Im always driving one of them someplace... lunch, Walgreen's, whatever.

 

Those are two very very sweet cars. I am jealous.

 

Thank you PeterC3.

Yes it was born on July 30, 1981 in Bowling Green. I've had similar comments when going to C&C or club shows with others commenting how well the body panels fit and no structural damage.

When searching though I looked at 18 C3's in person from private owned to dealers selling and another dozen or so online calling on for more information. Most had major issues, might have been repainted and looked beautiful but had bad bones, frame rotten, birdcage rusted out, doors falling from rotten A pillar, cars in pieces and just in bad condition. When the one I finally bought popped up on craigslist for a great price I was skeptical until I saw it in person. I took a couple hours inspecting mainly the bones, frame, under the kick panels etc. before asking anything about mechanical or starting. Rebuilding the mechanical items was not a big deal for me and I wanted to keep it OEM as much as possible with new OEM parts.

I've cleaned up and painted the frame, engine compartment and rear wheel wells. Frame was in great condition with just a little surface rust and still had factory undercoating where expected. I cleaned it up painted with two coats of primer and two coats of semi-gloss paint.

 

Well, one thing for sure when we do get out with our C3 vettes that we have put time, money, effort into getting them right..

It is only by driving them that one truly gets to know the truth about how the work was done..the proof is in the pudding..'tis said..
A car is a tool of sorts that has a purpose..How it fills that purpose..is the true test..
SO get out and drive them..Like many things, RUNNING them intelligently w/proper maint is FAR better for the test of time than letting them sit..BUT whatever makes one smile is OK..jim

 

Car covers would be nice.

Fellow 72 Owner

Mike

 

Who doesnt like a C3 in black looks great classic stuff!

Reaper nice work. Trying to make a frame on undercarriage takes a lot of work and patience, smart move. Once that body comes off everything changes not always worth it.

 

Bought my '68 BB ragtop in April '73, two more months and I'll have
owned it 44 years. Was daily driver for many years, and yes I have bent, broke, twisted, replaced virtually everything except the body.

Did a body off full resto in 2001, still looks good. Made some mods, nothing that can't be undone. Engine makes 540hp on the dyno, loads
of fun to drive. I either get huge grins and thumbs up from other drivers
or scowls due to the open side exhaust.

There is a '73 454 ragtop with a/c about a mile from my house just rotting away in this "old" guys driveway. Won't sell it, won't talk about it.

My '68 sits next to 2016 Z51, it is amazing how much these two cars
look alike.

 

Excellent rides

 

You went through 18 'vettes to find a good one! Now that's what I was talking about when I started this thread. While everyone's experience will be different, I suspect your purchase experience was on the worst side or is it typical? Mine was on the other side of the spectrum with a relatively ideal car in my backyard, and the only one I looked at.... I can see now that I was quite lucky...

 

You can't get any nicer than two black corvettes especially in those years and in convertible and split window . But I always had a hard time keeping them looking like that when I owned black , so this time I went with my second choice which is red. Hardly ever have to wash and wax it . Just wipe it with a California duster and go.

 

Back in '08, I started looking for my first C3. I knew I wanted a chrome-bumper car, and having read the forums, I knew to save my money by NOT buying a cheap car. I was willing to travel to Chicago on down to Texas for the right car. There were a *lot* of $8,000-$12,000 chrome-bumper C3's that I didn't even bother looking at because the ads made clear that they would need body-work and/or frame and birdcage repair. I looked at a couple local candidates; each would have cost at least $15,000 to make a decent driver (I don't have the shop or the skill to do bodywork and paint), so I passed. There were a LOT of great cars in the $32k-$52k range, but $20k was kind of the top of my budget.

It took a year of looking before I found this one just 20 miles from my house for $16k (advertised at $18k). The paint (I found out later) was 25 year old lacquer, but the bodywork had been done right so it looked great (and still does, minus some chips from driving). It lived in the Northeast its whole life, but was purchased by a Corvette-lover new, and always owned by someone who babied and garaged it so the frame and birdcage are mint (I'm the fifth owner, but I've met and spoken to all the former owners at local car-shows, including the original owner who had the body-work and paint done in '83). I've done some mechanical repairs (brakes, rear suspension, timing-chain, etc), and it can still use some other things (stereo, A/C, seals) but nothing I couldn't do myself in my tiny garage. It basically looks the same as the day I bought it (below), with the addition of some rock-chips in the paint.

Back to the original question, I think the prices and quality on the early C3's is an inverse bell-curve right now, with most either completely done and show-ready, or in complete need of everything, with very few base-engine models in the solid "affordable driver" category in the middle. Just as with the C1's and C2's, the curve will gradually shift almost entirely to the high-side, as crazy or qualified (or crazy and qualified) individuals take on the full-restoration of the need-everything cars. With rare exceptions, then, the early cars will quickly begin to start at $30k for a solid driver, with the $15k range including ones that need full-redoing or projects that were abandoned halfway through. There are still a handful of $15k-$25k drivers around, but noticeably fewer than even three years ago.

I used to think that I'd sign over the title if some crazy person offered me $25k for it at a show (probably what I have in it by now), but as much as I love driving and working on it, and knowing what it would take to find a replacement, that figure has jumped to at least $30k.

 

In my 67 years of life i have discovered that car covers in a Not Climate Controlled garage cause more damage then good.
They trap moisture and dampness, causing rusting issues.
Ever experience when it is warm out and your garage is chilling cold that when you open the garage door you see moisture develop on everything - and then it has to evaporate - i have.
Also i have found that the dust provides a protective covering on my cars - the thing is not to touch the paint causes scratches - it needs to be hosed and washed thoroughly. i had a 1961 Corvette, with a perfect paint job, stored for 25 years with no car cover - tons of dust on it - my buddy, a Corvette collector, who bought the car was worried that the paint would not be in good shape when washed - well when he thoroughly washed it the paint was like brand new - i made a believer out of him

................................. tom

 

SO how many are there actually left of the 542861 C3s? With todays computers it would be not to hard to find out except for those cars that been forgotten in barns or other places.

 

I am the 'buddy' that bought the car from him. It sat in his garage next to the 72 for 25 years!
I was doubtful about the paint/dust but after many hours of hand cleaning and polishing the proof is in the results.
Joe

 

I recently bought a C3, that other than a paint job is very nice. It is a 1982 Crossfire that is loved by some and hated by others. I got it for a good price and have used it quite a lot for daily driver, kind of brutal but fun also. I wont use it in snow, or rain unless i have to but comes out of garage easy enough. Wondering if anyone here knows someone who would paint a corvette in the Baltimore area. Every shop I have gone to says they only want insurance work.

 

Yup no money in painting old stuff unless its a huge price tag
Spend your time look around get every single thing/change in writing there are good ones but too many are trouble.

Sometimes your local Chevy dealer can lay something down decent without slaughtering you . Caddy and Lexus are decent too.

Still think their work is better than most private guys they have to stand behind it. Wish id have spent more initallly and done it.

 

I can't agree with you here. While the dust doesn't have any impact of the potential quality of the paint, any disturbance of the dust can lead to potential scratching. As for the rust potential, a modern car cover that breathes will not have any impact on the creation of rust. The hot and cold cycles that lead to condensation on the metal parts (none of which are protected or hindered by a car cover) will only be protected when isolated from the condensation. I also have an unheated garage in a northern climate. I use car bags for my protection. A CarBag with some desiccate will completely prevent moisture on the metal parts. Keeping the cars in the open like you do WILL drive potential rust with or without the car covers. You might as well be leaving the cars in the outside elements. (And note that I too am a long time Corvette owner since I purchased my first Corvette 36 years ago).


This is NOT an easy task. If anything, it will be an expensive proposition to know. You can get registration data from all the states, but the states don't give the data out for free. It is very expensive (I've looked). The average cost is about $5000 per state. Then, registration data is not necessarily going to tell how many have survived. Many cars will be registered, but are not in good shape. Many garage queens many not be registered because they are not driven. Then there are international cars.

 

I cannot tell you a specific answer regarding Baltimore, but in general if I were looking to get my Corvette painted, and I may do that soon, I would seek out a Corvette restoration shop and ask if they do painting in house. If they do not do painting in house, ask who it is that does their painting. Painting a Corvette is a little different from painting a steel car. If you cannot find a Corvette specialty shop then I would seek out a shop that does street rods.

Warning though, from what I know, the paint job (if done right) may come close to or exceed what you paid for that 82. I have seen some examples of bad paint on Corvettes though, and you get what you pay for in this regard.

Good Luck

 

Actually, given the privacy laws in almost every state and lawsuits, this data isn't anywhere near as available as it once was.

And asking someone on the inside to access the stuff is the same as asking them to risk losing their pension.

 

Thanks for the kind words, I love the cars.

But to clarify, the '69 is black but the '63 is stock Daytona Blue. It's incredible how black it looks in many lights.