Beginning last Spring, I started looking for a C3 (having owned a C2, a C3 and a C4 over the years), while considering a C5/C6 as an option. In August, I happened on a ‘76 coupe that was on consignment at a local used car lot. What caught my eye was that it was black on black with nice paint and interior. As we all know — well, most of us at least — black was not offered as a factory color for the ‘76 model year. Out of curiousity, I checked the trim tag. The 192 black leather was right, but lo and behold the paint code was “SPEC”. Since there have been numerous threads on this forum dealing with special order C3 paint codes (SPEC, SPC and SPECIAL being the usual designations), I did a little investigating and learned that there were nine ‘76 Corvettes built as special orders, with most or all of them believed to have been delivered by the factory in primer for completion by the selling dealer or the buyer in a presumably non-standard color. This appears to be one of those cars.
Other than the paint code, the car was also interesting for its low mileage (56K) and the fact that the original owner put 50K on it over the course of 30 years. It’s a fully-optioned L48 coupe with the M38 (THM350) trans, born-with block, heads, compressor, carburetor and distributor. The only significant mod is the presence of a fiberglass ‘80-‘82 rear bumper in place of the urethane original.
After checking out the frame (undercoated but solid and rust-free) and birdcage (no visible rust and ultra-clean body mounts behind the kick panels), I struck a deal and brought the car home. The first thing that I did was check the date codes on the “near-new” Firestone Firehawks the car was rolling on. 1999! I guess I was lucky to make it home. I have since installed 2023 BFG Radial T/As and a new spare.
My intent was, and pretty much remains, to tidy the car up (new fan shroud, rag joint, seatbelt retractor, parking brake console and a few other small items) and put it on BringATrailer to see what it might bring. It runs strong and smoke-free, the brake calipers, pads and discs are excellent and the trans shifts just the way it should. The weak spot, visually, is the condition of the various rubber bushings. They appear to be original (not surprising on a low-mileage car) and definitely show their age. The car rides and steers smoothly, with little to no squeaking or rattling, so it’s more of a cosmetic issue, for now at least.
I’m neither a collector nor a fix-and-flipper; I only want a nice, Cars ‘n’ Coffee-level driver. This car meets that bill, but if there’s somebody out there looking for a Corvette with a little bit of a story, this one could be of interest and I’d be happy to talk. Beyond that, I’d like to hear what forum members have to say on any aspect of my situation.

 

I have a SPEC trim tag from a 1976 Corvette… Was ordered by a gentleman that wanted the 1975 Bright Green that was available that year. Couldn’t get it in 1976 so he ordered his car in primer and had it painted as he wanted.

Regards,

Stan Falenski

 

Certainly someone will find it truly special. I see a really nice looking car. But it's just a L48 Automatic.
So, the right buyer is out there.

 

That should be a great cars and coffee level driver for you.

Black C3s with non-stock bumpers are the best looking C3s.

 

Cool that you managed to get the backstory on that tag. Too bad that the car it belonged to was (I assume) scrapped. “And then there were eight…”. I have contact info for the PO of my car and may try to get some history. Title tracking shows that the car was originally titled in Pennsylvania and remained here for 30 years with its original owner. It would be interesting to know the name of the selling dealer and whether they special ordered any other C3s.

 

Decades ago, one of the "higher volume" Corvette dealers on the east coast was 'Palmyra Motors', located in Palmyra, NY, which was about 35-40 miles east of Rochester. My dad was a sales rep for an industrial equipment supplier, and Palmyra, NY was within his sales territory. In the summer, when school was out, and he was heading out to the Palmyra area, I'd ride along with him, and we'd stop at 'Palmyra Motors', to look at the Corvettes. Over that time, we saw several Corvettes that were ordered in primer, and were subsequently painted to order, in the dealership's body shop.

 

I owned a ‘73 L82 4-speed coupe for about 20 years (wish I could find it now), and have long considered the L48 to be the lesser of the two small blocks in terms of power. So I was pleasantly surprised by the off-the-line oomph of this car. A comparison of the ‘76 L82 and L48 numbers explains the reason. The L82’s peak torque is 255 ft.lbs. reached at 3600 rpm. The L48’s peak torque is 270 ft.lbs. @2400 rpm! At 2400 rpm, the L82 is only putting out something in the low 200s. The L82 was originally conceived as the hydraulic-lifter version of the ‘72 LT1, and its big valves and forged internals made it a good option for track days and high-rpm operation. But the L48’s low-end torque proves that it’s no slouch when it comes to (legal) street performance.

 

What a great memory of good times with your dad. I’m guessing that most dealers didn’t want to go through the hassle of special-ordering, moreso if it was going to arrive in primer. If the deal fell through for any reason, the dealer had to paint the car just to break even. Palmyra and a few others must have seen themselves as serving Corvette enthusiasts. Bryner Chevrolet in Jenkintown, PA was our local one, sponsoring the Corvette Club of Delaware Valley and hosting an annual “Cavalcade of Corvettes”. I don’t know whether they got involved in special orders, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

 

It would be interesting to talk to the original owner as it may - MAY have been painted Black at St Louis.

There were 30 Factory painted Black 1973's supposed to be all from HORY chevrolet, at least 2 well documented- 1971's (a LT1 coupe & a LS5 Roadster) and 2 well documented -1972's. (1 coupe 1 roadster both base engine)


The 1971 LT1, LS5 and one of the 1973 L82 4 speed cars are original paint and reside in Greenville SC.
The 71 order forms have alternate colors listed.
The roadster order form says build in Brandshatch Green if Black not available and the LT1 says build in Silver if Black not available.
The 1971 LS5 and my brother's 1973 L82 are both high percentage original paint Top Flight Cars - iirc at the regional - one lost 85 points the other 105

My brother and I also own the Black 1971 LT1

 

My painter of many years (almost 30 now) gave me about 40 trim tags at one point in time. The 1976 SPEC tag and a 1968 900/STD were probably the most interesting. My dad has them now (he liked them better than I did). Yes, the 1976 car that belonged to that tag is gone…. Such a shame as it would have been a really cool car with a cool story if saved. Funny thing is that it was a Pennsylvania delivered car as well.

What’s the story on the VIN search app? Looks like it checks for registered/titled cars. Way back when, I used to track down cars and determine car history for people. This would have been a great tool!

Anyway, enjoy your 1976 Corvette, it appears to be an interesting one!

Regards,

Stan Falenski

 

Yes, I do have many fond memories of spending time, like that, with my dad. Sadly, he died far too young, and he is most definitely missed....

'Palmyra Motors' was owned by a somewhat eccentric gentleman by the name of Howard Van Bortel. As previously mentioned, he was one of the largest Chevrolet dealers for Corvettes, on the east coast, and ironically he was located in a relatively small town. However, he passed the torch to his daughter, Kitty Van Bortel, who owns several dealerships in the Rochester area, and she has taken over leadership in the Corvette market, in the area, at her Chevy store.

 

If I could get a look at the tank sticker, it might show whether the car left St. Louis in primer, or was painted there. One of the nine SPEC ‘76 cars (not mine) has this tank sticker:


Note that the right-hand column indicates 4001XA SPEC and that 4001XA is then explained as PAINT BODY IN PRIME. I don’t want to drop the tank and don’t have the skills or equipment to snake a flexible lens down past the rubber seal that surrounds the fuel filler neck. So for now the question remains unanswered.

 

My wife found the vindata.com site online. I wanted to verify the original mileage and the title history and it had the info I needed.

 

Is that a "free" site, or do they charge for their services?

 

[QUOTE=leadfoot4;1607272680]Is that a "free" site, or do they charge for their services?[/QUOTE

I believe that it’s a pay site, but you can check it out yourself at vindata.com