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My Boss has a 1980 L82 C3. I was told that his Vette is super rare and could possibly be a brass hat Vette made for someone important. It has 9k original miles and is the cleanest and most immaculate Vette I've ever seen. It was in a museum half of it's life so made me wonder how rare the car is. Can anyone give some insight about this car and it's history of the early production L82 vettes??? It has a 6 in the 5th digit in the vin and has the L82 under the needle of the tach. Documentation also backs it's a true L82 4spd. Will get more pics of stamps ect soon
Last edited by Brian Ray; Feb 4, 2021 at 07:01 AM.
If it has radio delete then it’s rare , less than 201 made , trailer hitch is next at 796 units followed by HD battery 1330 units , dark metallic green is the rarest color
If it has radio delete then it’s rare , less than 201 made , trailer hitch is next at 796 units followed by HD battery 1330 units , dark metallic green is the rarest color
He purchased it Christmas 2019 and since then has added tasteful mods and options to it himself. For instance, GM cruise control, 140mph speedometer, oil temp gauge in replace of the clock, ashtray delete in replace of a/f and boost vacuum gauges, aluminum polished Vette steering wheel, rear defrost, custom fab driver power seat, rally wheels, CB radio, new speaker's, mishimoto aluminum radiator, high flow water pump, 160° stat, Holley sniper EFI kit, Elderbrock intake manifold, engine dress kit, cat delete with magna flow mufflers with duel tips, next mod will be the shorty tuck polished stainless steel headers with true dual exhaust.
This has come up before. There was a quickly dismissed rumor of some number of 4-speed L82 cars making it out of the factory. Why would GM risk the wrath of the EPA by doing that? There are ZERO documented 1980 Corvettes that came from the factory with both an L82 and a 4-speed. Zero. So, yes, it is rare, but is it original?
I see in the photo in Post 12 that it has a manual transmission (and in post 8 a shifter). I do not see the L82 badges that should be on the sides of the car above the side vents. Those are easy to put on, but few people remove them. I see the same LT-1 style valve covers that are on my 1980 L48 4-speed, and that engine looks restored, not original, so many other things could have changed.
Do the numbers match? Is the partial VIN stamped on that transmission (not 100% sure it should be). More telling, is the code "ZBD" on the engine stamp pad, with a matching, partial VIN? Is the 5th digit of the VIN a "6" indicating an L82 engine?
The GM Historical Archives can get you a copy of the car's dealer invoice. Almost certainly, it is an L48 car, and may still have the L48, or a replacement L82, or it was an L82 car with a 4-speed conversion.
Super cool car either way. 4-speed 80s are favorite, and that one is super clean. If your boss still has it, he should put the dual-snorkel air cleaner back on. Especially with EFI, that can adjust tuning to take advantage of the cooler air, it is the best option for a stock-ish HP C3.
Last edited by Bikespace; Feb 4, 2021 at 02:14 AM.
This has come up before. There was a quickly dismissed rumor of some number of 4-speed L82 cars making it out of the factory. Why would GM risk the wrath of the EPA by doing that? There are ZERO documented 1980 Corvettes that came from the factory with both an L82 and a 4-speed. Zero. So, yes, it is rare, but is it original?
I see in the photo in Post 12 that it has a manual transmission (and in post 8 a shifter). I do not see the L82 badges that should be on the sides of the car above the side vents. Those are easy to put on, but few people remove them. I see the same LT-1 style valve covers that are on my 1980 L48 4-speed, and that engine looks restored, not original, so many other things could have changed.
Do the numbers match? Is the partial VIN stamped on that transmission (not 100% sure it should be). More telling, is the code "ZBD" on the engine stamp pad, with a matching, partial VIN? Is the 5th digit of the VIN a "6" indicating an L82 engine?
The GM Historical Archives can get you a copy of the car's dealer invoice. Almost certainly, it is an L48 car, and may still have the L48, or a replacement L82, or it was an L82 car with a 4-speed conversion.
Super cool car either way. 4-speed 80s are favorite, and that one is super clean. If your boss still has it, he should put the dual-snorkel air cleaner back on. Especially with EFI, that can adjust tuning to take advantage of the cooler air, it is the best option for a stock-ish HP C3.
When he bought the car it was all original.the 5th digit of the VIN is a 6. He has all the documents including the window sticker. It's a true L82 out the factory. It may even be a brass hat car. We are still digging research on that. He still has the twin snorkle air cleaner, with the engine dress kit and chrome air cleaner.He just did the Holley Sniper EFI conversion kit so its not on the car in that pic. I may have a pic of it on and even before he added the dress kit but the Rochester 4 barrel had to go. He has personalized the car and doing tasteful mods. And added all the options including a GM cruise control, and even custom fab a power seat with true GM 6 position switch.. Wasn't until 81 they made a power seat.. He is a short guy 5'6 and he had to have it lol. He added rear defrost back glass with GM factory switch. He is a electrical contractor by trade so all the wiring is done like it came out the factory. He built all the harnesses for every option he has added, Another way we knew it was a true L82 car is the tach has L82 under the needle in small bold outlined letters. But we already knew that by the 6 in the VIN.so it being a black on black 4spd L82 we knew it was rare.it still has the factory yellow paint marker writing underneath. He purchased this Vette out of Nixa Missouri at www.corvettesunlimited.com
Last edited by Brian Ray; Feb 4, 2021 at 06:29 AM.
I'll ruin the punchline for you: It turned out to be a 1980 L48 4-speed.
It's not a L48 it's a true L82 with a 6 in the 5th digit of the VIN. Along with the L82 under the needle of the tach. All the documents he has also back that up.
Last edited by Brian Ray; Feb 4, 2021 at 06:00 AM.
Can you post the window sticker (from Corvette's Unlimited, perhaps?), and a picture of the engine stamp pad?
The GM Media Archive should have a copy of the dealer invoice. If it only has 9000 miles, and has never been restored, the build sticker will be above the fuel tank, and will show the same information. You can use a borescope to see it, and perhaps even read it.
Those are L48 valve covers in your photo in Post 18.
Can you post the window sticker (from Corvette's Unlimited, perhaps?), and a picture of the engine stamp pad?
The GM Media Archive should have a copy of the dealer invoice. If it only has 9000 miles, and has never been restored, the build sticker will be above the fuel tank, and will show the same information. You can use a borescope to see it, and perhaps even read it.
Those are L48 valve covers in your photo in Post 18.
I will have him get all the pics and get pics of all the documents and I'll post them asap. Here is the pic of it factory. These valve covers are L48? That's odd since he said he has verified all that you mentioned of it being a L82.
Rare 1980 L82 C3?
If your boss still has it, he should put the dual-snorkel air cleaner back on. Especially with EFI, that can adjust tuning to take advantage of the cooler air, it is the best option for a stock-ish HP C3.
