TheSaint

I have a 1964 coupe and a 911 twin turbo.
I have been thinking more and more about selling the 911 and buy a Corvette C3 year 1968 to 1972

Which is the best year of the chrome bumpers C3?

mad pad house

You know you are opening up a can of worms but I vote for the 69/427 because I have one. I have had a 71/454 also a 77 /350 all of them had good and bad but I would still go for the 69.

Manuel Azevedo

You'll get differencing opinions on this and they maybe right are wrong. What matters is what one do you like? What was said about any of these cars back in 68/69 and 70/71/72 really means nothing today. A chrome bumper car is the most sought after C3 with small design changes between them and one is not better than another just what one do you like the looks of the best. Buy the best condition car you can afford as these cars are only as good as who maintain them. My self I have the 68 coupe and that is the best one as that is what I own, someone may own a 72 and that's the one they would say is the best. Sorry if I sound negative on this but it really is what you want not what someone else thinks, there will always be someone talking down a given model who knows nothing of what they say. Some will say the 68 is crap because some editor back in 68 said so, but 28566 people bought them and that's more than any other year at that time, so are all of them wrong because a mag said so? Or the 72 was a pig because of new regs in rating the HPand or smog?
I'm sure you hear the same kind of things about the cars you have also.

Derrick Reynolds

'68s don't have the Stingray badging, don't have the map pocket on the passenger-side dash, have screwy door locks, and have the ignition switch on the dash. '71 and '72 have lowered compression engines. None of the above are a big deal to me, just don't prefer those things, so I focused on '69 and '70.

'69 has gills, which I prefer over egg crates. '70 has the only year of the 454 without the lowered compression. I ended up finding a '70 that had everything I wanted first, so I bought it. You really can't go wrong with any year chrome bumper C3 in my opinion.

CQRT

Although my 11th Corvette is another `73, I think a Riverside Gold `69 coupe is probably going to be my next one- not from an investment standpoint, but just personal preference. With a chrome rear bumper on my `73 and the rubber nose, I guess I tend to gravitate towards the things I can afford that are relatively unique.

That said, 1972 probably represents the best of the all chrome bumper era in terms of technology and performance before the car really got loaded down with weight and smog controls. The 70-72 LT1 cars- especially the 350/370 cars and the 72's with air (234 as I recall) are probably tip the scales in terms of "rare" for C3's - - -and then of course, there's all the big block fans out there too.

I'll defer to VetteBuyer, EasyMike and others that are far better schooled- but for me it's mostly my limited C3 education tempered by personal preference.

Good luck-

Billysvette

Heres the truth,68,69 are the best looking ,but the 70,71,72, the fenders got flaired so that road rash wont beat up your paint behind your fenders.If this was done to the 69 i have,it would have been perfect. Gills look better then crates

TheSaint

I agree that the gills look better. One thing i really like on the 1968 is that it haves the ignition switch on the dash and on not the steering column
Never thought of that 70,71,72 is flaired

capevettes

If you want gills and you like the key on the dash then the 68 is the right one for you. I'm also a mid year guy that was considering a bumper car about 6 years ago. My search came down to wanting a 427. So 68 or 69 was fine by me. I ended up with a 68 coupe, 427/390, and really have no regrets. It's a terrific car to drive. 68's can present a bit of a challenge to restore because of the many unique, 1 year features, but that's what also makes them desirable IMO.

If you aren't on a tight budget, get a well restored car and save yourself some headaches. Personally, I don't have another restoration in me .

joewill

year does not matter, one year is not better than the other.. it is just desireability. if you require a specific year then the number of available cars drops significantly.
decide on the originality factor you require, you have to pay extra for that. decide on the condition factor you require, the engine, options too, you will have to pay extra for more.

some pay more for originality and don't care about condition. others pay for condition and don't care about originality.

whatever you do, don't overpay so that you can sell it in a couple of years and at least break even.

mark6669

I have 69s & 72s there all good just buy the best car you can afford always cheaper to let someone else pay for the restoration.
Mark

vettebuyer6369

A lot of good advice here.

I think its mostly personal preference.

I like the gill look better, which is why I went for the 68-69. Looks like a fish swimming by! Issues related to the '68 just arent relevant in 2012, and it actually has the weird one year only cues that make it more interesting, in my opinion. I bought the '69 because I wanted the last black model they offered for a long time.

Find the styling you like best (gills vs egg crates and flares) and buy as nice a car as you can afford.

(It sounds like a '68 has your name on it though!)

loup68

One missing feature on the 72's, are the fiber optics. So cool to check all of your lights while sitting in the car.

3JsVette

You won't go wrong if you follow that advice.

PRNDL

not just the year, but you gotta decide engine... bigblock or smallblock, 4bbl Qjet or tripower, LT-1 screamer, 68 is the best year, but many prefer 69, tripower bigblocks only available in 68/69, 70 is first year of LT-1 and nice looking, 71 pretty much like 70, 72 are real nice too - don't be misled by net hp rating. They are all great.

Many of us just look for the best car we can find for the money 68 - 72 and don't put a huge constraint on the search by limiting it to 1 year only. When I was looking I wanted an LT-1 but couldnt find the right car in my price range so I got a 68 L-36 and have been very happy with it.

68/70Vette

69 hands down in my opinion. It was the last smog free car, although some did come with an air pump. 70's are a close second because still the smog controls weren't all that invasive. The 69 corrected a most of the deficiencies of the 68.

Although the 70's were slightly detuned, some advantages were a front quarter louver panel that could be removed to service the air conditioning/spark plugs. The front and rear quarter panels were flared for larger tires. Seat/shoulder belts were a little more convenient.

The 70's had the high performance LT-1 small block. The 390 "HP" big block was an option, but it was a cast iron pig. Cast iron block, cylinder blocks, intake manifold, exhaust manifolds. It weighs about 850 pounds. At least the 69 BB's had aluminum intake manifolds. f you're going for a 69/70 BB, get rid of some of that cast iron. Aluminum heads and intake manifold will get the weight down significantly.

24695bob

I own a 72 Convertible..as well as a 76 and 79 C3s...I also own a 64 Conv and an 88 35th ANC and a 98 Conv all but the 35th have manual trans

Of all the C3's I like the looks of the 68-72 .. which year honestly does not make a bit of difference..

BUT I'll tell you flat out that my overall favorite car to just plain drive and enjoy is the 76 a base low optioned L48 4 speed ...Go figure

Bob G.

Derrick Reynolds

I came back to read this thread and realized the title said best BUY 1968-1972, I didn't notice that before. I think the answer here is clearer, the '72s are the cheapest right now as far as market price. If you are looking to get a good car at the lowest price, that is the year for you. If you are worried about re-sale, it might not be, as the earlier ones are somewhat more desirable.

20mercury

[Which is the best year of the chrome bumpers C3?[/QUOTE]

They are all great Corvettes and I like them all!!!

But, a good measure of what most people like the most is what they are willingly to pay for them. So, go check the market pricing at Haggerty or another one, I think the 69's sell for the most and the rarer options combination for more money too.

TheSaint

Well, i have to sell my 911 twin turbo first before i buy a C3 and not buy the most pricey car i see

I know that i would like to have PS, PB, tilt and telescope

I might go for a original or i might go for a L88 flared C3

Spent a couple of hours looking at L88 flared C3`s today

They look mean

keithinspace

1970 was the turning point. Other than opinions about the side gills, it incorporated all of the improvements of the 71 and 72, but didn't have the down-rated engines. I guess that doesn't matter as much if you replace the engine, but it was the last "no holds barred" year.

A bonus is that it was a relatively low-production year with the strike and all...half of 1969 production and 10k units fewer than 1968 and 1972 production.

My 'perfect' years are 1969 or 1970, but prefer the 1970. Funny that I ended up with one...