Daily Slideshow: '71 Corvette Keeps it C3

Corvette Dreams

Sometimes a Corvette is enough. More times than we are often lead to believe, in fact. Of course, you can get it done in a new Z06 with a blower, magnetic shocks, and 335-section rear tires, but not everyone can afford a new Z06. When performance becomes a spending competition, someone will always appear with more cash to cough up than you can muster. There's another path, and it's often more rewarding than merely purchasing read-to-run speed. It's the path Gary Lackore headed down when he brought this 1971 Corvette home a few years ago.

As we've seen before, car culture is contagious. Lackore grew up around his pop's auto parts store and that was more than enough for the hobby to take root. He wanted a 'Vette from day one but started out with a not too shabby, and more affordable, 1968 Dodge Coronet as his high school ride. He did what anyone would do in his situation—he tore the 318 out and put a 440 in its place. That car ran 11.80s. He must have worked his butt off because by the time he was 18, he'd saved up enough scratch to secure his first Corvette—a 1968 with a four-speed and a 427 rat motor. Two other C3 Corvettes followed in later years until, in 1987, doctor bills and the need for an extra seat for his new family forced him to sell his cars and go 'Vetteless.

Number Four

If car culture is contagious, Corvette affection is addictive, so after 21 years without a 'Vette, Lackore started looking. As he told Hot Rod, "I saw the ad online for an original four-speed LT1 1971 Corvette on a Thursday, and I was trailering it home with a U-Haul on Friday. Once you get a taste for high performance, it’s hard to get it out of your system." Lackore actually bought a round-trip flight to check the car out, but happily left the return ticket unused. "I wanted a nice driver like the Corvette I sold back in 1987, and although this car had some wiring issues, clutch problems, and a whiny rear end, the body and frame were in great shape," he related. Still, a relatively nice LT1 beat No Corvette by a mile.

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Project Pro Touring

Twenty-one years gives a man a lot of time to think. So Lackore had developed a clear plan for the '71. He wanted to keep the Corvette retro, tuned and hot rodded old school style, but with enhanced performance nonetheless. "I thought about upgrading to an LS small-block and a five-speed, but I couldn’t justify the cost," he said, explaining his decision to stick with a small-block and the Muncie four-speed. "I wanted to make it as close to a Pro Touring car as possible without putting the latest and greatest technology in it. Don’t get me wrong, modern technology is great, but I wanted this car to be a testament to how good some of the older technology was," he asserted.

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The Foundation

Unlike Chevelles or early Camaros, which need a great deal of swapping and modding to ready themselves for track duty, C3 Corvettes were designed to go around corners. Lackore installed Koni coilovers, urethane bushings, strut rods from Global West, and traction bars and a 420-pound rear leaf spring from Vette Brakes & Products. The '71's factory 11.75-inch disc brakes with four-piston calipers remain respectable to this day, so he left them be, simply adding EBC pads. Feeling that his car's chassis was supremely balanced but wondering about the math, Lackore had his car weighed in the RideTech booth at one of the Goodguys shows he attended. "It weighed 3,250 pounds, and the weight was nearly identical at all four corners of the car," he reports.

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The Lump

Since the handling is the thing in autocrossing—launches less so, and top speed not even a factor—a nice small-block was all Lackore would need to turn impressive times. Wanting to preserve the numbers-matching LT1 block, he pulled it to store safely in his garage and installed a cast iron 355 ci four-bolt main small-block Chevy in its place. The engine runs a Scat forged-steel 3.480-inch crank, GM connecting rods, and Sealed Power 11.0:1 forged pistons. Cylinder heads are World Products Sportsman II iron units with 2.02/1.60-inch valves. The power plant utilizes COMP Cams valve springs, retainers, lifters, pushrods, 1.6:1 rocker arms, and a COMP 248/248-at-.050 solid roller camshaft. Carburetion is provided by a 750 CFM Holley atop an Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake, and together the whole shebang produces 362 reliable rear-wheel horsepower. Like Lackore says: "The autocross is not about horsepower. It’s about being smooth and making the most of the power that you’ve got."

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Running

Since completing the car, Lackore hasn't let it gather any dust. The '71 took 5th, out of 32, in Street Machine class at the Goodguys Lone Star Nationals a few springs back. That's 5th in a group populated by professional drivers and cars with more money in cosmetics than Lackore has in his whole Corvette. How much is that exactly? He estimates he's spent $30,000 on his C3, including the purchase price.

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Beauty

You may have noticed the '71's L88 hood. It, along with the Vintage Wheel Works V40 wheels (17×8, front and 18×9.5 rear), wrapped in Nitto NT555 tires (245/45R17 front and 285/40R18 rear), are the only additions Lackore made to the 'Vette's appearance—the custom paint job came on the Corvette when he purchased it in 2008. Does Lackore worry about messing up his beautiful C3? He had this to say: "I’ve only been autocrossing for four years, but I’ve learned that you can’t be scared to drive your car hard. I don’t care about hitting cones because the scuff marks will come right off. If I break the car, hey it’s just a 1971 Chevy, not some $100,000 trailer queen."

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Bargain

With current F- and A-body prices dwelling above the money C3s are commanding, America's Sports Car appears to be the better bargain if your goal is going around corners as fast as you can. As Lackore says: “These cars have steadily appreciated over time, but you can still [circa 2013] buy a 1968-72 steel-bumper Corvette that needs little to no bodywork for $20,000. They don’t have the best ride quality, but it doesn’t take much work to get them to handle very well." As the saying goes—take it from the man that owns and races one.

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