scott.johnson57

Hello everyone. Im considering buying a 1974 454 convertible. Do you have advise and any other information that would be helpful. I thought it would be a decent idea on this purchase as it is the first year of the rubber bumper and last year of the 454 275hp.
Thanks
Scott

ddawson

I have a 69. All the same pre inspection. Frame, Birdcage, and general condition.

scott.johnson57

Thanks

Easy Mike

What type of advice do you seek? What do you know about 74s in general?

Good reference here. Worth the price of a copy:


This is also reasonably good if you can scare up a copy:


FWIW: I had a 74 L-48 AT coupe as my daily driver for years. I loved the car.

74Ken

I wish mine was a convertible and a 454.
Love my L48 Coup though.

Enjoy

ed427vette

There are VERY few original 74 vert 454's out there. They didn't make many. If you can get a nice one at a decent price, buy it.

Rowdy Rat

Agreed... A very underrated car in my book.

Good luck with your purchase.

Regards,

Stan Falenski

Easy Mike

74 was a strike year. IIRC, no July or August cars. Production resumed in September and ran into October.

F22

Add points if it's a four speed and a rare color, like Dark Metallic Brown or Dark Green. Even for just being any other color, a 1974, 454 convertible, is pretty friggin' rare. I haven't personally seen one yet!

AllredC5

Missed out on one a few years ago, 1974 Yellow, 454, 4 speed, original owner 2 tops, about 45,000 miles. Was advertised in a local small newspaper. I rembered this car from years ago, thought it was long gone. Owner had tons of paperwork, local car, even had rotted original resonators on yet. Parked it. Was going to be moving, so put it for sale, to clean out shop. Another guy made a deal over the phone, but no money had changed hands as yet. I talked to him for a hour, while looking car over, offered more than he was asking, but he was a honest guy, and said he had made a deal, would not matter what I had offered, he was holding the car for this person.. If guy did not pay him the next day, was mine, but he did. Ran into him a few months later, said should have sold to me, as the other guy was just finding cars for a dealer, and doing a quick flip. I still regret I missed out on that car.

Rowdy Rat

My old '74 454...



Great car... 19,000 miles, original paint, just about every option... If it had air conditioning, it would still be in my garage. Really underrated cars, I wish the OP best of luck in finding one!

Regards,

Stan

LS4 PILOT

I ve owned mine since 1991 .

Not sure how many 454 convertibles were made that last year , but it was not a lot , especially 4 spM21 cars. I searched a very long time. Found a lot of coupes 72-74 .....almost none of these had their original engine blocks .. The good cars were stashed away I guess. I had been looking since 1979. Was beginning to loose hope . It was tuff finding BB original cars for sale back then . I did not live in a huge market area either.

So I bought and sold a few vettes of various years while I continued my search.

I found it before there was Internet . I almost thought they did not exist as I had been looking for the 74 4spd BB Convertible model about 12 years prior . I asked every where , non of my corvette buddies had ever seen one in person. .....I thought great , no wonder , figures I'd pick a car nobody ordered. LOL

Thanks to the net , you can buy almost any rare car now you can dream of.

I ve had two mid years and a bunch of C3 . This is my favorite , in terms of old vettes , it's safe , modern enough to drive and handle nice. Very well built. , a lot of the stupid rat trap devices were thankfully tossed out.
It came with radial tires . The 454 is practically indestructible . This year they finally got a big enough radiator to cool the AC 454 . Runs cool as any 350 I ve had . Car will run fine on 87 octane . There are several unique items on the Ls4 cars that can be difficult to locate ...if your goal is bone stock.

I believe next to 1965 , it's the lowest production year for the Mark IV engine option and the last for many older features. Including Muncie , Dual exhaust , non catalytic . And last BB convertible.

It's a heavy car and mileage is poor . But it's a toy and a blast to drive.

Rowdy Rat

You have a great looking car... Well worth the wait!

I was given a number for 454, 4 speed, convertibles with a/c many, many years ago by a GM employee... Back when that information was probably still available internally. It wasn't a very large number.

Two things took me by surprise when I purchased mine... One was the resonators on the exhaust. I would have bet the farm that those things were an owner inspired addition. The other oddity was the transmission. At some point late in 1974 production, the Muncie transmission was phased out in favor of the Borg Warner ST-10. I had a very late production car so it had the Borg Warner transmission.

Great opportunity, again, I wish the OP luck in finding a good one!

Regards,

Stan

blue67ragtop

There is a great looking red '74 454 convertible on eBay currently. Is that the one you are considering? Looks really sharp!

ed427vette

It does look nice. Has several issues that will probably keep the price down somewhat. None original color, replacement engine and automatic. But when there's not many to choose from.....