’89 Roadster – 2947 Original Miles

Posted On January 5, 2022

A new 1989 Corvette roadster equipped with a few options like this one had a retail price of around $40,000 back in 1988-1989. (If you’re curious, that’s the equivalent of about $83,000 in 2020.) So the question is this: Would you have paid $15,900 for this barely broken-in cream puff? It was probably the most original 1989 Corvette on the planet, right down to the factory-installed tires.

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However, the low mileage with original components had a downside as well. The thirty-one year old tires would have needed to be replaced if it was bought to drive rather than to be a show car. The fluids would have needed to be refreshed and the brakes would have needed to be checked, if not serviced. The rubber components like hoses and belts, and the engine, transmission, and rear axle seals were over thirty years old and probably needed replacement (or at least monitored very closely.)

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The listing provided a list of equipment and implied that these were extra-cost options, when that was not the case. The only real options I saw were the telescoping steering column and maybe the upgraded stereo system. The red interior looked completely original and showed like brand new.

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Even though 1989 was nearing the end of the malaise era for automobiles, the performance of the L98 engine and three-speed automatic transmission in this car left a lot to be desired. But for weekend cruising with the top down, I guess that would have been okay.

I guess the buyer would have needed to decide whether to preserve this car as a museum-type item, or perform the maintenance required to make this a reliable driver. My vote would have been the latter. What would you have done?