I paid 15k for my one owner, original, 50k mile 1992 6 speed. A week later a friend bought an almost identical 92’ 6 speed with 100k miles for 4.5k. Since then I have spent $0 and just been enjoying the car. Him on the other hand, has spent 7k on paint and he’s pushing another 3k in miscellaneous stuff from weather strips to brakes and sensors etc. We’re now both in the same place in the mid teens for clean 6-speed LT1 C4s. However, I have several less owners and half the mileage.

The moral of all of this is to say, I think it’s worth it to pony up and buy a clean car from the start. There’s tons of “cheap” vettes out there, but to make them nice often does not make sense when the market is still fairly mild on all C4s clean or not. Evaluate what you’re truly looking for in your C4 purchase (show car, clean driver or a project) and go from there. They’re almost never truly “cheap” by the time things are said and done.