The OP mentioned that the owner added cruise control. A very nice car whatever it turns out to be.

 

Super nice car anyway. What does your boss intend to do with the car? Keep it as a low mileage garage queen? Having done the mods, drive it and enjoy it for what it is?

 

I'm hoping the OP comes back with an engine stamp pad, a VIN, and a story that ties them all together. That car looks restored to me, not original (and not just counting the recent "tasteful" mods). Perhaps the current owner had no idea. Perhaps it has an L82 VIN, somehow, and the engine and transmission are not original. It's certainly one of the nicest 80s I've ever seen. L48 4-speeds were only 13% of production, so that's plenty rare.

Hopefully someone gets to enjoy it, on the road!

 

I was just about to type the same question. Why would someone change anything on a so called " Rare " car ??? Without the real paper work defining what it truly is , it's just hearsay maybe what the now owner was told. The previous owner of my L82 was sold a line of BS that sounded about the same story. Mine is a automatic that so rare it shifts by itself. LOL

 

I saw a beautiful 1980 Black/Oyster L-82 4-Speed car back in 1989 at the C Frank Chevrolet car show in Highland Park, IL . The car was in the possession of the original owner and he claimed it to be an all original car. I looked at that car a long, long time and set out to find one for myself. I did of course, find out later that there were no production L-82 4-Speed cars sold to the public. I am assuming that the owner of the car I saw at the show either added the L-82 badges and valve covers or the manual transmission. Someone on this forum posted a scan of the letter they received from Chevrolet explaining that the option was canceled after they had ordered that combination. I wish I could find that thread. With that said, Chevrolet did build some. One of the cars used in the October 1979 Motor Trend road test was a L-82 4-Speed car. Is it possible that a pilot line car got into the hands of the public? I have seen that happen with other pre-production cars. One of the pilot line cars used in the 1979 press preview did survive the crusher... sort of: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...car-found.html

October 1979 Motor Trend- Options on Test car- L-82 4-Speed.

ZBD Suffix= L-82 Uncertain Usage

I have wondered if this is the car I saw back in 1989:

 

I recently found this article:C3 Used Car Corvette Dealer wrote this below:

https://www.hobbycarcorvettes.net/pr...-l82-4-speeds/

"ORDERING A CORVETTE 1980 L82 4-SPEED

One of the reasons that I know that the car was not officially released was because a friend tried to purchase one back in 1979. This is a fact that he had all but forgotten until he found the paperwork a few years ago, as he was cleaning out his filing cabinets.

He had ordered an L82 engine with a MM4 4-speed manual transmission. This was clearly stated on the rejection letter that he received from the Chevrolet Motor Division. The rejection letter went on to say that if he wanted to get a similar model, he would need to order the RPO Comb L82, with the MX1 Turbo-Hydromantic Automatic Transmission. While they didn’t put a date stamp on their rejection letter, they did include the date when he placed the order – 10/08/79. He resubmitted his order for the L48 engine with MM4 manual transmission, and received his corvette in March of 1980.

At some point, he decided to check back to see if the original model he wanted was going to be offered because it still appeared in some of the books. GM responded that the original vehicle had failed to pass the emissions certification, and that because it had a low volume of car sales, they were not going to pursue production with the modifications that would ensure it would pass the test.

​​​​​​

SO WERE ANY BUILT?

Given the timelines of when the car was first listed and the emission requirements by the end of 1979, it is incredibly unlikely that any of these cars were produced or sold on the market. If you find someone claiming to be selling a 1980 Corvette L82 4-speed, chances are that the car is not what they think it is, or they are not being honest about what they are offering. According to GM in an article they posted in their end of the year 1979 Corvette news, it was discontinued. They elaborated further in the Vette Vues of November 1979, saying that, “…there is a good chance that the L-82 engine will not be installed in ANY 1980 Corvettes. It is our understanding from a third-party source that the L82/Automatic has not met EPA certification, and may be held back. We know for certain that the L82/4 Speed Manual Transmission will not be available, and that combination, last produced during the 1979 model run, will be the last of a long series of engine/transmission combos.”
Given the fact that the automakers themselves said that the car would not be sold, it is highly unlikely that you are going to find a Corvette that was made that way. It is more likely that you will find one that was modified to be (or appear to be, thanks to cheap hood badges), the model that people originally had expected.

If you have your heart set on a 1980 L82 Corvette, and can live with an automatic transmission, check out the two we currently have in stock:"

The comment about finding an early production L-82 with a 4 speed is HIGHLY UNLIKELY and most likely wishful thinking. Is there a possibility that a few PRE PRODUCTION (NOT Early Production-There is a big difference) 1980 L-82's were made BEFORE production begun formally? Yes, of course, but the possibility that those pre production L-82 4 speeds were ever sold to the public with a valid 1980 L82 VIN number? NO!

 

I'm more shocked to see that a L-82 230hp Corvette took 8.1 seconds to hit 60 mph.... were they really that slow?

 

That is not shocking at all. While I love the old 'muscle' cars it is really shocking when you look at 0-60 times. I have a '70 LS5 (0-60 advertised at 7 seconds) that will get blown away by most soccer moms with an SUV full of kids these days. That being said I also have a 1000 horsepower C7 and far prefer to drive my C3

 

I'm just looking at the power to weight ratio - I guess the automatic kills it significantly.

I dread to think what a '75 165hp auto is like?

 

The manual makes even a stock L48 75 into a sportscar. But you already know that, based on your avatar.

 

Good to hear.

Sadly, avatar is just aspirational at the moment, but trying to address that!

 

I noticed that stat as well and something seems off since the prior years, 78/79 C3s, Road and Track 0-60 MPH numbers, were MUCH quicker for the L-82 cars which are MUCH HEAVIER than the 80 C3, either auto or 4 speed. I have the actual R/T Summaries from 1978/1979which are:

1978 L-82 4 Speed-0-60 MPH-6.5 Secs

1979 L-82 Auto-0-60 MPH-6.6 Secs

Posted this below in Tech section awhile back:

"1978 L-82 220 NET HP/1979 L-82 225 NET HP (Only Difference from 78 L-82 is freer flowing mufflers). Exactly the same engines

1978 L-48 185 NET HP/1979 L-48 190 NET HP-Same exact engines-Mufflers again

Difference-35 Net HP

1978 L-82 4 speed 0-60 MPH 6.5 sec
1978/79 L-48 4 speed/auto-7.8-8.2 0-60 MPH

Big difference!"
These are the numbers most often quoted for the L-82 production cars^^^^. Car and Driver must have had a preproduction 80 C3 L-82 with a 4 speed and 3.07 drive (?) typo above in summary or something else was not right?

 

Thanks - looks like 8.1 is more representative of a L-48 with auto trans.

 

Correct! The 79 L-48 Auto was really a slug at 8.2 sec 0-60 MPH......The L-82's/71 LT-1 were pretty quick for the 70's until 1980 (80 L-82 auto was 6.4 Sec 0-60 MPH).

The 69/70 L-46/LT-1 were in the high 5 sec to low 6.0 second range (5.8-6.1). The same year BB cars could get into the low mid 5.0's IF they could get traction......

 

Where might I find typical 0-60 times for Corvettes?

And do you have any data for a '74 4 speed 454?

 

Chevrolet 0-60 Times | Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, Impala and Malibu (0-60specs.com)

 

Chevrolet 0-60 Times | Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, Impala and Malibu (0-60specs.com)

 

Thanks.

 

That is a pretty good source. Thanks

Just note that some of the times do not specify which engine (Base or high performance), some the times are missing from the literature at the time (78 L-82 4 speed, R/T 6.5 seconds), some of the cars listed are not factory production cars (Duntov Turbo), and one set of data lists the 70 4 speed as a 427 V8 which did not exist (454 V8 in 1970).

If you look at the times and ranges I stated previously, you can get a pretty good approximation of the times these cars did from 1970-1982, depending on the gross or Net HP from the SBC/BB engines produced and which transmissions they came equipped with at that time.

71 LT1/L-82's were 6.3-6.7 sec 0-60 MPH cars bone Stock. Remove emissions, dual exhausts, performance timing etc-All these cars are low 6.0 second cars. I know. I did it to my 78 4 speed.

69/70-L46/LT1-Fasted Factory SBC C3's 0-60 MPH with high 5.7-6.2 second times.

68-74 BB C3's-low to mid 5 second cars, traction limited, 0-60 MPH, closer to mid 5.5-5.7 second cars.

These approximations are from years of owning Corvettes and literature published at the time and my archive research, in general. Hope this helps!

 

Having a '70 4 speed LS5 I noticed that '70 427 as well.... Strange thing is that it is listed in various publications which has me pretty darn confused....