay for one unless I get a great deal on it, but I'm still tempted to get one.

Whatever I get will be driven, maybe not a lot of miles, but enough to not stay low mile.

$32k guy seems legit, going to pursue that one.

Harvey wrote: To be clear I want a completely stock C6 Z06 for A-Street autocross. So, no modifications to the car at all and no alternatives.

Going to throw this out there. DO you really need the Z06 for autocross. The stock Z51 is a fantastic car, has way cheaper consumables and for a weekend / occasional driver is 90% of the car that the Z06 is. Personally I actually prefer the Z51 or Grand-sport to the Z06 in that generation.

wearymicrobe wrote:

Harvey wrote: To be clear I want a completely stock C6 Z06 for A-Street autocross. So, no modifications to the car at all and no alternatives.

Going to throw this out there. DO you really need the Z06 for autocross. The stock Z51 is a fantastic car, has way cheaper consumables and for a weekend / occasional driver is 90% of the car that the Z06 is. Personally I actually prefer the Z51 or Grand-sport to the Z06 in that generation.

A man's got to know his limitations. I can't even drive my clapped-out C4 challemge car to its full potential. So if it were me I agree that a ZO6 is really Overkill 4 the occasional run through the cones. But to each his own

wearymicrobe wrote:

Harvey wrote: To be clear I want a completely stock C6 Z06 for A-Street autocross. So, no modifications to the car at all and no alternatives.

Going to throw this out there. DO you really need the Z06 for autocross. The stock Z51 is a fantastic car, has way cheaper consumables and for a weekend / occasional driver is 90% of the car that the Z06 is. Personally I actually prefer the Z51 or Grand-sport to the Z06 in that generation.

The Z06 is about 100-200lbs lighter than the Z51 C6 depending on options, it also has stiffer springs stock and second gear hits 90mph with first gear hitting nearly 60mph and it fits a larger tire stock. Grand sport might be an alternative, but they cost in most cases more than an older Z06 since they only started in 2011. The springs on the GS are slightly less stiff and again they weigh more.

If there was a comparable car for less money it would be probably be the C5 Z06. It is probably just as good in terms of performance for autocross in AS or SSR, but I just would rather have the C6 as the C5 doesn't do much for me overall.

Ovid_and_Flem wrote:

wearymicrobe wrote:

Harvey wrote: To be clear I want a completely stock C6 Z06 for A-Street autocross. So, no modifications to the car at all and no alternatives.

Going to throw this out there. DO you really need the Z06 for autocross. The stock Z51 is a fantastic car, has way cheaper consumables and for a weekend / occasional driver is 90% of the car that the Z06 is. Personally I actually prefer the Z51 or Grand-sport to the Z06 in that generation.

A man's got to know his limitations. I can't even drive my clapped-out C4 challemge car to its full potential. So if it were me I agree that a ZO6 is really Overkill 4 the occasional run through the cones. But to each his own

I just finished doing three Pro Solos this year and runs up and down the coast to NER and NNJR for autocross as well as our locals, I'm a little bit past a few runs through the cones as an autocrosser. Not saying I'm Mark Daddio, but I do know him pretty well.