Can anyone share what to look for on a car claimed to be an L88?

The car is missing the original engine so that will not help.
What other features are unique to the L88 that will help identify it as one?

The owner claims there is a tank sticker but has not produced it yet.

Where they all heater deltes?

Is there a good source of information?

Any information or direction would be appreciated.

 

These cars were sold typically to known racers (road or drag) and the occasional rich kid. Knowing the originating dealer and first purchaser will go far in tracing the cars history. 6 or 7 hundred (maybe more) of these cars exist now. GM made far less. /:\

 

L88's had heavy duty brakes...RPO J56...the shoes held in place by 2 cotter pins vs the single pin of regular disc brakes. And the shoes had a 90* bend on top for greater fatigue strength.

 

there are 196 official L88 C3 cars produced. the Experts can chime in here and tell us where a significant subset of them are. there is always the thrill of finding one that few know about and confirm its authenticity. I expect it is very rare that this happens.

The experts love it when this happens because they can collect their 4 figure fee as people hire them out to authenticate these cars as they pop up for sale. probably multiple times on the same car..

any claimed L88 not selling from a respected collector or priced nowhere near what other L88 have sold for would IMO be suspect.

consider the seller. any seller that has a tank sheet for a L88 will announce it loud and clear and produce it immediately as it will be worth many thousands increase in what he would get out of the car. yet he does not..

or it may be a true L88 and he does not want to deal with the tire kickers. one may advertise the VIN# only and let the market take it from there.

 

Lots of documentation as to the prior owners and the car's full history. If that stuff is NOT available, it's very likely NOT a real L-88.

P.S. ANYONE could go to a dealer and order an L-88 engine and other components (back in the day); and many did. The engine may be a true GM L-88 unit...but it was never installed at the factory on those 'clones'.

 

Is there a means to determine an L88 simply from a VIN? If this was true that would indicate that an original L88 VIN list exists somewhere. I did not think this was a fact except for any Canadian cars sold new.

The car I am dealing with does not have the original engine or transmission, nor is the engine in the car suggested to be an L88 427.


I am pushing the seller as hard as I can for the documentation and I have to accept that it is worth the hunt for him. I have been a Mopar collector for many years and have chased documentation from previous owners on many occasions quite often with success. I am not sure why buyers over the years did not chase after this material as it plays a critical role in authentication of a Mopar but it is far more critical with a Corvette.

Theb value that the seller places on this Corvette makes it necessary to prove it is what he claims before any offer is made.

I had a chance many years ago to twice purchase a 69 Corvette that was claimed to be an original L88. I never pursued that car and it always lingers in the back of my mind if it was real. I hope to determine what this car is before making any decision.

Thank everyone for the information so far it is much appreciated.

 

If I had a dollar for every supposed L88 I've been told about..........

Let the seller produce the initial evidence that it's real. This saves you getting your clothes dirty from lying on the ground looking underneath.

If he can't or won't, it's all just cheap talk like 99.9% of the other 'finds'.

My favourite was a '73 L88. The car had aftermarket L82 badges and was in fact an L48 according to the VIN. The seller claimed (of course) that it was a one-off stealth model made for a GM exec.

 

No way to determine from the VIN, but there are VIN lists out there that a selected few have compiled.. nothing from the factory is available. I have no idea how to get it or how complete it may be.. you really have to know the secret NCRS Handshake and where the secret L88 conference room is in order to even get past talking about it.

 

This is from another website and lists some addition clues to look for

Without factory paperwork of some type, I'd not pay lots of money for the car if the engine and transmission (M22 manditory) is gone. If an L88, it would have been a no radio car, so look for a block off plate, no antenna, no capacitors for radio suppression, no grounding wires, no antenna wire from dash to rear. This is not proof positive as you could go without a radio on any Corvette in '68. Look for heavy duty big block signs, F41 shocks were mandatory along with a seven leaf rear spring, heavy duty caps on the inboard side of the half shafts, 6,500 rpm tach, 80 lb oil pressure gauge, mandatory K66 (transistor ignition), rear sway bar, heavy duty front sway bar, large fuel line. Any and all of these things could have been on a 435 car, also. You could have a car that looks like an L88 (hood only real difference) in all respects and it could be a no radio, F41 suspension, J56, 435 horse car with an L88 hood added. Another important item is the requirement for J56 power brakes, heavy duty dual pin calipers (front) on an L88. Again, this could have been ordered on a 435 horse car. Look for the heavy duty brake equipment that comes with the J56 option. You will need to research these items. You could reasonably decipher that this is an L88, but not have proof positive of its heritage if it is an unresotored car. Once restored, all that evidence is questioned by the fact that the car is worked over and without an original engine or paperwork. You have a vehicle that will not be the equivalent of a documented L88. I've said many times that the paperwork is more valuable than an original engine on a car like this.
Move with caution.

 

I asked this question of some very experienced and knowledgeable judges.... but I can't remember what the answer was! (Paging Rowdy Rat)

Is the L-88 body virgin in that area? ie, was there never any hole cut for the antenna, or was the hole cut automatically and later glassed off/filled when it was determined that the body was going to be used for an L-88? Either way, the L-88 body has no antenna, but it would be interesting to know what to look for if the body came off, and if it supposed to be a "virgin" body, that would be a very hard thing to fake.

 

To me if the car no longer has the original motor, then it does not matter if the car was a L88 or not.

David

 

No. There is no engine code in the VIN for the L-88 years.

An L-88 wiithout the L-88 is simply a Corvette with a replacement engine.

Continue and do not pay the seller an L-88 price for an undocumented car.

Aluminum radiator with no shroud.

For 69 only, a beefed up TH400 was available with the L-88.

 

I think many would differ with you on this including many in the NCRS community.

I have been around musclecars from their heyday and can attest to the fact that most of them were built to be abused, most were and most suffered severe damage to drive line components.

Case in point I owned a 1970 hemi Challenger in the late eighties. The car had an original 13,000 miles on it. The original owner had tooled around in it for 4-5 years and managed to idle a cam lobe off and he parked it. An ambitious young man bought it and decided he would try and take it Super Stock racing in the mid 70s. He spent all of his money and energy over a couple of months, narrowed Dana, rat roast intake and carbs, 12.5:1 pistons, big cam, B&M transmission, 8 inch convertor, roll bar, supertricks, front skinnies and monster slicks.

He made a total of 6 passes in the car before he managed to vibrate several of the roaster internal nuts into cylinder 7&8 at the big end of the track. He broke two rods, windowed the block, destroyed the heads and ruined a crank. His racing days were over and the car was put out to pasture.

Should the car have been crushed? It was still a factory hemi car 1 0f around 300 ever built.

Not a chance! I bought it and quickly found a vintage NOS hemi short block for it. Strange though when I sold it the buyer was a numbers matching kind of guy and preferred the original block with sleeves and patches to an NOS block.

This same senario played out with the original 66 Hemi Coronet 4 door (1of 3), the 69 Hemi GTX convertible (1 of 16), and several other hemi cars that I have owned. They lost their original engines and/or transmissions but that did not change the fact that they left the factory with a hemi engine.

Now these cars were passenger vehicles not an L88 car primarily designed for track use and abuse. My experience would have me believe that the chances of an L88 surviving their intended abuse with an original engine and transmission are a lot less than most 'street' hemi cars.

I personally view numbers matching as abonus on these cars. I do not expect everyone to agree but I also would not be willing to 'throw the baby out with the bathwater'. If the car was built as an L88 and has been separated from the original engine and transmission, and this fact can be proven, it is not the same car as an ordinary Corvette with the L88 parts added. It is not a clone or a tribute. It could be an L88 without the original drivetrain.

I also would not see it in the same light as an L88 that survived with its original engine and transmission.

 

a well built clone, which is basically everything except proof with no doc, would still draw a pretty penny. Of course now you can get anything and everything. Aged doc, etc..

and then 3 more owners into the future, the fact it is a clone, will mysteriously not be advertised

 

That's what I hear repeatedly wrt any Corvette without the original engine. The car then becomes a NOM, could be configured as anything the owner likes but isn't going to fetch the money it would have if the original engine were present. Any value depends on what a buyer is willing to go along with for a NOM, probably much less than one with the original block.

 

I can't say I agree with pinning this on the NCRS. The NCRS is mainly concerned with whether the car is configured as a typical build in the day, not terribly concerned about proving the block is the original. It need only be 'correct'. The collectors are the ones who demand an original block.

Yeah, having been involved with many different muscle cars over the years, this is where logic goes out the window for me as well.
IMO that original block which has been patched together is a piece of junk, numbers stamped on it or not. I'd rather have a 'correct' block in good condition.

I personally tend to agree but doubt the majority of collectors will see it this way. Being able to prove it ever was an L88 may be tough. If the owner can, they may be able to find a buyer willing to go along with it but at a reduced price.

 

Hi,
Back to the radio antenna.
The Dobbins 68-72 Fact Book has a photo of a 68 antenna hole with a fiberglass patch bonded to the underside of the deck.
The Bizzoco 69 Guidebook has a photo of coupe rear decks in a rack. The gas filler openings are cut out, but not the antenna holes.
?
Regards,
Alan

 

L-88 cars (actual factory built) will not be driven any significant distance or used for 'power runs' anyway. Those cars are museum pieces...not driver cars. Original blocks are all those folks care about. The HP generated by those engines is inconsequential to those collecting them.

 

Look to your IM box for contact to my friend Dave Herlinger in Mtn View, Ca he has forgotten more about C3 L-88's than most people know including NCRS members. Here are a few items to look for and ALL C3 L-88's had heaters as the federal saftey laws mandated cars be equipped with windoew defrosters in them (maybe some of the 1967 year productions cars did'nt my friend Dave can fill you in on that as he owns the 1st 1968 L-88 Chevy made.)

Here are some things to look for:


You would need to find evidence of the HD J-56 brake package which had dual pin front pads only(retained with cotter pins) and all 4 calipers had heat insulators on the caliper pistons (but all 65-66 Delco Morraine Vette calipers had insulators too! just not as thick as the J-56 option parts), a single 3/8 diameter fuel line from the fuel tank to engine compartment but, 400HP/435HP Vettes with Holley carbs also sported these. K-66 transistor ignition system (at least the amplifier holes) but, again the 435HP tri-power Vettes had this too. The 6500RPM redline tach is shared with the 435HP Vette also. Pretty hard to define a L-88. The radio delete package should be there unless it is James Garner's personal "street" L-88 from 1968, this L-88 Vette had a radio in it (car is accounted for owned by Dave Radke in Los Angeles, CA last time I heard about it.)

Some differences between 1968-69 model L-88's the (80) 1968 L-88's had adjustable brake proportioning valves with the L-88 option, so the bracket below the master cylinder is unique. All transmissions in these cars were special with the manuals being M-22 4 speeds (will have a "C" code on them along with the Vettes VIN#on the main case) The THM-400 for these cars had a special valve body for firmer shifts and high RPM govenor set-up (the LT-1 Camaros and LS-6 cars shared this transmission along with 435HP Tri-power Vettes.) There were a few 435HP Vettes running an M-22 so again, this is not 100% indicator. The bellhousing will be a "403" casting as they ran a small diameter clutch on the L-88 motors. Give my friend Dave a call, he knows more than I ever will about what to look for

 

Canadian vette?
send the VIN into GM, they can tell you what options it was built with.
http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/shopping/parts/vintage

Our vintage vehicle package provides the option content of your vehicle. Information includes:

original paint colour and interior trim colour
production/shipping dates
quantity of same model produced for sale in Canada
original engine number through late 1960's (if available)
original selling Dealer and location (if available)