i agree if a 72 is what you have to have.

but if you are fine with a 74 convertable get one that is pretty good shape. put a new style ls1 an a nice 6 speed or new style auto behind it. still not a touring car because of its basic design. but it wont need points anymore and wont leak everything an wont need constant work. i think it comes back to what was said earlier you have to want a c3 an want the exact one you purchase. can you get a really nice c3 like your 72 in mind and keep your c6?

 

If you really enjoy driving a sports car
YES
I have owned 3 C3 and 3 C5, short driving distance C3 ok
C5 is a great all around SPORTS CAR! C3 is not

Bobby

 

I am a retired machinist, and have done maintenance on the C3,4 and 5. With it's traditional steel ladder frame, I was always amazed at how much the 3 would flex as you jacked it up...watching the door gaps change....The 4 was much better, but the 5? Fuggetaboutit...zero flex. The torsional rigidity was stunning, and you could feel it when driving. With the Z51 suspension, it felt like a race car with lights and a radio. I raced karts when I was younger and feel confident "pushing" a car in turns, the 3 was a GM passenger car with a swoopy body, the 4 was much better in turns, but the 5 with it's proper double A arm rear suspension and hydro-formed frame was a world class car.

But....there's more to it than that now. At my age, yes, I still like stepping on the loud pedal and throwing a car in a turn, but not as often and not as aggressively any more.

The biggest thing that sticks out to me is looking out over those C3 fenders, what a sight! Strictly from a styling perspective, the C3 is miles ahead of the 4 and 5.

So my mindset is, I'm not a car show or long cruise guy, my trips will be local, so storage and ride are not at the top of my list. I just want the car for "therapy"...and in my heart, I've always been a Corvette guy, I feel incomplete not owning one, knowing that there isn't one in the garage. The bug bit me at a very young age, I've always loved Corvettes, lusting after them in the new car showrooms long before I was legal to drive, trying the door handles to see if I could sit in one.

We'll see. There's that war bonnet yellow '72 on the 'bay that has my attention...big block, air, 4spd, power windows, deluxe interior...it's been hotter lately and think I'd have to have air...but I loved popping out the back window and having my arm out the window listening to the engine and enjoying the view over those C3 fenders...The Mako Shark II was my fave prototype show car, so a C3 was kind of a poor man's Mako.

We'll see...

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond,

Arnie

 

welcome to C3

 

I bought my '72 in '95, it was a old show car from mid atlantic region, owned by a series of two chicks, Chick one had wicked flares on it, and put the '69 Olds tail lights in it, Chick two cut the flares back and put on a beautiful burgundy paint job....by now it would be ~25 years old, but sure enough the paint started to give it up to the sun and got really bad some years ago....so I tried my hand a body work, painted it green with black accents.....

When I got the car, I lived up north near DC, and the car was totally stock, mechanically speaking.....first thing the radiator failed, in with a new aluminum rad, switched over the electric fans....changed to serpentine drive from '88-91 vette, and added TPI, and replaced all wear parts on suspensions, and put in 360 lbs rear, 460 lbs front, with KYB shocks from VBP.....and put on wide wheels tires from '92 vette 255 up front and 275 in rear.....later on upped to 50 series, but first few were 40 series....

Moved to Florida in '97, wanted more from the car, mainly to ditch the 4 speed and go to overdrive, going rate for 5+ stick shifts was like 4500 bux, hell with THAT!!! so in went a 700r4....for like 1200 bux
needed the overdrive for the much higher cruising speeds, and distances involved....336 rear has remained....

Through the years I have added more mods and customs to the car to the point now that nothing is stock, from tires through roof, nothing, not frame, not suspension, not steering, not brakes, everything changed even the front grill, headlights modified courtesy of a damn Florida deer that too both of them out one night.....so in with Eckler's sugar scoop trays and the old square lights, with same size hole, too geeky looking so junkyard raid and got a bunch of headlights and parts from a later Camaro, lights are ~2" tall and ~5" wide mounted 1/2 way forward and the large hole filled in,

instruments are all aftermarket, console is all electronic'd up now, hurst shifter with 8 ball on top, just not cool without your 8 ball.....I modified the seating on driver's side to suit my tall body and stiff joints/crappy spine....added later shark TT wheel and power windows....BB/LT1 hood added down here...all the vent/grill from Astro vent filled in, door locks removed/deactivated, car being a convertible....wiper door electrified, intermittent wipers.....changed to LT1 F.Inj induction through the years....just simpler to work on tired of messing with the old L98 TPI....switched to Dual Spal fans also....

steering is Rack/pinion brakes are Hydro Boost.....

I think the car has responded rather well to all the mods, the tires and suspension make it ride/handle rather well.....for a flexible flyer that is.....engine is a 355 '89 truck 4 bolt factory roller engine, stock L98 cam at this point....Pix on sites below....

 

Sounds to me like you need two Corvettes! Works for me!

 

If you posted this in the C3 section your mind is mostly made up. Ask the question in a C5 forum and you'll get the other answer. That means you will probably be predisposed to like your test drives, but the advice to go on and drive a few again is good advice.

I have a C6. It's an excellent car, like your C5, but I miss my '69 and next time I will go C2, hopefully in the coming weeks or months. Where can you use that 10/10th's edge of a modern car? I'll give a little up for charm, nostalgia, whatever you wish to call it.

As far as maintenance and repair goes- early C3's and older Corvettes are what many of us think of as great big kit cars from a complexity standpoint. Save for the rear end and the accumulation of corrosion I see no reason to worry about maintenance and repair. After all, many of their major systems are built out of common GM parts.

Manual transmission with overdrive should be at least a consideration- one upgrade I find I cannot live without. A concession to modern interstate travel.

Go for the '72 (or '70 or '71). Buy a rust free car with good cosmetics unless you enjoy doing paint.

GO FOR IT!

PS don't worry about the body flex, the chassis was in fact designed for flex, several things I've read over the years point to the engineers actually remove some rigidity from the chassis to somewhat improve the harsh ride quality. Chassis engineering today allows for the stiffness with a better ride, but you can bet way before the '60's GM was engineering stiffness.

 

I like driving my C5. I love driving my C3!

 

Good for you, you old geezer. I'm a retired software analyst and know everything about absolutely nothing. Except for one thing. You're only as old as you think you are. If your age is a problem then a nice shiny Lexus would look waaaaay cool in your garage.

I vote C3 even with all the details that involve owning one.

p.s. i have you by 7 years and have owned my yellow 'vert for 42. and the good news is, my first social security check will be here in two months. i plan to finally fix that stoopid popup manual override vacuum problem with the money you youngsters are paying into ss.

life's a gift. don't deprive yourself.

 

I have a 455HP Mustang GT350 w/ all the modern bells and whistles but I still love my "77 C3!!!

 

Very Cool !!! Nice to hear from someone who can enjoy other brands and old vettes too. !!!

For the OP ....I've had many many corvettes , I still love the C3 's ...I suppose it was what I saw NEW in the showroom every year as a teen., even though I loved the C1 & C2 as a little fellow. The C3 had it all in my book. The C3 convertibles 68-75 are my favorite corvettes. C3's have never been so cheap and plentiful. indulge

I can understand your lust for a 72 454 Corvette. Those Low power 454's C3's are hard to beat for top down reliable smooth sailing down the backroads .

Nothing... but an C1-C3 will do when that old time Corvette itch starts to scratch.