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 am now the proud owner of a 1970 LS-5 Convertible Corvette! I just took delivery of it this afternoon and am only now getting inside to my computer to type this. This is a matching numbers car that came with the Protect-o-Plate and has what I believe to be the tank sticker still attached to the tank. There's a decent chance the seller will find the original window sticker as well, along with some kind of "model" that the dealer provided at the time of original sale.
I will post details and pics tomorrow after I get home from work. Thanks to everyone that helped me in the last couple months!
Congratulations on your awesome new ride. I know you worked hard, did the necessary research and scoured the country to find the right car for you. I’m sure it will bring you years of enjoyment, which you deserve.
Now get those photos posted so everyone else can enjoy that beast you have tucked away in your garage waiting for the weather to improve.
Hi ZRX,
Well, a new old Corvette for you!!!
And it looks like a beauty!
I hope you have lot's of pleasure from it.
The model... during the 60s and 70s dealers had a supply of 1/25th scale car models often made by AMT. They typically came in a small white cardboard box. They were not a kit... they were a complete little car.
Since dealers used them for promotion of their car line they were called 'promotionals'. Salesmen often gave them away to kids who visited the showroom with their parents.
People started collecting them and many folks amassed large collections.... hundreds and even thousands of examples..
Some of the models became very expensive because of their make, year, model, or color.
Their popularity has seemed to wane as the decades have gone by.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
The 70-72 models were typically molded in one color plastic and had chrome plated plastic pieces for the front and rear bumpers, front grills, exhaust bezels and wheels.
This example has been 'detailed' a little with a black painted interior and painted rocker trim.
Hi ZRX,
Well, a new old Corvette for you!!!
And it looks like a beauty!
I hope you have lot's of pleasure from it.
The model... during the 60s and 70s dealers had a supply of 1/25th scale car models often made by AMT. They typically came in a small white cardboard box. They were not a kit... they were a complete little car.
Since dealers used them for promotion of their car line they were called 'promotionals'. Salesmen often gave them away to kids who visited the showroom with their parents.
People started collecting them and many folks amassed large collections.... hundreds and even thousands of examples..
Some of the models became very expensive because of their make, year, model, or color.
Their popularity has seemed to wane as the decades have gone by.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
The 70-72 models were typically molded in one color plastic and had chrome plated plastic pieces for the front and rear bumpers, front grills, exhaust bezels and wheels.
This example has been 'detailed' a little with a black painted interior and painted rocker trim.
Is there an NCRS manual that details what those models should look like?
Just kidding, that's very cool, Alan. Did those cars come in all of the colors offered on Corvettes at the time?
Woohooo! Congrats, she sure looks like a beauty! That year/model would have been my first pick but my current project came along and I couldn't pass it up.
I became aware of this car back in the beginning of January. The car was located in Arizona, and I happen to have a very close friend that lives about 45 minutes away from where the car was located, so he went and saw the car for me. After he gave it a “big thumbs up,” I booked a flight out there to see it for myself. What I found was a no-rust AZ car, that appeared to have never been in any type of accident. The car started and ran well, and looked absolutely striking—especially when the top was down. Needless to say, I bought the car the second day I was there.
The seller, who has only owned the car for about a year, buys and sells cars as a hobby. He is a restorer and an aficionado of old muscle cars. Very good guy. Not counting him, the car had 2 other owners, both of whom currently live in AZ and are now in their 80s.
After I bought the car, I spoke to the original owner. He struck me as a very nice, honest man. He told me about how the car was purchased for his wife in 1970, when they lived in Minnesota. He was working for a Chevy Dealership called Dondelinger Chevy at the time. They however would not give him any kind of deal on a Corvette, so he didn’t buy it there. He said, “Dealerships never give their employees good deals!” Is that true?J He ended up buying the car from Downtown Chevytown, in Minneapolis.
He said he ordered the car and that when it was delivered to the dealership, it was the “wrong” color. He said his wife had wanted Mulsanne Blue, but instead the car came Bridgehampton Blue. For whatever reason, she hated that color. He said she tried to get used to it, but in 1971-72, he finally said, “Why don’t we just trade it in on a different Corvette? That car was “her” car however, and she did not want to replace it. He then suggested they repaint it, to which she agreed. He had it painted at Dondelinger Chevy. At that time, he also had vinyl added to the original non-vinyl hardtop, painting it a lighter color of the body color.
Funny but true: Because of the experience with the “wrong” color of blue, she was completely turned off to blue. For that reason, she opted to have the car painted Laguna Gray. While explaining this to me, he laughed and said, that after that experience, she hated blue so much that she made him get rid of a blue pickup truck that he owned!
His wife was so careful with the car that she never had it out in the rain, nor was it ever out of the garage in the winter (she had a winter car). In 1979, they moved to AZ, which is where the car has lived ever since (until I came along!). Once in AZ, they found they needed to add AC to the car and had Vintage Air installed. I asked if the car had ever been in an accident or had any rust and he said, "Oh no--never."
Shortly before his wife died at the end of the 1990s, he sold the car to his longtime neighbor. It had 61,000 miles on it at the time. He included the original dealer invoice and (as Alan explained), a promotional model of the car from the time of purchase (current whereabouts of both unknown, but hopefully to be located).
I asked him if he had any old pictures of the car, and he said he would check. He then said he might still have the Assembly Manual, and would check for that as well.
Because I felt a kind-of bond with him, now that I owned “his” car, I asked him if it would be OK to mail him a picture of the car at its new home. He said that would be nice. We agreed that I would call him back in a few days. The last thing he said to me before we hung up was, “Enjoy that Corvette. It’s special.” Wow. After listening to his recollections of the car, and hearing him say that about the car being special, I instantly felt connected to a car that I didn’t even have in my garage yet and only had seen for a couple hours, days earlier. (The weather was holding up the shipping).
When I called the original owner back a few days later, he said he had gotten rid of everything connected to the Corvette. He apologized and said that after further consideration, he would prefer that I did *not* send him any pictures of the car, as that “chapter” of his life was now closed. (I’m sure he meant it would’ve been too painful.)
The second buyer, who is also in his 80s, recently sold the car to my seller, with just over 71,000 miles on it. So he obviously didn’t drive it much. At some point I plan on calling the second owner and finding out more about the car.
At this point, the biggest problem with the car is that the foam cushions in the seats is disintegrating. It’s filtering through the seat covers (which look to be in fantastic shape), which you can see in the pics to follow.
Some other facts about the car: it has a new white rag top; all the fiber optics work; the vacuum override switches all work as do the headlights; there are some drips under the car; I have the Vintage AC compressor; the original radio in a box, along with the original clock; and for something really exciting… It looks like the tank sticker is there (see upcoming pic.)
Using my endoscope camera, I snaked it past the rubber gas tank filler surround and located it. So I have something to look forward to when I attempt to unearth that easter egg in the future!
Enjoy the upcoming pictures!
Last edited by ZRXGreen; 02-13-2018 at 10:45 PM.
Reason: Clarification
02-13-2018, 12:18 AM
I've Officially Joined the Club!
