76 Corvette
Thread Starter
3rd Gear
Joined: Feb 2026
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76 Corvette
I am thinking about buying a vet but was wondering if the fiberglass body is going to cost me money down the road. Ive looked at a few with the paint spidering and some fiberglass damage. I was told that old fiberglass will spider and be a lifelong issue as long as I own it. Any ideas about this before I invest in one?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 2,711
Likes: 2,160
From: Minnesota
Welcome to the forum!
Post #107 of this thread has a lot of good buying advice. Besides rust, paint can be one of the hardest and most expensive things fix on one of these cars. Spider webbing is pretty common on a car with original paint. It’s up to you to decide if it’s bad enough to do anything about it. A good paint job can easily cost 10-15 grand. Usually a ‘76 with good paint costs less than that.
Post some pictures of the car you’re looking at! Theres lots of very knowledgeable people on here, and they can tell you anything else to look at on it.
Post #107 of this thread has a lot of good buying advice. Besides rust, paint can be one of the hardest and most expensive things fix on one of these cars. Spider webbing is pretty common on a car with original paint. It’s up to you to decide if it’s bad enough to do anything about it. A good paint job can easily cost 10-15 grand. Usually a ‘76 with good paint costs less than that.
Post some pictures of the car you’re looking at! Theres lots of very knowledgeable people on here, and they can tell you anything else to look at on it.
Thread Starter
3rd Gear
Joined: Feb 2026
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Welcome to the forum!
Post #107 of this thread has a lot of good buying advice. Besides rust, paint can be one of the hardest and most expensive things fix on one of these cars. Spider webbing is pretty common on a car with original paint. It’s up to you to decide if it’s bad enough to do anything about it. A good paint job can easily cost 10-15 grand. Usually a ‘76 with good paint costs less than that.
Post some pictures of the car you’re looking at! Theres lots of very knowledgeable people on here, and they can tell you anything else to look at on it.
Post #107 of this thread has a lot of good buying advice. Besides rust, paint can be one of the hardest and most expensive things fix on one of these cars. Spider webbing is pretty common on a car with original paint. It’s up to you to decide if it’s bad enough to do anything about it. A good paint job can easily cost 10-15 grand. Usually a ‘76 with good paint costs less than that.
Post some pictures of the car you’re looking at! Theres lots of very knowledgeable people on here, and they can tell you anything else to look at on it.
It may be that the fiberglass is effected as well.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 2,711
Likes: 2,160
From: Minnesota
The front and rear bumpers of ‘74 and up (only front of ‘73s) are made of polyurethane rather than fiberglass. They commonly look like that. Luckily they are much easier to replace and paint versus the actual body of the car. The fronts are especially prone to cracking because people often bump things forgetting how long the front ends of these cars are.
1967 Pedal Car Champion
Joined: Mar 2020
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From: US-PNW
Jeffmo64, I don't consider my Corvette bodies and paint difficult to care for — the costs to repaint a Corvette are about the same as doing the same level of repaint on any other vintage car. It's not the body that makes an expensive paint job but the expectations of the owner.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2007
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From: Omaha NE
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 2,077
Likes: 334
From: Dallas TX
St. Jude Donor '06-'09,'22,'25
The last Corvette to use traditional hand-laid fiberglass for its body panels was the '72 model. Starting with the '73 model year, Chevrolet transitioned to Sheet Molded Composite (SMC) which is a stronger more rigid fiberglass-resin blend. Even later model Corvettes are made with SMC and their bodies don't have issues.
Good luck with your search.
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Racer
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From: Pikes Peak region Colorado
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Some things to think about.
Chrome bumpered cars have a bigger following and command usually a higher price. The fiber glass bodies are about the same difficultly level as the later SMC bodied vettes.
In 1976 GM used steel floor pans for the first time in an effort to block heat from the exhaust systems and it made the interior not quite as noisy or hot.
Parts for either one can be just as hard to find but you will generally pay more for the earlier vette parts.
If you can not do most of the work yourself it may hard to find trusted and competent shops that will even work on our cars.
I would buy the most car for your money that you can, that is of course if it has not been all hacked up.
Chrome bumpered cars have a bigger following and command usually a higher price. The fiber glass bodies are about the same difficultly level as the later SMC bodied vettes.
In 1976 GM used steel floor pans for the first time in an effort to block heat from the exhaust systems and it made the interior not quite as noisy or hot.
Parts for either one can be just as hard to find but you will generally pay more for the earlier vette parts.
If you can not do most of the work yourself it may hard to find trusted and competent shops that will even work on our cars.
I would buy the most car for your money that you can, that is of course if it has not been all hacked up.
Le Mans Master
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This is clearly DAMAGE / NEGLECT, once a Corvette is painted "CORRECTLY" & I say again "CORRECTLY" garaged, & taken care of, it shouldn't have any paint issues. The rest of the car now that's a different story ( especially RUST ) !!
