Well wifes project is under way 1974 L82 stingray. I so hate these cars tuned it up got it running good dwell set perfect timing right on the money ran perfect next day ran like the biggest piece of crap i have ever owned. I cursed it and every owner that enjoys them. And yeah wife wasn't so happy with me. Oh well lifted it up and started inspecting things and the entire top of the frame gone as usual. I could of lit the stupid thing and rolled it out in the street if the wife wasn't there. My car is still in getting the paint done been on the back burner for the shop he is doing me the weekend special. Be so glad to see a car made of metal again and runs perfectly. So now the real fun ordered a used sand blasted frame tonight to add to her bill. I was going to start buying some parts for mine oh well. Guess mine will still be more complete then hers at least. Sorry if I'm rambling just needed to vent a bit. And just to say it one more time i hate corvettes oh so bad may they all rust and rot away with the next rain.

 

Wow, made in the usa: I can feel your pain, all the way across Lake Erie! Remember my friend... Happy wife... Happy life!!! Good luck!

 

The top part stays clean?
The bodys have checking, waves, ripples, cracks, rattles, squeaks and the gaps are all over the place, but at least they don't rust?

They are primarily girl cars.
Then you get the professional type younger males that go in together on one and take turns driving endlessly around quaint yuppie-filled New England type villages on Sunday afternoons sucking down Starbucks iced coffee and trying to impress anybody that will look.
With their white cashmere sweaters draped over there shoulders with the arms loosely tied under their necks, pink polo shirts, khaki cargo shorts and brown leather penny loafers with no socks.

 

That reminds me...I want to sell our '77 L82 four speed w/ air

 

I recenty re-did a '78 Anniversary L-82 that did the same - ran bad!
Pulled and cleaned the distributor - the shaft was all gummed up - solved!!

 

Good description.

 

Must be referring to HER life. Here it seems like happy wife = suffering husband...

 

The frame wasn't to bad of purchase at least. I just wasn't planning on going that far just yet. Plus I'm the guy who owns a Chevy and it blows up every time. Thats why i drive ford and dodge. As a teenager i couldn't keep a motor in one piece went threw one seemed like every weekend. Yeah ran the crap out of them but bought my first ford i ran it even harder never changed anything. I have owned several Chevy's over the years and i figured something out real quick I'm to lazy to walk that dam much lol.

 

My Vette was nickle and diming me to death. The 442...? Still has her original carb (never rebuilt), original, fuel pump, altenator and I changed the water pump after 20 years. The vette and 442 ... I couldn't understand why the quality difference was so apparent. The vette was supposed to be the high end Chev....then it hit me.....it's still a Chev. I liked the car (L82 4 spd) but fix one thing and then something elso goes. Had it been an Oldsmobile, I might still have it.

 

A friend of my has a 91 vette with the soft top for sale, just spent last Saturday fixing he tranny pan leaks (I could turn the bolts by hand and he just had it serviced) Hard car to work on with that cross body brace. Its is great condition and hr has it posted at 8K and no takers yet. Out of work and needs the money. i went through it and tightened and checked everything. not a friendly car to work one. Something i will never own, buy s good buy got some one who likes them.

 

My Brother in Law had a 78' Vette back in the disco days. He says it was the most uncomfortable, impractical, pos he has ever owned. He bough it in 79' drove it for 6 months, traded it in on a 1980 Olds Cutlass Supreme. He owned that car for 13 years then sold it to me for $500.00 I drove it until 2000. She was pretty well whipped by then, so she did go to the crusher. Great car!

 

I've had five 69-74 Stingrays since 1998 including two documented LT-1s. They're beautiful to look at and the LT-1s were amazing runners - when they were running. Except for my reliable '74 L82 4 speed, they were all disabled garage art for some period of time. They're very needy cars.

That said, I'll probably pick up another Lemans Blue '69 or Mulsanne Blue '70 with the bright blue interior and the hi-compression L46 small block at some point. Can't help it - that particular combo is just sex on wheels to me.

(my previous Lemans Blue/bright blue/L46 '69 posing with my truck
DSC04747.jpg

On the other hand, my '96 LT4 that I bought in 2000 will easily out-perform any of my 455 cars with the A/C on while getting 25+ mph on the highway. Lots to love about that!

Terry

 

Sharp looking pickup - I very much like the old Chevy trucks...

 

73-77 Vettes are super cheap, even low milage survivors are dirt cheap. Why did you buy a car that needs a frame and who knows what else??

My old man has a 76 L-82 4 speed car with 21,000 miles on it. It has every option including 3.70 posi rear, of which only 1500 or so received. Its a sweet car to drive. I dont get all the bitching about them being unconfortable.

 

Mine was a 1976 L82 4speed and it was very confortable and fun to drive. From Montreal to Calgary I drove the thing and could go 18 hours at a time. Seats were superb, (even better that the 442's swivel buckets). Other than the seats the 442 was (is) a superior car mechanically, at least in my case.

I looked at older vettes (68-72) and they were going for $30,000 +. I found mine for $9000 and after negotiating, paid $7,000. I thought why pay and extra $23k+ for two chrome bumpers when the interior looked pretty much the same? So I had fun for 5 years and sold it. It was a fun car to drive. I got $15k when I sold it and probably broke even.

100_4779.jpg

 

I've had mid-years (63-67), sharks (68-82), late models (84-96), and C5s (97-04) and currently own a 2000 that I've had going on 7 years. I gotta tell you guys, I love 'em all. The best was a '66 Nassau Blue w/ white interior and soft top that was a Bloomington Gold "Survivor"----an un-touched car that was amazing; hated selling that car but made A LOT of money---- bought it for my collection and someone wouldn't take NO for an answer. The 2000 gets 30mpg on a trip (REALLY) and it is comfortable, pretty (White w/ Torch Red interior), reliable, and my wife enjoys taking it to the beach house. I would say that in today's market a GOOD used C5 is the way to go----affordable, comfortable, economical, and virtually bullet-proof. I think the 63-67 Corvette is the BEST LOOKING CAR ever designed! Second is the 70-72 Cutlass and 442!

 

I'm not a large corvette fan either I guess. But, I will say this. I would probably give my left ******** for a 1963 split coupe in Tuxedo Black all chromed out. Hoooooooowwwwwweeeeeeeeeee that's a damn fine lookin' car if I do say so myself.

 

I warned ya!!!

This coming from a Chevy guy too. Only C4 or newer for me.
The only C4 I really dig is the Grand Sport too.

 

I have a C4 and love driving it.

I also hope the '67 will be joining it soon

 

I bought a 92 vette new, with the LT1 engine. I also had a 62 back in the 70's. That 92 would run circles around the 62 and still got 28mpg on the hwy!!! I unltimately traded her for my son. Long story, but a good trade!!

 

I like and respect almost all cars, it is nice to see this thread as it provides real world experience for us guys who have never had one. I too would love a 63-67 and feel the newer cars are great cars for the money, better than I probaly know. Three years ago in a better economy I was looking at getting a vette to have fun with. I must say every dealer I went to turned me off, I felt with the deep discounts and the zero percent financing buying new would be ok, but I couldn't even get a test drive - their loss.

Besides my wife says I'm too Italian, I'd look like a coke dealer in one and with no back seats the answer was no.

 

Then an IROC-Z is more fitting to your image.

 

IROC = Italian Racing On Cocaine

Ouch yes and you know that is one car I could never own exactly for that reason. You from Chicago should understand that, and of course the Trans Am is completely out of the question as well, though I would love to have a 70 - 77 Firebird Formula, rare and no screaming chicken, and I wouldn't have to dangle gold chains from the mirror

 

I have a 72. It had a little frame rot also. I repaired it the best I could. It's a driver at best, I've lost interest in it and now it sits. It's a fun car to drive, but I'd rather drive my Olds.

 

I picked up a new used frame yesterday got a good deal on it from a corvette shop and hour away from me. They already sand blasted and epoxy coated the frame put all new bushings in the front of the chassis for a customer that never cam back for it. gave 800 for it and he even delivered it for free. I don't think i could get a better deal then that. So now the real fun will begin have to order more rear suspension bushings for it and all new body mount kit. going to rebuild the rear trailing arms why i have them off. Looks like a real pain in the but measuring out the rear bearings. But the wife is ready to get in there and get dirty so this should be fun.

 

I had a '70 L46 four speed car that was my daily driver for a few years in the late 80's. It was marlboro maroon with black leather interior and A/C. It never gave me any trouble in the time that I had it. It ran strong and was fun to drive. I'd like to have another one someday and a lemans blue '69 would be at the top of my list too.

 

I owned a couple corvettes a 1959 red/ black interior with the white side coves, I spent 8 years doing a frame off( as funds permitted), but in all honesty it did not drive well at all, really great straight ahead but cornered like a boat. I had it finished and drove it about 4 years til I built a new house and it was the down payment. I tried an 1980 about 10 years ago but didn't like how it rode. I think I will stick with the Olds.

 

OK we have so many corvette guys here on the olds site. How about this one. I found the shark bite coil over front and rear suspension for her vette comes highly recommended for making a vette drive better and steeroids rack set up has anyone here herd of these company's or tried them out. Looks like a great set up and adds a bunch of different possibility's to adjust the drive angle in the front for caster camber adjustment with the new a frames says it help the body roll as well.

 

Being car guys alot of us have owned cars other than Oldsmobiles. I had a 63 roadster for awhile, Nice car 340hp 327/4 speed with both tops. Problem was I am 6'3" and didn't fit in the thing. Best thing about it was it brought a big price when I sold it about 4 years ago when I moved to Thailand.

My63.jpg

 

Have to say... drove for 3 years a navyblue C5, sold it, and I'm more happier with my 68-er Olds than I ever was with the C5.

 

I had an 69 L46 convertible with air for 16 years. I bought it in 1988 and it soon dropped a valve. I had the engine rebuilt and it was perfect after that. Nothing ever broke and it ran like a bat out of hell. I had to be careful with timing, because 11:1 compression never liked 93 octane. I always thought it was a comfortable car to drive with lots of leg room, and I'm 6'4".

 

Yea C3.s must have had nore legroom than C2s. I could not wear a hat with the top up on my C2.

 

Me too, I have a 69 chevy panel truck. I don't think I will ever get that one done.

 

Been in 2 vettes my entire life. 1st was an 80, that a friend of mine bought, just to say he had one. the 2nd, was an 86, I believe. It was at the auto show. Good thing it was a vert, because I had to pull myself up with the windsheild frame. Bad knees and deep footwells don't go well together

 

My wife also said no. I told her I wanted something different to play with kept talking about it for days. She finally said "We don't need another car and I don't want to hear anymore about it." So it never came up again...until I drove it home.

The kids were bouncing up and down on the driveway when I pulled up. She said "I thought we agreed that you weren't buying it?" I said I wanted to discuss it but she didn't want to hear anymore about it, and added "So don't give me sh*t for listening to you." Yep. we're still married.

 

Yep, another Corvette guy here too. I did a frame off on a 68 convertible about 20 years ago. Very challenging and expensive but it turned out real nice, black on black.

The aftermarket is turning out so many suspension upgrades for those cars, everything from full aftermarket frames running C5 brakes and suspension or you can put in front and rear suspension upgrades for your current C2-C3 frame.
Van Steel and Vette Brakes and Products are manufacturers/suppliers of these upgrade kits. You can google them for more information.

 

Well the hits keep on coming. First i checked the bird cage at the bottom behind the kick panel for rust and it looked great well after further inspection. They are replacement caps that someone just glued over the rusted out bottom they couldnt take the time to cut them out and weld back into place so they chopped them up and scabbed them in im so hating this car.

 

OK took some more of the dash out to see what I'm up against. Peeled the junk panels out of the way and I'm happy to say i can fix it. Checked vette forums and looked at some much worse ones then what I'm working with. And looked into there repair process should be able to fix it up with out removing the fire wall. i was just at my wits end to see that and walked away. I so miss my car hope its back in the next month.