1978 Pace Car

[Charles Miele]

I have the opportunity to purchase a 78 Pace Car for $14,000.00. The car has L82, 4 speed and 86,000 miles and appears to be in very good condition (repainted a few years back and seller claims paint better than factory). I am being told that price is too high for this car as it is not collectable due to mileage. I always wanted a Pace Car and have an affinity towards 4 speed instead of auto. These cars are hard to come by. Have only seen photos of car but will make trip to Florida to see if worth it (I live in New Jersey). Is there anything special I should look for on a car with this mileage and what potential problems could a car with this mileage have that may need attention in near future and at what cost? Is price too high?

[Ed Jennings]

Re: 1978 Pace Car

I have seen a lot of low mileage pace cars for $10K more than that. Double that for real low mileage. However, the car would have to be real, real clean ansd original to bring that kind of money. Remember that there were 6000+ of these cars built, so they are not all that rare. I know of at least one that is still in the dealer's showroom, never sold, never titled. I think it has 28 miles on the clock.

[Tom R.]

Re: 1978 Pace Car

Charles a few thoughts but probably first would be to view it as any high-mileage Corvette and problems inherent with 86k miles. Brakes, wheel bearings, motor operation...the typical mechanical problems. Afterall it's only a Corvette with paint and emblems. Calipers replaced? Master cylinder?

A fellow in our area has a 14k Pace Car he has had on the market I believe for $16-18K and last time I checked it had not beem sold. This is an original Pace CAr but an L48 automatic. The L82 4 speed is more desirable. I always thought he had it too high.

With an 86k Pace Car I would be concerned about originality and that's it all there...it's been repainted...but what else?

Having said that remember that the Pace Car was loaded with everything but that which would add and manage horsepower...but this car has both the L82 and 4 speed. So what about FE7? With FE7...it would be a rather complete Pace Car.

I just ran the numbers through Corvette magazine's price calculator and it came up $16k! Here's link

http://www.corvettemagazine.com/cgi-bin/Calculator.asp

Good thing is it most likely a Florida car and rust less likley than a car in the North...assuming its been cared for. Look for rust around the windshield on the posts and underneath on the frame. There is a hole toward the front on the driver's side under the frame. Put your finger in it and feel for rust.

Good luck

[Gary Bishop]

Re: 1978 Pace Car

Check the Vin # to make sure it IS a Pace Car.

[mike yager]

Re: 1978 Pace Car

There were 12,739 Corvettes in 1978 produced with the L82 option out of a total production of 46,776, which is about 27%. If you apply that ratio to the pace cars (6,502), you have about 1,750 pace cars produced with L82. Only 3,385 of the total cars produced were four speeds, which is about 7%. Applying that to the number of pace cars produced results in 455 cars. Its hard to say how many L82 4 speed combinations were produced and it might be likely that a number of L82 cars had four speeds but I would say this is one of the rarer combinations. If everything already mentioned checks out, it might be a good buy.