When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I always get a laugh out of the "chrome bumper cars were better than the rubber bumper cars" nonsense. I've owned many of both and they've all been great cars. But if anyone really wants to push the point, do your homework first. The rubber bumper cars outsold the chrome bumper cars at a rate of 2 to 1 and even up to 3 to 1 on any given year. American, new car buyers LOVED the rubber bumper cars and there's just no arguing with the sales figures. So, enjoy your Vette, no matter what year it is, but don't disparage other years just because you believe yours is "better". In my way of thinking, I would takeany year of Corvette, from 1953 all the way to 2023, over anything Ford or Chrysler had to offer against it.
2025 C8 Z06/7/E-Ray of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2021 C8 of the Year Finalist Unmodified
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C1 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2017 Corvette of the Year Finalist
2016 C2 of Year
2015 C3 of Year Finalist
You have to pay a premium for these ultra low mile vehicles. Then, if you drive them, the value diminishes.
One thing for sure, there will be a fair amount of sorting to make it road worthy.
I recently bought an 82 Collector Edition with 8,800 miles. It's taken me 6 months to sort it out. Worth it though. It drives and looks like a new 82. I'm driving it.
Sitting just isn't good for cars.
2025 c3 ('74-'82) of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2022 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2020 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
I'll take it further. If I couldn't drive my Vette I would have to sell it. The pain of only being able to look at it...
The chassis on this is incredible, the markings....everything. How could you get that dirty for the 1st time?
Not my thing. To be at $25k already though.....could be a world-record '76 when it's all said & done.
Yep. I agree. And the same b.s. about the a/c only needing charging. If it was true they'd charge the dang thing and say that it works. Wouldn't even want the thing. It's a dumb buy to spend that much on a 76 rubber car. Can't drive it, and if you do then it's just another old car ............
Originally Posted by Bikespace
Well, I wouldn't buy it, and if someone gave it to me, I'd just sell it.
I would drive it. Cars, motorcycles and airplanes are not museum art.....they are machines that need to be experienced for what they were designed for. Screw the monetary value, or originality. Finding a car like this means its got lot of life in it.....and it should be experienced. I feel sorry for people who cannot find the soul in the machine......my life would have been far less meaningful without it. A car like this ESPECIALLY needs to be driven.... moreso than others.
Not a chrome bumper car so to me a dime a dozen, no power just plain fugly .
Yeah....some say that.....others like me thing the rubber bumper Corvettes have the styling lines the car was meant to have......especially 80-82 when the length and aerodynamic styling was as sleek as a jet.
The whole "chrome bumper" nonsense and fanaticism is made up by people who own chrome bumper Corvettes who just love to hate the others. Not everyone sees it that way.
For me....I like them all, and don't exclude a group of cars over the nonsense about bumpers. As I say all the time.....the entire C3 generation is 90% the same car, with very minor cosmetic differences, and some power differences as a result of the federal government and their EPA nonsense.
Yeah....some say that.....others like me thing the rubber bumper Corvettes have the styling lines the car was meant to have......especially 80-82 when the length and aerodynamic styling was as sleek as a jet.
The whole "chrome bumper" nonsense and fanaticism is made up by people who own chrome bumper Corvettes who just love to hate the others. Not everyone sees it that way.
For me....I like them all, and don't exclude a group of cars over the nonsense about bumpers. As I say all the time.....the entire C3 generation is 90% the same car, with very minor cosmetic differences, and some power differences as a result of the federal government and their EPA nonsense.
Kinda like saying you have the best ever bell housing .
Yeah....some say that.....others like me thing the rubber bumper Corvettes have the styling lines the car was meant to have......especially 80-82 when the length and aerodynamic styling was as sleek as a jet.
The whole "chrome bumper" nonsense and fanaticism is made up by people who own chrome bumper Corvettes who just love to hate the others. Not everyone sees it that way.
For me....I like them all, and don't exclude a group of cars over the nonsense about bumpers. As I say all the time.....the entire C3 generation is 90% the same car, with very minor cosmetic differences, and some power differences as a result of the federal government and their EPA nonsense.
I agree and I am a 68-69 owner. I really like this car. Yes, I get the whole 'meant to be driven' part. I drive mine and never care about miles. With that, I appreciate seeing a pristine example of how they looked in the day.
I have owned my 68 since 1985. Back then nobody gave a rat's *** about C3s. The rage was all C2. I see the rubber bumpers going up. My favorite is the 78 SA.
It's not a fantasy about the power chrome bumper corvettes had back in the day no more than when the corvettes came out with fiberglass bumpers and had a whopping 220 hp I can be off a little there but their were no power options on those cars and were gutless wonders so that's why I like chrome bumper corvettes and I don't hate the others it's just not my cup of tea hell it takes at least 650 hp to even get me remotely excited .
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.