Last week I picked up a running/driving 1971 project car. It's an early build, originally Mulsanne blue with the standard black interior. The car was fully loaded with the big block, automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, A/C, and power windows.

Today, the car sports maroon paint (nicknamed Boston Bake Bean by my mom), with an L-88 style hood, period-correct "upgrades", and almost all A/C system components/brackets removed.

The seller drove the car about an hour to deliver it to me last week (I had only seen it and heard it run). My first drive in the car was on Saturday to the Tacoma Corvette Club open house which which was almost 100 miles round trip. It made the trip reliably and gave me time to identify items to work on.

The open house was fun - hosted at Corvettes of Auburn, it attracts Corvette clubs from all over the region for simple social gathering to kick off the season. Our club in Kitsap County had 14 members attend the open house. Some of us traveled together after meeting at the local Chevy dealer.




The car cruised comfortably at highway speeds with good oil pressure and comfortable coolant temps.



We arrived at just the right moment to get parked near the front door. I heard the official count was 133 Corvettes in attendance.





All in all, not a bad way to spend an afternoon and do the initial shakedown of the car.

Here's a list of all the issues/projects I noticed on the maiden voyage.

• intermittently occurring clunk at the rear of the car when stopping or taking off (half shaft u-joints?)
• passenger side headlight is very stubborn to open (was only able to get it to open one time)
• fiber optic indicators on center console are all non-functioning
• tachometer is non functioning
• odometer is non functioning (there is an oil change sticker on the windshield that is several years old and has the same mileage, so it's not a recent issue)
• voltmeter is non functioning
• clock is non functioning
• turn signal cancelling cam isn't functioning
• aftermarket Sony stereo and power antenna isn't functioning (head unit won't power on and antenna remains retracted)
• needs a tune up (belches an enormous amount of black smoke under WOT accelerations)
• driver power window will not go down without forceful assistance
• rear view mirror bracket is worn and sags
• mounting points for license plate had a lot of damage and required some extra hardware to affix the plate
• steering wheel is turned about 45 degrees when driving straight

There is a manual battery disconnect, so I don't know if that was because it sat for long periods or if it has an electrical drain. I will leave it connected to see what happens.

On my initial viewing of the car, I had already noted

• paint was failing in certain areas
• the rear glass had silicone visible around the perimeter
• late 70's color-matched "sport" mirrors had been added to both doors
• A/C had been ripped out in the past.
• behind-seat storage compartment doors are all broken
• large crack in fiberglass at front driver corner (somewhat hidden behind the bumper)

I have my work cut out for me, but this is a project I'm excited to work on.

The seller stated the fuel tank had been replaced in the past and the repair shopped noted the original build sheet was still in place, but they threw it away with the old tank. I'll be happy to learn if there is any other way to verify the car's pedigree.

 

So let's take a moment to look at the car a little closer with photos.


I have no idea if the paint color was just someone's choice from a generic color chart of they were trying to mimic Milano Maroon or Marlboro Maroon (neither were 1971 options). It doesn't appear to have any metallic features, so I'm leaning towards a generic color from a body shop. As noted earlier, my mom called it Boston Baked Bean, so who am I to argue with mom? Especially since her dad ran a body shop behind her childhood home.

The hard-to-prep areas in the folds of the hood and the egg crates on the fenders are suffering from paint flaking off. I'm guessing it was a budget job and the shop didn't take the time to address these labor intensive areas.




Also, here is a photo of the crack on the front driver corner. It is small, and with the darker color, it almost disappears if you aren't looking for it.



It's a fun journey back in time when you open the hood. Someone threw the Holley catalogue at the car back in the day. A Holley carb is hidden under the chrome Holley air cleaner. The Holley valve covers are actually pretty nice, and the Street Dominator is just plain fun. The ignition coil wears a Mallory logo and is accented by chrome Mallory wire loom brackets. I'm not sure what vintage or source would have provided the orange, braided water hose sleeves with brass crimps or the flex fan. The chrome alternator and braided steel hose with anodized fittings on the PCV parts seems like a much newer vintage than all the other goodies. I wish they had just pulled the A/C belt rather than ripped out everything.









There are period correct touches on the interior, but not has widespread as under the hood. It is mostly limited to the center console and rear speakers. You are immediately greeted by real wood treatments which have been built over the gauges and placed over chrome panels around the shifter. A Sony tape deck has replaced the factory stereo. Leather wrappings have been applied to the steering wheel and aftermarket anti-theft locking shift **** (no, I don't have the key and don't know if that will be an issue when I try to remove it). The Pioneer 6x9's are squarely units from the early '80s.

notice how much the steering wheel is turned while the tires are straight



here's a closeup of the silicone sealant on the back glass

 

Hello PD,
A new Corvette for you!
Very nice!!
It looks and sounds like you'll have a list of things to do that will keep you busy for a while.
Looking over your first list it seems like you and the dashboard will become good friends.
Regards.....

 

...best friends

 

That is a spectacular car, congratulations.

 

Sweet ride. Good luck with it!

 

Looks like it was originally a factory AC car - if so .. any plans for AC back in?

 

The hood looks like Marlboro maroon but the side shot looks more of a cherry red

 

Great score my friend. Will it be at the meeting on Thursday?

 

What a great drive-able project. I like the color, FWIW. Good luck with your "to-do" list.

 

Nice drive project, enjoy it :- )

 

always liked that color. good luck. looks like a great car.

 

Thanks irvan

I will need it!

Yes!!! But I'm not sure route I will end up taking. I'm willing to take advice.

I don't think it was resprayed with anything supposed to be a factory color. I think it was probably a budget paint job. I would say it falls squarely in the maroon category.

Yes, it was!

I'm looking forward to the day when the I can touch the car and the to-do list starts shrinking, not growing.

Thank you!

Thanks, BLUE1972! It's a good start, but I know it's going to fight me every step of the way.

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Work and volunteering keeps me too busy to get to the forums very often...

The weekend after tax day, I took Boston Baked Bean over to a friend's house to look at the Holley carb and check out the ignition situation. We wanted to check the timing first, but the timing light wasn't responding properly to the car. We kept fiddling with it, and we discovered the timing light wouldn't work unless you slid the inductive pickup all the way up towards the distributor. We attributed it to a weak signal which would explain why all 8 plugs were severely fouled with black carbon.

In the middle of all that, the gear on the starter motor broke, so we had to lift the car and remove that. I discovered many extra wires that were tapping battery power off the positive post on the starter. I knew there were a lot of electrical "improvements" done to the car, and now I have place to start tracking stuff down. I'm guessing one (or more) of these extra wires is the source of my battery drain.

After hitting two parts stores, we finally had a new starter and could resume the trouble shooting. We discovered the distributor had been outfitted with Pertronix components which eliminated the points, condenser, etc. We thought the old Mallory coil might be the issue, so we borrowed the Pertronix 12v coil off my friend's Nova, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

We decided the wiring to the coil was potential source of problems, but had run out of time since I had to go to work. We left the Nova coil in the car and I drove it home. I quickly removed it when I got home and dropped it back off at his house on the way to work.

let's just call this bonus wiring


Now matter how we tuned the car (and it would stay running), it would ping at wide-open throttle.

To keep things chronological, on Friday, May 1st, my wife drove the 2002 Vette to work because her Suburban was at the dealership for some maintenance. Someone hit the C5while it was parked at work, but thankfully they left a note. The other driver has been a complete gentleman, but we have been arguing with his insurance (USAA) for a long time before they would accept fault. It finally went into the shop yesterday (June 15th). The other driver has a large truck and forgot he parked next to a small Corvette, when he pulled out of his spot, he turned too sharp and dragged his rear passenger tire across the driver front corner of the Corvette. The car is drivable, but the damage still needs repaired.

ouch


Back to the C3... This past weekend, I installed all new Pertronix Ignitor III parts in the Boston Baked Bean Corvette. Included with that was a new 12v coil. I ran a new wire from the ignition circuit off the fuse box. No surprise, there were already a couple of wires tapped off that circuit running over towards the defunct radio. I also noticed the fuse for the windshield wiper was missing. Odd.

The car ran much better (but not great) after installing the new equipment. A timing light worked properly at least. There is still something not right because it wants to ping at wide-open-throttle and still doesn't like to idle smoothly no matter where you park the timing. My plan was to drive it around for a week or two, check the plugs, and then attack the tune again.

Last night, I drove it work for my second job. I'm usually a delivery driver, but once every other week, I work the ovens inside the store. I took a quick cruise after work, but it it quickly wanted to die when idling and not want to start after dying. Hmmm... better not drive it far from home until I get hat sorted out. At least the evening was beautiful and made for some good photos...

the car was visible from my work station


down at the Port Orchard boat launch with the Navy mothball fleet and sunset over the Olympics in the background

 

That's a NICE drivable project!!! I love the vintage Holley- Mallory stuff! I'm surprised it didn't have a big old yellow Accel coil!!!
Had the same Holley valve covers on my big block when i bought it in 81!!!