tomvr

My 78 L82 4 spd did 335 miles last Thursday and another 210 today. Great 2 lane state highways in Ga and S.C. Love road trips in this thing!

mortgageguy

In my 11 years as a member of this forum, I've never seen anyone post that they are afraid to drive their C3. Some are concerned with reliability, which can be justified, but, just to be afraid, I can't recall it.

M Pete

I finally got my 1980 up to a point where it is safe to drive and took it in to work the other week ~35 miles each way. It was great and got lots of "thumbs up" along the way. I came to a stop light about half a car length ahead of a new Stingray. Guy pulled up, rolled down hi window and said "hey man, what year is that?!? I love it." That just validate that IMO, other than the split window, the C3 is the coolest of vettes.

brent319

I drove my 76 "Larry" out to non supporting vendor's shop in Watertown South Dakota from Iowa last fall to have some work done.. 500 miles each way. Had a great trip.

AboveTheLogic

I agree!

Last weekend I led a corvette cruise in my C3 with some nice C7s in the group. When we stopped, one of the guys asked what I had under the hood and when my hood was popped, everyone crowded around.

Those C7 guys really were into my C3, and with my 6-speed I could hang with them no problem.

GRAND SPORT GUY

I totally agree with the "Drive Your C3" advice!

We took our 1982 CE to Tulsa from Chicago last year in May, a 1,500 mile round trip, and then I did an Iron Butt blast, 1,000 miles straight through to Estes Park, CO, from Chicago in September. I back my sleep up so that I am getting up Saturday night at 8:00 pm, take an ice cold shower, drink a couple Diet Mountain Dews, and hit I-80. As you get deeper into Saturday night / Sunday morning, there are no cops, no traffic, and no construction, and easy 14-hour blast. We spent 7 nights there, a 2,400 mile round trip, with around 350 miles up in the mountains.

This year we are taking her to Niagara Falls in May, and then Maine in September again.

Love this car!

-Ray

Stroh

As soon as the weather permits, drive -- drive -- drive.

jr9170

Procrastination Racing

Back when I bought it, I decided it was so much nicer than my others, I should get full coverage as I just ran the liability and bodily injury coverage on my '63 convertible. I called several places and most didn't want to touch a 22 year old with a 427 Corvette. I got one guy that told me "between $750 and $1000 every 6 months. And with your driving record, you can figure $1000 if they even will write you." (I had two tickets in the last 3 years.) I was making about $6 an hour and $1000/6 mo for just one car was a killer, especially when the liability/bodily injury cost me only $120/6 mo.

I figured that in a year and a half, I would have spent as much in insurance as the car cost me, so anything after a year and a half with no insurance, and I was on the plus side. I took that risk and far exceeded that amount. I am well aware of risks, so I really don't worry about what the insurance company deems as "safe" or "unsafe".

I have American Collectors' Insurance now, and get it for $270/year now for $34,000. I've had them for 12 years, never had a claim, and I don't think they are going to say one thing if I hit 2501 miles one year instead of 2500.

Because first of all, I'm not having any claims with it. I've had it for 40 years, done things most here can only dream of, and brought it back all in one piece. I don't worry about crashing or having it stolen because I eliminate that risk. Remember, the first 28 years, I was the one assuming the risk. I know how to minimize that to almost nothing.

There is always that chance. A tree falls on the house. A tornado rips the garage apart. The idiot that hates it and forcibly rams it. Just like the idiot a few years ago at a gas station who almost backed into the side of it. That is why I have the insurance, and it is also the law that I need some. But I don't plan to ever use it.


And with a 5000 mile limit, aren't they telling you how you can drive yours?

hwcoop

drive whenever i can



3.70's are a little hard on gas :-)

AboveTheLogic

Until you file your first claim and the claims adjuster becomes your new best friend

Metalhead140

I've unlimited mileage on my insurance. I've clocked up almost 4,000 miles already since the start of the year.

ajrothm

Well technically speaking, yes. However they have never called to verify mileage, I've never give them an odometer reading. They don't know if it has 10 miles or 100k...let alone annual mileage.

That said, I havent exceeded 5k miles annually yet. Even in 2015 when I took a 2700 mile road trip, I didn't break 5k miles..

However I will this year as I am planning on about 4K miles for the Power Tour alone.

If I didn't work the amount of OT I work every year, it would certainly have more miles. Plus I have my C7 and 2 sportbikes I don't get to ride either.

chazde3

The only thing holding me back on driving my 73 is the reliability. I have been stranded a couple times and was lucky to get it limped home. I've been going through the issues and getting them taken car of as they pop up so it is becoming more and more reliable.

My 68 isn't done yet, but my biggest debate is what to do with the L88 engine. If rebuilt to factory engine specs it needs race fuel. I can get race fuel locally for $8/gal, but can't go on an unplanned cruise without plotting out stations that have race fuel available. If I tone the engine compression down I can run pump gas and go anywhere I want at anytime, but it's not a true L88 engine then.

540 vette

Who's gonna know.

chazde3

Mostly just me. If the engine hadn't been one my dad installed 30 years ago on a car that he owned for 40+years I wouldn't be having such trouble coming up with the answer lol.

jr9170

C3 4ME

I that case I would agree, that I would want the engine to be the right engine that your dad built. With it needing race gas, that would definitely limit what driving you could do. I wouldn't do it any different though.

Rescue Rogers

you don't need race gas, you need higher octane rated fuel. You can find 93 octane at some Sunocos and if that doesnt do it you can mix the 108 octane maybe 4:1 or 6:1 to get a 96 to 98 octane mix which should prevent detonation. You can do a search in the forum for a better ratio mixture formula. There was a post that someone had done all the work and had a spread sheet. Someone may remember the post. Hopefully you can get it running without breaking the bank for weekly cruises

chazde3

Using an octane booster may be possible, but most of what I have seen recommends race fuel with the 13:1 compression ratio the stock L88 runs. The engine needs a full rebuild either way. The big question is whether to run the L88 pistons or a set that opens the chamber up some to drop to a 10.5:1 ratio. All the changes would be internal and wouldn't be a huge loss of power. Just hard to change up that legendary engine, but it's also not very street able in the stock configuration.