A friend of mine told me last fall he was going to sell a 1998 Lingenfelter supercharged Corvette he had. It has been bugging me all winter that I should have a new toy and this might scratch the itch. I can't find much info on this year Vette with this supercharger package.
The car is a 1998 convertible, silver, with about 35000 miles. He is asking $19,500.
You Vette experts out there, Whats this car worth, and is it worth buying?

I don't know much about vette's, had one (C4) and it was ok.

That said, based on the video from Flemmings, I'd say go-for-it at 19,500.

Lot of car for the money and it sounds like Lingenfelter does it right.

Again, I don't know vettes, but i'd love a test drive if you buy it LOL!

James in Denver

There are only two companies I trust to modify corvettes, Lingenfelter is one of them.

quote:

Lingenfelter

I think it's a little on the high side, only because there are no bluebooks listings for "Lingenfelter" This only has value to Lingenfelter fans the ordinary vette buyer wouldn't know or care about Lingenfelter. The fanatic Yvette buyer certainly would. It's like the Long Is Baldwin-Motion of the Muscle Car era... what they would be worth today with low mileage!
That said I am sure he will still sell it at that price, regardless.
If you like the car grab it, it's not unreasonable

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
There are only two companies I trust to modify corvettes, Lingenfelter is one of them.

Curious who the other one is.

Callaway, probably.

A true Lingenfelter with low mileage for $19.5k is a good deal.

I'm gonna disagree with downtownv on this one though, I think anybody even doing casual research into the corvette world is going to come across lingenfelter at some point or another. It's not really like your average aftermarket modified car with god knows who that did god knows what to it. Lingenfelter is to corvettes as renntech or kleemann is to Mercedes/AMG or probably more accurate, Dinan is to BMW.

Being a 98, it's the 2nd year of that body style so I'd still have a nice PPI done to look for any issues. Chances are though, there wouldn't be any.

Lingenfelter is highly regarded in the Corvette community.

While the car itself is quite dated, the entire C5 line was outdated when it came out, the car is still very fast.

I would go for it at that price if everything checked out mechanically. How are the clutch, trans and rear tires? The base C5 wasn't built for Lingenfelter type power. The C5 has a plethora of problems: electrical gremlins, rattling interior, HUD breaking, steering column locking.

There are a lot of companies without the huge Lingenfelter name that also modify Corvettes that are beasts: East Coast Supercharging, Texas Speed Performance, England Green, LG Motorsports.

It's no mystery on how to make the Corvette go fast, it's just a SBC and guys have been doing it for many years.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/covYZ9YxmXA" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO

What a travesty that that 'Vette is an automatic.

LS1 motors love boost. I just finished an A&A supercharger on a c5 and it made a ton of power on the stock motor. The only thing we upgraded was the clutch to a twin disc.

I think lingenfelter and Callaway cars have a small, specific market. I wouldn't buy one because I don't like how they look, but the people that like the brands spend big money on them. If your goal is a blown c5, you couldnt do it cheaper buying a regular c5 and adding the blower, so this seems like a good deal regardless, although the supercharger is likely the age of the car too.

quote:

Originally posted by 2000Z-71:

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
There are only two companies I trust to modify corvettes, Lingenfelter is one of them.

Curious who the other one is.

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
Callaway, probably.

Bingo.

I should add, this Vette is a auto. It has some special torque converter, can't remember who's. It's supposed to allow for the additional HP.

At one point G G Liddy had a Lingenfelter Vette.

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:
LS1 motors love boost. I just finished an A&A supercharger on a c5 and it made a ton of power on the stock motor. The only thing we upgraded was the clutch to a twin disc.

I think lingenfelter and Callaway cars have a small, specific market. I wouldn't buy one because I don't like how they look, but the people that like the brands spend big money on them. If your goal is a blown c5, you couldnt do it cheaper buying a regular c5 and adding the blower, so this seems like a good deal regardless, although the supercharger is likely the age of the car too.

cmr076,
When you say you don't like how they look, what do you mean? From the video above and this pic I found, I thought they mostly hid the modifications?

I would have to agree that it sounds like a good price if it's what you are looking for. Is it an investment (you could take it out to Barrett-Jackson or put it on one of the the online auction sites). Or is it a weekend driver? If it's a casual weekend cruiser, I'd probably rather have one that's a little newer and basically stock.

quote:

Originally posted by 2000Z-71:

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
There are only two companies I trust to modify corvettes, Lingenfelter is one of them.

Curious who the other one is.

Callaway

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Corvette from Lingenfelter or Callaway. In fact I just purchased my 5th Corvette , a 2012 Callaway convertible. Awesome. With most of us Corvette nuts condition trumps all else, so if it passes the condition test, jump on it.

They have a cult following. While they're not as fast as the newer ones, it's still going to be a lot of fun and I don't think the car will lose any value the entire time you own it. If you like it, go for it.

If you don't take it... I will...

quote:

Originally posted by armored:
I should add, this Vette is a auto. It has some special torque converter, can't remember who's. It's supposed to allow for the additional HP.

Won't necessarily gain any horsepower, but it helps the trans hold the additional horsepower on hard launches without puking its guts everywhere. It'll also allow you to launch at higher RPMs (stall speed, foot full down on brakes then push the throttle and pop the brake like a clutch) for better 60 foot times at the strip.

pretty standard modification in those automatic vettes when you start adding power. The trans itself is fairly solid but the TC is always a weak link.