clypsedra

Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of having a Corvette Stingray. Even to this day I excitedly have to point out Corvettes I see driving down the road. My idea of my dream corvette shifted and changed through the years, but I always knew I wanted a beautiful old C3.

I knew the day would come someday...but I had to be responsible first. Got through college, bought a practical car (a Honda Fit), got a nice job...
All of a sudden, just a month ago, I realized I was one payment away from paying off my car. It struck me that I could finally hunt down my dream car.
I started searching everywhere, and soon formed a fresh idea of what C3 I wanted - research formed strong ideas on price, car quality, year, options, everything. I wanted a 78 or 79, manual, as original as possible, and previously babied.
And then, I found it. On craigslist of all places, 1.5 hours south, I spotted a beautiful car at a great deal with literally everything I wanted. I stared at the pictures of it for days waiting for a response on the car. Finally went down to test drive it and I knew it was the one. Got it for a wonderful price of 8,700. Black with red leather interior, original everything, 65k miles, two owners where the previous owner had it for 25 years and only drove it on sunny days, not a speck of rust on the frame, L82 engine, fun as hell manual transmission... It was perfect.

I always knew I would be able to get my dream but who knew I could reach it so soon! I am so excited to baby this car for the next several decades. The previous owner was not driving it much any more and it feels good to know I will help breathe new life into the car (and I live right by Lake Michigan so lots of summery beachy driving ahead with the tops off!)

Driving it home the other night was one of the best moments of my life. I don't think the joy of owning this car will ever wear off.

dltowne

I picked up my C3 Pace Car last month. I remember the first day I saw one and have wanted one ever since. I'm 51 years old now and finally got it. I am looking forward to a long future cruising around in it.

Taarzaahn

Enjoy life and your dreamcar

pthor

Like many others, I have seriously drooled over the old C3 Vettes my entire life.
As a kid, they were all new and as they drove past me all the time, I knew I wanted that car, nothing on the road was cooler, of course, add side pipes and it was/is a living Hot Wheel car! I was big into Hot Wheels too.

Anyone that knows me has had to hear me talk about someday owning an old Vette and it having to be between 69-72...

~SHAZAM~ 1 month ago on my usual drive to the gym, there she was, On the street 1 block from the gym, I slowed down, made sure it had bumpers front & rear and started mumbling something ~ at this point I cant remember...
I text my wife the following day these words (followed by a picture)" "I'm sorry but, I just fell in love again"

I was hoping the car ran as good as it looks but, kept telling myself "it's too good to be true"

Well, it wasn't and now it's mine! I love this car and I'm not waiting, the #'s matching engine will be pulled, redone and sport much more horsepower than now ~ Oh and Chrome Hookers and Side-pipes of course!

I keep walking out into the garage and staring at it, I can't believe there is a 72 Vette in my garage !!!

clwi

This is my story.
I owned a new Mustang 07 for 7 years and felt like i wanted an old school muscle car.
So in 2015 i bought this 72 Stingray BB.
Last year i decided to do a camswap..then my shop told me that that compression on my engine was a bit weak, so i decided to do complete overhaul on the engine..and one thing led to the other..so i ended up with a complete new engine, 468cui, swapped everything, crank, rollercam, rods etc..only engineblock and heads are stock.
I also did a new exhaust built on car, converted to power steering (steeroids) and this winter rebuilt my TH400 to handle 600Hp and switched out my chassie for VBP:s Performance Plus Package and put on new wheels, 17x8 TT2 with Nitto 255/50, next week i will have a Sniper EFI installed.
Will it ever be finished...dont think so..hahaha.

Metalhead140

Nice! Having spent summer in your fine town for work a few years ago, I know your Vette is in good company. You guys have a lot of cool old American iron over there!

maj75

When I was in College in the late 70s I saw a '69 Vette on a used car lot. It was a LeMans Blue coupe with. 350/350hp 4 speed. Manual brakes and steering. Was told it was a repo and I bought it from the bank who had it on the lot. Long story short, it was impounded by my local police as a stolen car when I went to get the "out of State title inspection. They improperly released the car and I ended up having to go to court to recover my Vette. It took months and probably cost more than I paid for the car in the first place. (Thanks Dad for helping me out with the attorney's fee). Couldn't afford to do everything the car needed so I ended up selling it. Since then, I've owned a C6, C4 and a C5 in that order. I still have the C5. It's a '99 FRC with a 6 speed, C6 Z06 suspension and a built LS1 from Texas Speed. It has 440 rwhp. I use it mostly for HPDE but with today's exhaust swap from Borla to factory C5 Z06 titanium exhaust, I may actually drive it around just for fun.

My wife "gave" me the '69 Vette I just acquired as a 60th birthday present. Daytona Yellow, 427, 4 speed factory AC, PB, PW, Tilt/Telescope Wheel, AM/FM numbers matching very original car. Had it shipped from Sacramento CA to So.Fla. Still has original exhaust, in fact the only non original item so far is the Hurst Shifter. I am getting the original shifter from the seller. As rust free an unrestored Corvette as I've seen in more than 45 years. I am waiting on the proper paperwork for title transfer. The elderly seller signed the title on the wrong line so we are sorting out that issue from opposite Coasts. I've got to say that I'm occasionally having flashbacks to my original '69 Vette experience and hoping for the best while trying to be patient with the paperwork.

72 Corvette newbie

For a little perspective, in 1972 I was a freshman in high school ...
.... This is probably more than the OP had in mind, but ... Oh well!

I've had sports cars since I was 19, first was a 65 MG B, a few 240/260/280Z's, a couple Porsche's and the C3 I have now is my 3rd Vette; first was a C4, then I stepped back to a vintage sports car, a 55 MG A then bounced to an 07 Saturn SKY ... I really liked that little car but after driving it for 4 years and the guy that owned the gas station I frequented retired, and I bought his black/tan convertible C5 which was a dream to drive, when it ran. Little did I know, and he didn't disclose that it was plagued with electrical problems. After 5 months I traded it for a Pontiac Solstice and all was wonderful until I had some health problems. Colon cancer which lead to pancreatitis type 2 and osteoporosis contributed to two collapsed vertebra. Anyway, after putting 700 miles on it in 2 years I started thinking about selling it. Then one day I drove it, got home and couldn't get out of it ... No one else was home and I had to pee. I ended up rolling out on the floor, pulled myself up and decided that was it ... and I had a 15 year old daughter that was going to need a car soon anyway so I traded it for a new '15 Buick Encore which would eventually be for her ... Funny thing is, she still doesn't have any interest in driving ... Sometimes I wonder if she's really my kid (jk) as she doesn't like my other passion of shooting guns either!

Anyway, last November I saw this Byrer Blue coupe while driving through a small town in Nebraska ... it was sitting next to the road with a for-sale sign in the window and it just called to me. I always liked Vette's with chrome bumpers and it turned out it's a numbers matching Survivor ... I wasn't in the market due to my health ... but I've been on high doses of calcium and vitamin D, so, week later I drove it home. I really don't have any regrets, although it's turned out to need more work than anticipated but it's helped to get me off the couch which my wife and doctor both think is a good idea, except when I over-do it.

It's a base coupe ... 350/automatic. The previous owner had installed new carpet, door panels and leather seat covers all from Echlers he kept the receipts as well as the old door panals and seat covers as well as receipts for other work he and other owners have had done. But now I question the quality of some of the work. I think I got a decent deal on the car but for instance he had receipts for the rear axle bearings replaced 6K miles ago, but there was a lot of slop in it and it felt squirley in the round-about's ... After buying new trailing arms with bearings, I found out that whoever did the previous work had turned the axles down so the bearings would slide on ... that was another $1,300 in parts and had to come up with another $200 because the axles weren't rebuild-able ... Supposedly the engine was rebuilt about 10K back. It has good compression but every seal and gasket seeps.

Then theirs the little things ... I thought I could live with manual brakes, but with the automatic trans wanting to pull me out into traffic, I quickly got tired of standing on the brakes at stop lights so I put factory power brakes on it and replaced the brake lines while I was at it ... I thought I'd be ok with the straight steering column, but I wasn't, it was just too tight getting in and out, because I don't bend like I did when I was 20, and I'm a bit bigger around now too. I found a T&T column on eBay, had it stripped and repainted and re-keyed ... I also "needed" a right-hand mirror, console & armrest. Lastly I bought a new dash bezel and original factory AM-FM radio for it. These were pretty easy upgrades but cost another $2,500 in parts. Fortunately I have a 16 year old neighbor boy that had started hanging around so I paid him $15 an hour to do the twisty, under dash and heavy work (in other words, almost all the work) with my tools and under my supervision instead of paying a shop $80+ an hour ... and his mom, a single parent and absent father is glad to see him taking an interest in something other than computer games.

So anyway, I've had it right at 6 months, I'm $23K poorer and it still needs a paint job ... Which I'm debating about. It looks good at 20 feet or so, and as I don't know what makes a "survivor" ... I'm guessing if I strip and repaint it, it for sure won't be a survivor anymore and while I haven't gotten any estimates for the spots of crazing paint, scratches, little nicks and ticks it's acquired over 4 owners and 44 years ... then theirs the hairline crack that runs the length of the right front fender, so I'm guessing it'll have to be taken off, re-glued and re-finished ... So probably $8-10K? ... And if I do that, will I ever get my money back out of it, or will it still be a $23K car?

Finally, I want to thank everyone here that has so graciously offered advice when I've gotten stumped on my radio and headlight problems!

(Edited for PPS ... **** Poor Spelling!)

A68CORD

[QUOTE=72 Corvette newbie;1594861854]For a little perspective, in 1972 I was a freshman in high school ...
.... This is probably more than the OP had in mind, but ... Oh well!

I've had sports cars since I was 19, first was a 65 MG B, a few 240/260/280Z's, a couple Porsche's and the C3 I have now is my 3rd Vette; first was a C4, then I stepped back to a vintage sports car, a 55 MG A then bounced to an 07 Saturn SKY ... I really liked that little car but after driving it for 4 years and the guy that owned the gas station I frequented retired, and I bought his black/tan convertible C5 which was a dream to drive, when it ran. Little did I know, and he didn't disclose that it was plagued with electrical problems. After 5 months I traded it for a Pontiac Solstice and all was wonderful until I had some health problems. Colon cancer which lead to pancreatitis type 2 and osteoporosis contributed to two collapsed vertebra. Anyway, after putting 700 miles on it in 2 years I started thinking about selling it. Then one day I drove it, got home and couldn't get out of it ... No one else was home and I had to pee. I ended up rolling out on the floor, pulled myself up and decided that was it ... and I had a 15 year old daughter that was going to need a car soon anyway so I traded it for a new '15 Buick Encore which would eventually be for her ... Funny thing is, she still doesn't have any interest in driving ... Sometimes I wonder if she's really my kid (jk) as she doesn't like my other passion of shooting guns either!

Anyway, last November I saw this Byrer Blue coupe while driving through a small town in Nebraska ... it was sitting next to the road with a for-sale sign in the window and it just called to me. I always liked Vette's with chrome bumpers and it turned out it's a numbers matching Survivor ... I wasn't in the market due to my health ... but I've been on high doses of calcium and vitamin D, so, week later I drove it home. I really don't have any regrets, although it's turned out to need more work than anticipated but it's helped to get me off the couch which my wife and doctor both think is a good idea, except when I over-do it.

It's a base coupe ... 350/automatic. The previous owner had installed new carpet, door panels and leather seat covers all from Echlers he kept the receipts as well as the old door panals and seat covers as well as receipts for other work he and other owners have had done. But now I question the quality of some of the work. I think I got a decent deal on the car but for instance he had receipts for the rear axle bearings replaced 6K miles ago, but there was a lot of slop in it and it felt squirley in the round-about's ... After buying new trailing arms with bearings, I found out that whoever did the previous work had turned the axles down so the bearings would slide on ... that was another $1,300 in parts and had to come up with another $200 because the axles weren't rebuild-able ... Supposedly the engine was rebuilt about 10K back. It has good compression but every seal and gasket seeps.

I have a close to mint 81 Vette (after 8 Years).

I felt I got just a OK deal when I bought it for myself on my 60th birthday (see my C3 story) .

I think I have doubled my purchase price in repairs and up grades over the years. But I look at it this way. I don't smoke and the booze is maybe a 12 pack a year. I don't fish and hunt (so that's money saved).

My personality I think is like yours in that I hate to have something I think is cool in only fair condition.

As we get older we do get to be a little more fragile in our health ,but if something pops up we need to either fix it or make a move to get around it, what ever it is, so that we keep on keeping on.

You sound like a cool guy , and one that anyone of us on this forum would love to have as a friend/neighbor.

The stuff that has happened to you makes a great story and one to smile about.

Truth be told , something similar has probably happened to most of us like your pissing story (only maybe we were a drunk and couldn't figure out at the time how to get out of the car. Thank God for that empty coke can).

Oh and one more thing .

My sister , who is into horses owns a couple of Arabian horses .
She paid well over $6000. apiece for each of them. But with the cost to shelter each one , saddles , bridles, western wear, horse trailer, truck to pull trailer , hay , feed , Vet bills and the time to clean the horse stalls and who knows what else year after year.........
I look at my costs for my toy and I laugh and consider myself lucky.

Peace and Grease to you my brother
-Polski-

Triple M

My wife and I had been looking for a C3 for a few years. We were in no hurry but when we would see one we would check on it.

It was on Veterans day in 2010, we had just had breakfast and was traveling down the road and saw a Frost Beige Corvette for sale. We had not seen one of those anywhere. We stopped and talked with the man selling it and test drove it. He shared with us what it was worth, and how much he was asking, and that it was original except it had been repainted, and we left him to think about it. A few days passed and my wife asked me if I was going to buy it. I could tell she wanted it, but I thought the owner was a little high. She ask me to go back and talk with him about it. I stopped by and said to him "it was probably worth what he was asking but it was more than I was willing to spend." He then asked me how much I was willing to spend, and I told him about two thousand less than he was asking. He looked up in the sky for a moment and looked back at me and said "I'll take it."

We have had it now for almost 7 years.

clwi

Yes we do have a lot of US cars in Sweden.
I have been in US 6 times and never seen so many nice cars as here!
Did you visit Power Big Meet when you worked here?
For this year we have a new organiser and a new name.
Checkout the website.

www.vasterassummermeet.se

Metalhead140

Unfortunately I had to fly home a bit over a week beforehand, much to my disappointment!

---------

I guess I should make a post in the spirit of the thread... About two years ago, my wife asked what I would like for my 30th birthday, and I jokingly replied that I'd better have a midlife crisis and buy a Corvette! She said "Well, you could if you want to." So I started shopping! My criteria was that it had to be a black manual c3, year wasn't important. I looked at several that met some of the criteria, but all were very rough. Eventually I found mine, which was mechanically very tired, but perfect chassis and very good body and interior. Best yet, it was far cheaper than any others I had looked at! As we drove up to see the car, it was on the front lawn, and my wife said "This looks like the one." And she was right!

I drove it for a couple of months, then pulled it off the road for 3-4 months while I completely rebuilt the suspension, steering (including column) and diff. Bilstein shocks, poly bushes, Global West upper arms, Moog tie rods/balljoints/idler, Borgeson steering. The car was a factory gymkhana car, so already had the stiffer springs and bigger sway bars. Bought some new wheels too, I needed to replace the 2003 dated tyres... Got it back on the road for another few months, and the clutch release bearing went out.

So it spent about 9 months of last year off the road, while I built a healthy small block stroker, installed a Tremec TKO 5 speed, and Fitech fuel injection. I finally got it running right just before Christmas last year and haven't stopped driving it since!

I've been running it in a lot of local motorsport events, and with the extra power, some decent tyres, and the mild suspension improvements, i am hanging with some fairly impressive machinery, and having a great time! The car gets better fuel economy than it did stock, and I've put about 9,000 miles on it so far this year. It's great fun to drive, and surprises almost everyone with just how well it moves. Can't see me ever selling it, though I might have to paint it eventually. For the moment I'm having too much fun driving it to take it off the road for a repaint.

bj61662

You're redeeming the time with your grandson. He'll remember the car, but better yet he'll remember you! Passing down Corvettes to another family member should be as common as the hand wave between Vette owners (my opinion)

bj61662

Great looking car (of course, I a little prejudiced). We got our 82 from Van Bortels last December and are really living it.

bj61662

Great to pass on cars to family members. Congratulations on redeeming the time with your family!

Philgran

My story begins in Rochester, NY in 1969 when I bought my first C3, a green coupe, 4-spd,350/350. I traded in a 1967 Camero R/S convertible. It became a daily driver for me. I was a salesman for a large computer company. In those days, Rochester seemed to be the center of every winter storm. It was said "In Rochester, you can go blind in October, seeing only white, and not know it until a May". Heavy salting of snow-covered roads was the attack plan of that era. Of course, salt didn't effect the body but it ended up destroying everything underneath the car. So by 1975, the '69 was probably in the shop more than on the road. So I sold it to some enthusiastic young man.

However, i missed my Vette very badly. Several years ago, after I retired, I began to seriously begin looking for a C3. I've always loved the C3 body style. So last year (2016) I happened upon a 1979 C3 with California documentation. It was a real beauty, silver body, red gut, A/C, P/B, P/S, new seats and paint, numbers matching, only 83k on the clock, the only thing missing was the 4-speed. I said to myself: "I'm old and don't need to be rowing a car around town, 3-spd automatic is OK for an old guy". The test drive went great and I bought it. I soon learned that not everything that glitters is gold. The frame is great but some of the work that had been done by previous owners (or not done) to the car had to dealt with. First I went after "safety issues" (tie rod ends, steering box and rag gear, electrical system, horn, interior and dashboard lighting, speedometer (not that critical in a 190 horsepower car); then I began to attack "comfort issues" (fixing the A/C, various leaks, seating positions, radio antenna etc.). One of the problems is that I'm over 6' tall and can't see out of the back. Not a problem with the '69 but definitely a problem now, can't see the mirrors all that well either. So I'm spend a lot of time and money sorting the thing out. My next post will address several of the quandaries I'm currently facing. I'm not a mechanically gifted person, but I'd be glad to share my experiences with anyone as they may find that of benefit and will give me a chance to give back to this forum.
Thank you for reading this far - Philgran

72 Corvette newbie

Philgran ... Welcome!

I bought a '72 that had lots of new parts and receipts of work that has been done going back about 20 years ... however some of the work was done ... well, let's just say it was done poorly.

I've only been a member here for about 7 months but there are two things I've learned about buying a 40+ year old Corvette ...

1. Probably 90% of them have problems ... of some sort.

2. Corvetteforum has a great bunch of people here that, if it's a Corvette, they can help you with just about any problem you can throw at them.

One tip;
If you plan on working on it yourself (and even if you don't, your mechanic will appreciate it)... you need not only a service manual but also an Assembly Information Manual (AIM) these were used in the factory and are full of illustrations and notes specific to your car. Reproductions of the AIM for at least the C3 is available on line for $20-$30 shipped to your door and while you can google a lot of stuff, the AIM is one of the things you can buy for your car

Scott13GS

Inherited my 71 when my FIL passed in 2012. The picture is him in 79' when he brought it home. It's been a work in progress since 13' when my wife said let's get it going. It'll be home soon. I did as much as I could and sent it to be completed in Watertown SD.


My Father-in-law.



He had painted it blue.



Built LS1.



Me and Pop in his 05'

Philgran

I mentioned in my last post that I would detail some of my "lessons " in case they might be of value to any on the Forum.

lesson 1: if the seller emphasizes something, be wary of that feature. The backstory is that my seller emphasized the "ice cold" air conditioning. It quit a short time after I took it home. The jury is out whether it's an R12 system or one that has been converted to R 134a. Many of the older Vette A/C systems have been converted correctly and some have been butchered. What I think happened is that my seller put a can of R134a in for my test drive and over time it leaked out. It has all the looks of a R134a conversion under the hood but it will not hold a refrigerant charge. When I took it to the A/C expert, he, in my opinion, recharged it with R134a. And he charged me $200. Now it has failed again. My point is if your prospective Vette has A/C, you better quiz the seller carefully.

Lesson2: Don't expect your car to drive like your Audi. Older Vettes don't use a modern steering system so they don't steer all that precisely. Combined with years and miles on the road the parts underneath wear out. On my car, the tie rod ends needed to be replaced (not a major expense) and I need to replace the steering box and rag joint (slightly larger expense). I'm doing this for safety.

Lesson 3: While I'm on that subject, let me lay out my priorities on repairing your new baby. #1 Safety, #2 Comfort, #3 Convenience and beauty(aka getting Show-ready).

Lesson 4: Take a knowledgeable, responsible buddy with you when you go looking. I almost bought an L-88 4-spd with a burned out hood (someone had pulled the insulation out from under the hood). My buddy saved me by whispering the cost of new paint. You might consider a trusted mechanic or a friend who has a vintage Vette.

Lesson 5: If you are a regular person, consider your purchase an investment in fun and meeting interesting people. It likely will not fund your kids' college education.

Lesson 5: Your restoration project is never really done. A vintage Corvette is a wonderful, very beautiful animal. It needs constant attention. If you can afford it, you will never regret it. Remember you have friends you've never met who will help you through this Forum.

At this point, this is all I have to offer. I hope it helps any prospective buyers.

72 Corvette newbie

A converted R12 to 134A system isn't as efficient as an R12 system ... nor is it as efficient as a 134A system that's designed to be 134A.

One of the best things you can do to help a converted R12 system preform better with 134A is to add cooling fans in front of the condenser which pulls more air over it (and the radiator). This will be especially noticeable in city driving ...
My C3 has factory AC converted to 134A and I didn't think it was even working until I took it on the highway, which the higher speed improves the cooling of the condenser.

Lastly, I was told by the previous owner that mine has a leak so small that his guy was never able to find it and every year expect to have to add a pound or so of refrigerant.