75+78 Corvettes

The 75:
It was the father-in-law's daily driver for many years. My wife and him found it many years ago as a father/daughter project and was just like the one he had when the in-laws were dating. When he passed away after heart surgery, that was the one thing that my wife wanted to have. She sold her '93 Ruby to make room for it.
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The '78:
This was my father's vette that he had since the early 80's. He bought it the day the previous owner, our neighbor at the time, put a for sale sign on it. Dad had a '68 when he graduated West Point and sold it when I came along a few years later. Dad always knew I wanted it since it was the car that got me interested in cars and vettes. I remember riding in the backglass area as a kid.
So when he decided that the garage needed to be cleared out and was considering selling it to a guy that wanted to restore it, he gave me first dibs on it. I couldn't pay what he was asking but I said if he could drop the price a bit, he could drive it whenever he came to visit. Deal was done and got it shipped to me.
Best part was picking him up at the airport when he came to visit and tossed him the keys to drive home.

army

75+78.. your story definitely trumps mine. Both you and your wife having special C3's is cool, and very unusual. My `76 doesn't have that kind of history but I do have my father's 1950 Ford pickup. I learned to drive on the exact same truck (not the one I have, another one just like it). http://www.gofastgarage.com/50ford.htm

4rensic22

I bought my first vette, a 67 ragtop, from my father's estate after he had a stroke, and his assets needed to be sold off. It was originally a big-block car, but had a small-block motor when I bought it. I did a lot of work on that car. In 1994 when we were expecting our third, we discovered that we couldn't fit 3 cars seats in my Cherokee. So the vette went for just under $20K to pay for a Chevy Venture mini-van. I try not to watch the auto auctions when they roll out the 67's.

About 9 years ago I bought a '78 Silver Anniversary on EBay. It had been hit in the nose. My plan was to "flip" the car (I don't think the term flip had been coined yet). I expected to sell the car within a year (yeah right). Well, with a full-time job and a business, and kids, the car sat for a long time.Today, my 17 year-old son who was 8 when we bought the car, is helping me work on it. He has caught Corvette Fever which makes me happy that it took so long to work on the car. We hope to have it in paint soon.

army

I'm trying to imagine my father owning a Corvette. He's 84 now and a retired farmer but he was also a GM mechanic during the 60's and early 70's. All you have to do is mention Corvettes from that era and he starts ranting. He won't even ride in mine. He says it's too rough, it's noisy and it's hard to get in and out of. He's got me there...

Jethro Bodine

I know i love my 1970 C3 L46 . it has a long low riding fell and look. I know C2 and C1 think thier it... But they sit high and very short body style.

Jethro Bodine

Just bought my first Vette last April on ebay. It's a 1970 L46 with hard and soft top. I have also liked vettes like other muscle cars. I have had several cars trucks, 4x4's and motorcyles in my life. But this Vette by far has been the nicest car i have ever had. It's fun to drive and fun to wrench on too. I still have my Harley but sold all my other toys to buy this one! Anyhow now just trying to find other vette owners to hang out with and cruise around. ( Bay Area ).

labhound

It was passed down to me, kept in the family, via the widow of the original owner.
1974 454 4 speed Stingray...

labhound

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maybe it works this time..

Hideki

My pops bought my 1979 when it was almost new. He's had a few corvettes over the years (of which I now have two of them) but he only held onto the 1979 for any real length of time. Just recently he called me and told me he'd give me the car if I wanted it, how could I refuse.

SuperBuickGuy

Bastard!!!....errr.. congratulations

Ratfinkharley

My Vette tale starts with my father's 62. It was stolen in 68. I was 8, so at that time to me my father's "car" was stolen. He passed away in 76. In 85 I bought my 73. I couldn't afford a 62. The car beat the heck out of my wallet and I couldn't find a trustworthy mechanic.

I lost interest in the car and stored it at my mom's house. Subsequently i met a true corvette mechanic but had him rebuld a 67 camaro, 55 chevy and other cars along the way. My heart wasn't into the 73, so it collected dust. About 15 years ago I brought it to my house and put it up on a lift where it remained untouched.

This past spring, my girlfriend wanted to go for a motorcycle ride but my bikes all have solo seats. We priced out a new Harley for about $22K. Then it dawned on me - I have a two seater, the corvette. So what if it has two more wheels. It is safer and holds more luggage.

Time to dust off the vette. I found one local corvette mechanic, but got the "I can do the car in June, no July,no August...". No thank you. Then I discovered another local guy. He took a look at it and threw out some ridiculous numbers. He wouldn't have insulted me if he simply said, "not interested".

So I called a carrier and shipped the car to my trusted mechanic friend in NC. He moved years ago and has my 35 ford build. Should be done in the next two weeks.

My son is graduating high school this year and wants to drive the Vette to his prom next spring. I never got the chance to drive my dad's 62. God willing he will drive mine.

1970corvette

My Vette story.....short and sweet.....I have always wanted a 'old' corvette....60's preferably....can't afford one. Raised two wonderful girls...college etc. they are out of house...we are empty nesters!
My husband buys a 69 Chevelle SS. Totally re does the whole entire car! Beautiful from ground up! We are both sooooo excited about it! Can't wait to drive it....get the exhaust on it...being the last thing to do before we can take it to shows! So I say to hubby, ' come on let's go for a ride'....he says..' I'm NOT DRIVING that car'...thats stayin'in the garage......'WHAT?', I say...we have worked on this project for about 3 years.....so I say to him....'I will drive it!'....( I'm a 'Motörhead to")😉....he says' maybe its time you look for your own car'....and that's how I ended up being a official corvette owner! She isn't perfect....but pretty darn close to it for me. Her name is RUBY......she is a beautiful maroon...1970! ..AND I AM DRIVING THE CAR!!!!! 😊

Priya

Way to go, 1970corvette!

1970corvette

Thank you so much Priya!!!!

Bob Heine

1970corvette,

Congratulations and welcome to the world of Corvettes!

Your husband should be proud to own a 69 Chevelle SS. But if you want some bragging rights, his car is one of 86,307 that had the SS (RPO Z25) Option in 1969 while yours is one of only 17,316 Corvettes built in 1970 (6,648 Convertibles and 10,668 Coupes). A strike at GM delayed the start of production several months, to January 1970, so your year is the rarest of all the C3 Corvettes (1968-1982).

Lakeside49

Alright, I know this isn't a voting string, but, I have a special place for `Texas Yankee' because it includes his bride and I can sort of relate, albeit we're still a few years behind him. So, I decided that I wanted a 1982 Corvette - in part because, it was the year I finished putting myself through college, and vividly recall as an early 20-something how incredible that car looked whenever I saw one. I would almost salivate at its sight as a youngster. And, partly, I purposely wanted a 1982 because it had C3 technology advancements that I found highly desirable to somewhat compensate for the relatively low, 200 base horsepower, although it was still pretty high in the food chain for its time (body structure, TBI, updated trans., ram air, digital stereo, and a few more desirable features to round out the last year of the incredibly beautiful shark body that still hasn't been topped by any vehicle design in the world my personal opinion -- this, even though, I am very proud to be a marketing manager for the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, and we also have some pretty incredible stuff of late, and of yore, as well. Back to the story...

One evening, after thinking it was time to FINALLY get a hobby car, I showed my wife a photo of a red `82. She really liked it (thank you, whoever posts their `82 Vette pictures on Google). And, then I showed a few pics to my college-aged son and daughter. I was taken back by their immense appreciation for the design, and for my wife's seemingly green light to seek one out and talk it over if it was the right price. After looking for awhile locally, I stumbled upon the site `searchallofcraigslist.com' and found a low mileage (44k) `82 with my dream color combination - red with silver interior. Black, and several others were a close second choice, but she really liked the red. Turned out, the super nice couple that had owned it since 1988 had 2 kids in college and one on the way there in two years - and, along with other reasons, including making room in their 3-car garage that lived in Rochester, NY reluctantly decided to part with it "to the right couple" as it was part of their family. We drove the 8 hours to Buffalo, NY, sight unseen, to spend the night, and on to Rochester the next day. Again, we didn't know if we would buy it or not and hoped our long trip/expense was not for naught.

Needless to say, it was the car of our dreams - especially mine - and after a couple of hours of making, hopefully lifelong friends with the couple that sold us their beloved car, we paid them, drove it onto the rented U-Haul trailer and drove away in the Explorer. It looked like a car that had been pulled out of the showroom and driven only 44,000 miles and well maintained, but still needing the right amount of project-work for a great hobby car that I really wanted. I still can't believe the great condition of the car and $10k price tag. Everything was/is still original. The hard part was watching the couple appear emotional when he unscrewed the license plate. I assured him we would show him the progression of the full restoration and genuine invitation that they could visit and drive it. The return trip was an incredible, white knuckled adventure for 9 hours. The 2014 Explorer did an exemplary job, with the `Tow' button, of pulling the trailer. No trailer fishtails, and it would auto-downshift the trans when I slowed down - anyone who has never seen a Corvette, through their rear view mirror, looking back at them on a trailer has not lived. It is the ultimate adrenaline rush, having it level and looking at you through the rear window. It is the prettiest sight that you have ever seen. That's all can say. This is a C3 forum so picture the best looking car ever made looking back at you for almost 9 hours - even though miles of construction, lane switches, several late night semis drifting across their own white lines with shoulder barricades on your left and arriving at 4:27 am the next morning -- then, after waking up a little late, looking out to see your first Vette sitting there up on a trailer, still connected to your Explorer! Nothing like it. Nothing. Many of those C3 designers and engineers were part of the post WWII `Greatest Generation' and deserve a lot of credit for giving America that beautiful, well engineered, and timeless icon that I hope to keep for the rest of my life.
Looking kind of forward to reading other posts!
Dave

68C3

My uncle passed this 68 Coupe onto me. He purchased it new in Pensacola FL when he was in the NAVY flying F4's. He drove it as a daily driver for 30+ years. It was parked and had been sitting on the side of the house when I got it. My father had Corvettes (60, 63, 79) so taking on this project was nothing new to me. My uncles kids didn't want it and I couldn't see it leave the family, so now I am doing a partial restoration. I've restored a lot of GM cars, mostly older Cadillacs, and I find the Corvette to be a fairly simple car to work on.

Socalrebell

I bought this beauty in 1995, by 1998 she was fully restored to NCRS Top Flight status. It was a fun, very expensive project rare Monaco Orange color ('69 was the only year it was available). Have the tank sticker everything is correct, an L71 Roadster (vinyl hardtop) 427/435 tri power. pw, ps, pb, K66 etc. Pretty much is relegated to car shows with the occasional Sunday drive or a drive from L.A. to S.F. up Pacific Coast Highway.




For track days I have these 2 American muscle cars:

MSGT-R

I always wanted a Stingray since I was a kid; we were poor, I inherited the family 63 Pontiac wagon when I got my license. Drove that car for a couple of decades, rebuilt it twice.

Got married, husband spent money like people use water, got a Sunbird. Couldn't even afford a Firebird for my first new car.

Divorced husband, found another, this one wouldn't stand for a "plastic pig" in his driveway, hated Cameros too. Bought a Mazda MX6 turbo.

Years went by and I still wanted a Vette. Stopped by Riverside Corvette to look over their "junkyard dogs" to see what I could get at ground-level pricing. They had a 71 that didn't run for $3500. If they got it to run it would be $6000. Seeing who was working on it told me that would never happen; he hooked up the battery backwards and wondered why it was smoking (both cables were black). I dipped into my savings and bought my Corvette. Told the husband he was the father of an adopted plastic pig. He tollerates me.

The car was a theft recovery with a DMV issued VIN and a messed up title that the dealer should have fixed. The crook wanted $2000 more to fix it! My wrecking yard fixed it and we reported the guy to DMV.

I changed careers and put the car in the backyard for 17 years. During this time I collected parts needed as they went on sale or traded other things for them. I'll be retiring at the end of this year and have started to pull out all the stuff to pick up where I left off.

Priya

Congratulations on finally getting your Corvette MSGT-R. Hope you're able to get it on the road soon.