Generally speaking, a #2 '75-'80 Trans Am is worth twice a '75-'80 Vette & it's been like this for a long time.

But they've had the hype for years.......Smokey and the Bandit.

 

Funny you say that, because up until about 10 years ago, Trans Ams of the years you mentioned had a stigma(s) attached to them, and you couldn't give them away. Enough time has passed where people have forgotten those stigmas, and they are coming into their own.

The disco-era bulbous C3 Corvette carries its own stigma, I suppose, and someday maybe that will fade into the dustbin of history too.

How about this Trans Am from the movie 'The Jerk". Probably considered cool at that the time, but as the mid-80's and beyond came into the picture - love it or hate it now,,,one of the Trans Ams stigmas were created.... Disco/Stayin' Alive, excess to the point of gaudiness, hairy chests, pimped out, etc, etc.

Now everyone thinks of Smokey and the Bandit when they see these cars, just like in the 70's when the movies were popular, and they are popular again. If Corvette Summer, or similar movie featuring a stock (or stock looking) Corvette of the time period had been as popular as the Smokey and the Bandit, maybe things would be different today with the C3. Rocky Balboa also had a Trans Am in Rocky II.

 

Interesting discussion. We have experience with 2 C3s.

We bought our first one (a '72 base roadster; 4 spd; both tops; painted a non-stock color) on a whim about 7 years ago. We were on a weekend road trip in our C7 - about 75 miles from our home - and passed the '72 sitting in a driveway with a for sale sign in the window. It was a 60 mph 2-lane road and I said to my wife "that looked nice". She said "turn around and look at it". I always obey my wife. Long story short: nice solid car, well taken care of, and we paid (as I remember) $22k for it. As I was putting $ into it (all new brakes, lots of other parts, etc.) I was getting ready to tackle some bigger jobs on it. We'd already put about $5k+ into it and I thought to myself 'if I'm going to do all this work, I might as well find a C3 that is worth a bit more when it's done'.

So, I started looking at different C3s for sale. I found a '68 L71 roadster on the forum from a great member. It took us several months to figure out a deal that worked. He'd had the car for 11 years, and I communicated with the prior owner who had it for over 20 years. It was very solid too, low miles, all there, and painted a non-stock color but otherwise essentially non-molested. I traded him our '72 and more cash than I wanted - and he probably felt not enough - so it was a 'fair deal for us both'. I got an enclosed hauler and took our '72 to his place in CA, did the deal, and loaded up the '68.

We've had the '68 for 4+ years. I bought it as an investment. But not a financial investment. I bought it as a 'sanity' investment - one that I could work on as I wanted, enjoy driving it, and put some $$$ into it and only lose part of the money I put into it at the end of the day. It's my 'clear the cobwebs' investment. I enjoy working on it and have done of ton of work on it - lots of the work because of the 'while I'm in there' disease. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ix-thread.html https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-in-there.html

Counting the '72 and the cash for the trade, and the $ we've put into it since we bought it, I'm sure we have $80k+ into it, and am not done. I have all the receipts, but I haven't added them up. Except for the diff and TA rebuild, I've done all the labor myself, with my son and occasionally my wife.

The reason I share this story is that, as many have said, most classic cars are not owned by hobbyists for financial gain. We own them for the love of the cars, the classic lines of our C3s, and for mental health as a place to go and putz. In the end, I'll lose money on the '68 and I'm okay with that - I waaaaaay more than make up with it in other ways. Best, Paul

 

It could have been we'd be talking about Aero-Vette style Corvettes now. But by the mid 70's GM had a lot on their hands. So much of GM's dollars and engineering talent were being consumed by a complete re-think & re-design of their line to match changing consumer tastes (and japanese imports).

The B ad G body car lines (their bread & butter cars), were all new. That's the 77-78 Impala. G-body cars were all new. The X-platform, the new "Japanese car killer" platform (Citation, remember those?) which was supposed to be the next BIG thing, was all new in 1980. Then the Malibu's, then the 83 (turned out 83 1/2) Corvette. At the same time integrating computerized engine controls (CCC), and EFI. It's been said that the investment GM made at the time was (perhaps) the largest investment ever made by a corporation to redo a portfolio in such a short period. They gobbled up so many chips computer companies it (reportedly) hampered computer development.

Trucks which by the late early 80's were getting long in the tooth, re-development started in 82 but not ready till 88. But it paid off b/c the early success of Impala and G-body cars paid the way for other car development incl the new F-bodies & 84 Vette's.

Therefor during the mid 70's, the low-volume Corvette had to soldier on its own as-was for a few years with minimal development. Similar for F-body cars. But Pontiac found a way to make lemonade out of what they had w/o spending a ton of dollars.

 

Never understood the raves for the later 70s trans ams. That car was about 198 inches long and near 4k lbs. To compare, a 69 C3 and 66 Mustang are about 182 inches long each. The 78 trans am makes the 69 Road Runner look svelte. On the other hand, the Trans am would seem to offer a lot of room under the hood to work!

 

GM also mistakenly spent a fortune on the Wankel engine that did not pan out. Lou.

 

$50 Million......in 1970..

 

The man from Jupiter made it famous.

 

Got that right.....they call him the bandit .... An outlaw untamed

 

And let's not forget "Major Boobage"

 

my opinion..
prices will always be lower than other muscle cars .the C3 corvette was the most especially the 68-77 messed with and abused car of its time .. the other muscle cars are much less money to restore than the corvette as well. Example.. just a quality paint job for a vette is 20k+ compared to 8k for other muscle cars

 

I agree that steel/chrome bumper C3s hold more interest & collector value for many buyers. I'm hoping when my '70 hits 55 yrs old, it will attract more attention & $$$ from buyers.

 

I would rather have my 77 than any trans am, A gto MIGHT CHANGE MY MINE A 1965 WITH 4 SPEED AND TRI POWER

 

lolololol…great clip
and lyrics new corvette was a c3

 

Most of the steel body cars from the 70's-80's rusted away and were scrapped. Although Corvettes were of much lower production than let's say Chevelle's a lot of C3's have been saved. No one scrapped a Vette back in the day unless it was a complete write off. Even then some of them made it back on the road. The lower horsepower has hurt the rubber bumper Malaise Era Vette's. But probably the biggest factor is as we get older and newer cars improve the rough ride, and harder to climb in and out of plays into it. At least for me and my 60+ yr old friends.

 

My 75 L48 4 speed convertible
This is a well kept one owner then sold to me. I have the Vintage Vehicle GM Historical documents for it. The original owner is probably close to 10 yrs older than me and I'm in my mid 60's. He seldom drove it after doing a $$$ restoration. I also find very little drive time for it either. I've owned C3's since 1979 when I was in my 20's. Still like em, just not feasible as a daily good weather driver in city traffic. Most of my old Corvette friends have long ago sold theirs and moved on to a bigger "cruiser style" vintage car or have gotten over the old car bug altogether. It's a bit weird for me as I well remember looking at these new in the showroom and buying 4-5 yr old C3's to now getting into a 48 yr old creaky plastic sports car.

 

I agree I could never DD mine either and they meant to last more than 5 years. The suspension in any C3 are absolutely horrible.In the 80’s I rebuilt the whole suspension from top to bottom and my teeth still shattered lol

 

Buy a newer ride parts are hard to find. And the prices out of this world!

 

I have a 2021 Kia gt2 for my daily....I need new brake rotors, can only get them through the dealer and I replaced the spark plugs the other day.....$19.49 a piece!

 

IMHO the C3 is gaining in price and popularity pretty quickly!!!!!

It is the longest running model to date. Ironically 1979, considered the worst year for horsepower, sold more vettes than any other year.

The problem now is, since there were so many made, and they were taken for granted so long, they are now getting a little scarce. Especially the 75 to 82. Those low horsepower plastic cars have been modified and rebuilt, were left to rot in yards all over America. The metal consoles and dash parts were all replaced with plastic and smog control.

BUT, all that can be fixed and improved upon. You can take a late model C3 and customize and improve it without fear of butchering a classic car. Even the mid years are gaining in price and collectability.

1974 is generally considered the last of the "Muscle Cars" with decent horsepower. The 1974 LS4 Corvette was one of the best. What's that you say? it only produced 270 horsepower from a 454. But, the lightweight vette was one of, if not the, fastest car on the road at the time. The big boy was the Trans Am, with 290 screaming horsepower from a 455.

All those 74 and earlier vettes are getting more and more popular. Even the smog mobiles since they can all be "fixed".

The Trans Am is fug bugly in my opinion, but Burt and Sally made it look GOOD.