Best Gift Ever!
Thread Starter
1st Gear
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 1
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Best Gift Ever!
About a week ago, my wife got me a 1977 Corvette for my 40th birthday. Obviously this was the best gift ever. She knew I had always dreamed about owning a C3 so she went and found one. It's a 1977 that is completely original with 25k miles. It was mostly kept in a barn and still smells like it. The transmission is automatic and it came with a 350 engine. While you can tell it's as old as I am, she looks great. The engine feels a bit sluggish and seems to get very hot after a day of driving. The rear lights don't work when you turn on the headlights and I have no interior lights at all.
While I have dreamed about owning one for as long as I can remember, I am not mechanically inclined. I am taking it to someone who is. I do not want to crazy modify the car, as I love the original look; but I would love to clean her up really good, give her some performance upgrades, and make her as reliable as possible for our trip down Route 66. That's our ultimate goal for this car.
With that said, I would love to hear from the community on any insight you can share for maintaining this amazing car, what not to do, ideas for upgrades in performance, best ways for care (daily or winterizing as I live in the midwest), and anything else you feel like sharing.
Thanks!
While I have dreamed about owning one for as long as I can remember, I am not mechanically inclined. I am taking it to someone who is. I do not want to crazy modify the car, as I love the original look; but I would love to clean her up really good, give her some performance upgrades, and make her as reliable as possible for our trip down Route 66. That's our ultimate goal for this car.
With that said, I would love to hear from the community on any insight you can share for maintaining this amazing car, what not to do, ideas for upgrades in performance, best ways for care (daily or winterizing as I live in the midwest), and anything else you feel like sharing.
Thanks!
Enjoy while you can.
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 18,220
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From: 10th District Court OHIO
Ohio Events Coordinator
2025 Corvette of the Year Winner - Unmodified
2024 C2 of the Year Winner - Unmodified
2023 C8 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
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St. Jude Donor '14 thru '26
Congrats and welcome aboard. You should find the info you are looking for here on the forum in the C3 section:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...performance-3/
Good luck
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...performance-3/
Good luck
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 15,066
Likes: 4,756
From: Washington Township Michigan
2025 C8 Stingray of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2024 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
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2020 C6 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2019 C6 of Year Finalist (appearance mods)
Welcome to the forum!
Congrats. on your C3 and the great gift from your wife!
Congrats. on your C3 and the great gift from your wife!
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 368,122
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From: In a parallel universe. Currently own 2014 Stingray Coupe.
C7 of the Year - Modified Finalist 2021
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St. Jude Donor '03 thru '25
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Congrats on your C3 and welcome to the forum. I'll echo the comment that you should check out the C3 sections of the forum.
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