LouieM

Wow, cool find, and wonderful that it fired up!

Mark_Milner

If you get it safe to run, brakes, tires, etc., you could run around town the way it is now, and maybe some cruise nights, and watch how many track you down to buy it from you.

I bet you have them doing u-turns to catch up with you to see if it is for sale.

It is amazing how many want to buy what they think is just some old car.

emanusa1

yes you've hit it right on the nose that is in my future I predict. if they can catch me. ha
thanks, Ed

emanusa1

I will be soooo excited to take it out on its maiden voyage with me n a bro... or wife

emanusa1

do you have any pics of your car..
Ed

GTOguy

emanusa1, yes, pics on my thread "yet another barn find". I'm busy flushing the cooling system today, but took it for a 15 mile spin during the process!

Dad's 59

That's great just get it running and drive it LIKE IT IS! A non-matching 67 big block with no paperwork is one of the rarest of all vettes todayPlease don't do a restamp and have it Top Flighted CONGRADULATIONS! EENJOY

Dad's 59

I would not take that sticker off like everybody does once that sticker is taken off, there is absolutely no way to prove it came off that car no numbers on that sticker correlate to any numbers on that car. I see a lot of guys show off their tank sticker They are unaware there is no way to prove that tank sticker came off that particular car This is why so many 435 are growing in numbers if you find a tank sticker in a dumpster then build a car with those options you could claim it came off your tank In addition their is a guy in Canada making protecto plates with the original cards and aged tank stickers thus the term "there are more 435's today than there were built by GM in 1967" Good Luck on the clean up!

JohnZ

Nope. That sticker has the numbers it needs to be tied directly to the VIN of only one Corvette, but only NCRS has the data to do that.

Dad's 59

Oh Brother!
This is why Nolan Adams says "If you were able to pull a completed mid-year corvette directly off the assembly line and take to be judged at NCRS it would score around 70 points" INTERPATATION is for people who want believe. I live my life through source and hard facts

emanusa1

well that's what video is for and I have plenty. but eventually it would never had been revealed it was a L71. video , pics , and NCRS. along with numbers of original parts on the car witch indicate its real. the owner is the only person need be convinced from one to another. its sooo easy to take the tank out from one car to another. its just harder to do it with your 13 year old son documenting it with you.

Mark_Milner

Have you actually checked the stamp pad of the engine to confirm it is NOT the original?

If it isn't the original, then what difference does it make if it is a real L-71 car or not originally? The investors have made it so that the price value is in having the original engine and without it, it is just an NOM like thousands of others.

And while many go on about the rarity of the 435 hp cars with 3754 of them built, it is ONLY 78 fewer than the 390 hp at 3832 built. And both are much more than the 400 hp with 2101 built.

Strangely, that doesn't apply to the L-88 cars as it seems several of those are without original engines.

I know NCRS does the big push that the original engine is only a small number of points overall but in the rest of the world, it has been made into far too much importance. It is a part, like all the other parts, and it is a part that is more likely to break or be stolen than most of the others.

Still, the thing that makes an L-71 Corvette an L-71 is the engine, and if the original L-71 is gone, then it isn't. Of course, you can make a legitimate restoration of one, as opposed to the clone built from another car, but in the end, they are both NOMs. And while a restamp could be considered "restoration" by some, it is still a restamp and fraud in some states.

Other than the personal satisfaction that you know what the car started as, what else is there?

I'd just enjoy the car. Build it how you like, and enjoy. Make the 454 in there look original, make it look like a period hot rod, add some modern touches like EFI, or whatever floats your boat.

The flares mean bodywork to remove, usually by replacing the entire quarter panel today, which means all new paint, although you need paint anyway.

But removing them removes the character of the car. Like that black '66 in an earlier picture, there is something tough and aggressive about it like that.

It is a lot to ponder, and something of an adventure or a massive headache, depending on your point of view.

Always remember the fun is enjoying what you are doing with it. Enjoy the ride.

GTOguy

The difference is, the car is not a clone. It has real pedigree. It was born a bad a$$ car, and still is, even though it has a replacement engine. It was ordered and born a top dog, and to me at least, has more value than a small block cloned into a steet bruiser later on. In the GTO world where I come from, born tripower GTO's, even with replacement blocks, still command a premium over the garden variety cars. Because they were rare, and they were the top HP option. Same with any performance car: the car born with the hairiest powerplant will always bring more $$$. I would pay much more for a NOM but documented L-71 than a clone. To me, it's a different animal.

Mark_Milner

The GTO world is different as Pontiac had every car documented, something Chevrolet didn't do.


In most other brands, the ORIGINAL block has much less significance than Corvette. You can build most other cars with a replacement block, but in Corvettes, if it isn't the original stamp, most look down on it. If it is restamped, they call it a fraud, unless they are selling of course.

So if we take an L71 435 hp car and an L36 390 hp car, both without original engines, what is the difference?

The L71 will have a mandatory M21 in it, but if the engine is gone, the transmission could be, too. The L36 could have an M21 but it could also have an M20 or M35. Slight plus for L71.

Both have bolt and cap rear end. The L71 could have a 4.11 stock, but at 5 mpg, that isn't a plus. Odds are it has a 3.70 and the 390 has a 3.36 rear.

The L71 should have the transistor ignition. but the L36 could have it as an option.

No power steering on the L71. A minus for old men.

The L71 could have F41 suspension on it, but doesn't have to.

The L71 could have the J56 heavy duty dual pin brakes but is very unlikely.

On the NOM L71, you could run the rectangular tri power. Not a good street intake as it preferred higher RPM. Of course, you could run the oval port tri power on the 390 and call it a 400. Oval port was much better on the street.

Higher RPM redline on tach. Better bragging rights. Slight plus.

Same bodies.

Same hoods.

Same wheels.

Same interiors (other than tach and oil gauge)

Same frames.

Probably same suspensions.

Probably same brakes.



There were 78 fewer L71s built than L36s. That is 2.04% more rare. Wow.

Odds of having an ORIGINAL L36 versus an ORIGINAL L71? Well, let's think, which one did they race the living daylights out of when they were new?


So where is this awesome advantage of having an NOM L71 other than someone paying more to put a restamp engine in and try to pass it off as original?

GTOguy

Mark, to me, the 'awsome advantage' is in my heart, knowing that the car was born a real bad a$$. And that's good enough, because I'm a car guy, not a money guy. I agree that the only reason to re-stamp is to defraud, and usually for monetary purposes. Restamping is very rare outside the Corvette world, where cars are worth generally much less money. I am exited about this 'barn find', much more so because of what it was born as. It's still a bad-a$$ car in my book, wrong motor or not.

emanusa1

I will just enjoy it more knowing I can quote real American Bad A$$e$ like GTOguy put it, it was "born a real bad a$$" that's just fun n cool knowing even with out the original motor yet a correct motor intended for one of those L71 Bad Asses on the assembly line. They must have just been lined up one 435hp L71 after an other waiting to be dropped into the coolest American car ever built, that's just BAD ***!!

emanusa1

Here are a couple new details I took the old original top off and installed the replacement top the 2nd owner purchased for it but never got a chance to install. teal blue needs slight staple repairs.. if I paint it some day I will replace with original white top.
Enjoy, Ed

emanusa1

Here is a pic of the hard top roofs I think I will only keep the vinyl top maybe sell the hard top painted black but real solid and complete with nice headliner. My lower seat frame was rotted in the rear so I will do some repairs then put the new seat covers on the foams.

emanusa1

the original transmission matching the vin. someone replaced the shifter at some point. vin 7S116612 and date . so ill look for a block date of early April. Dated P7D037.

emanusa1

Thanks Louie