Looking at a vette.
 

1976 L48 Stingray, seller is looking to get around 9000.
New paint. (paint job looks good)
New Shocks
When i asked what its HP output was he said over 400, Arn't L48s 180ish stock?
he did say the engine was not original, Can the L48 be modified to that power level? or is that beyond the handling capability of that block?

Does this seem like a good price, anything to look for besides rust?

I didnt get a good look at it as i had things to do, Im going to take a better look at it later.

RE: Looking at a vette.
 

one thing u really need to look at in the 76's are the floor pans. since they are steel they tend to rust out and the only way to replace them is to make your own. so you really want to look at them

RE: Looking at a vette.
 

Look at the brakes. C3's were always having problems with the caliper seals drying out/leaking. Also, MAKE SURE the rear brearings are in good shape. Replacing these is probably the biggest pain (and the most expensive) on the car.

How many miles? Was it stored every winter (depending on the state)?

RE: Looking at a vette.
 

If the engine has 400 HP output it is definitely not the original. Get the details of what it is who put it in and see how it runs. A bad engine swap can be a nightmare you don't want to have. Hopefully at that price it was professionally done. 76's are not a real desireable year because of the engine detuning so the price seems quite high. Go online and look at Auto Trader and Vettefinders. Another option is to go to Proteam and take 60% of the price they show and it will equal a reasonable price on a real nice car.

In Corvette original is usually best from a price standpoint but a good engine replacement on a 76 could be a nice purchase. Take it out and kick it hard in the pants and you will know real soon if it is a 400HP car.

RE: Looking at a vette.
 

In addition to the previous offered advice and having gone through what you're going through - the one big question you need to ask yourself is what are you going to do with the car? Race it or cruse it? If your going to race it, get something with similar horsepower but newer. Cars that are thirty years old are not meant to thrash. If you going to cruse it, forget the 400 horsepower. You want something smooth, fairly quiet and fully drivable. 400 HP gets real old, real fast.

As for year, for $10,000 you should be able to get a really nice car in the 1975 through 1982 range (if you're a C3 guy).

I have a 77 in near perfect condition that I paid $17,000. Way more than you need to spend but I wanted a drive it and forget type machine. This is still an affordable year. It may appreciate (in about 50 years!) since it is a bit unique due to the last year for the flat rear window. As for horsepower, it's packing about 180 (L 48) which is more than adequte for my purposes. I don't think it's ever been over 75 mph since i've had it. If I want to do some thrasing around, I use a BMW 540.