Ironcross

It`s beginning happened one afternoon racing at 'Detroit Dragway where my Dad spotted a 427 Cobra and asked me 'how would a Corvette do against a Cobra....My reply was a Vette couldn't touch a Cobra in a month of Sundays....A several weeks later he asked me to go for a ride with him....The local Ford Dealer over on Telegraph was the destination and upon entering the Managers office the discussion quickly turned to 'Cobra`s...I said Where?....... Told it was a Red one back in new car prep...I went looking for this Bad Boy while my Dad started to pay for the car and could not find it...Back in the office I said all there was is a Red Mustang convertible!...The Manager said 'that`s a 'Cobra.....My Dad interrupted and asked me how would 'that do against a Vette?...I then said it couldn't touch a Vette in a Month of Sundays.....He reached over and picked up his Money and we left...Several months later he became ill and My Mother OK`d the order and purchase of a Hot 1968 Vette as a present for him....He only put 200 miles on it, actually with my Mother doing the driving....Earlier I had worked out a Deal with the Chevy Dealer to have the 427 L-71 replaced with a L-88 and I drove it that way until the 5 year warranty ran out and incidentally when the Gas prices went crazy for the first time....28K on it today......

jesse10886

A dumb 16 y/o bitch in a brand new Beamer slammed her car into my motorcycle. My wife flipped the !?&* out an was insane about me getting rid of the bike. My wife had the same thing happen to her the year previous. She had her knees destroyed an a year of physical therapy. I am from nowhere Missouri where me an my wife used to ride everywhere. After her crash and horrible physical damage I agreed to sell my mangled bike IF it was replaced with a vette. I found my vette on Craigslist an the rest is history.

Cheapo78Vette

This thread is awesome- love to see how others and their Vettes came to meet/ great times shared with these beautiful machines!

Here's my corvette inspired, long, but detailed story: Late/Mid March of this year I was scrolling through the endless pages of Craigslist looking for a replacement vehicle/ gas saver to trade for my 88 V10 Chevy Blazer. I had an ad up for the longest time with no real interest probably due to its heavily built 355's unending thirst for gas ~10 mpg highway - Fullsize Blazers aren't famous for high mpg's at all. I was looking for a 99 geo metro (45mpg) to really swing the hurt at the gas pump in the other direction... But no luck finding one that wasn't rotted away up here in the upper midwest.

So then out of nowhere one morning soon after that I see an email in the inbox that actually looked like an "honest" person looking to trade for my blazer. With, guess what... a 1978 Corvette project car.

After some emails back and forth, the guy told me he was looking to get something bigger than his 94 blazer, with decent power to pull his boat around to different lakes in the central MN area. I was bummed out at that point because the tranny in my blazer was starting to go to **** and would never last long pulling anything larger than a Red, radio flyer wagon- just kidding The deal seemed broken, until I offered him an alternative trade- my 98 dodge ram 1500, my first truck/car after I got my license. It was solid in body, semi solid in mechanical operation, no speedo, abs and brake lights were on, both back doors were jammed, a/c and heater sucked, tranny was goin too, but was much stronger than the blazer's- I had it up for sale for months and nobody wanted to deal with it, so I thought I could at least get the vette in my posession if he wants that ...

He liked the idea of the dodge even better than the blazer so we agreed to trade!

He sent me pics of the vette and gave me the rundown on its story- his son had it for a few years before him, got an 82 vette, sold the 78 to him (the dad) and then the dad started to restore the vette. He tore it down WAY TO FAR, and got overwhelmed by the whole project- he never actually said it, but I could tell he was a foot over his head in "oh crap". So he let it sit untouched for 2 of the past 8 years that he had it from his son.

The original motor had been bored .030 over to 355 and completely rebuilt and has a mild/medium cam in it, the heads were reconditioned, it has an edelbrock intake and carb, and a dress up kit on it. The motor had never been run, and wouldn't have run if my dad hadn't caught a major engine assembly screwup... timing was off by a country mile- But here's a pic of the motor- probably a 300+hp motor now, my dad estimates it above 350 when comparing this motor's build/parts to other's that he's built, but I'm not a bench-top dyno, power estimate expert so I leave it at 300hp to prevent any overselling the power at my right foot... But it does get up and go well enough for the street. Save the 500+ hp for the dragstrip. Nobody can use up 500 hp on the street legally anyway, so why eat through so much fuel?

That fresh motor and the SPOTLESS frame/chassis/underside, whatever you want to call it- is what made me want to go for the deal... the Dodge I traded was worth less than the motor at that point (pretty much) so I was happy to trade. No real MPG gains aside...

The NEXT problem... getting it to my dad's garage. I live in LaCrescent, MN, I'm from Nekoosa, WI, a 2500 person paper mill town/nowhere (point to the very center of WI by the good size lake (Lake Petenwell) and that's where I'm from... The 78 was 10-20 mins west of Faribault, MN. That's getting the car over 225 miles to its recovery point in as cheap a manner as possible. Luckily my little brother and his buddies like to waste time and gas... So my lil bro's friend has a diesel pickup and access to a good trailer and all I needed to do was pay for gas and food. That beats ANY tow cost by a long shot... and they would help me look the car over as well.

The day I got it:
So an hr and a half of delay (cause my brother and his friends left Nekoosa way late), 2 hrs in the truck with my brother and his 2 friends- and I was finally there to see the corvette in person the first time- here's a pic he sent me, and that's what I saw once the cover came off

It was pretty rough, but had it where it counted for me... the doors were just hung on for seeing and hauling it, the drivers door skin was held on with 3 clips, and while i'm talkin about the doors- I could use a talented adjuster of these 78's doors if anyone can help me for little to nothing... Maybe some beer and a ride around town

The right fender had a chunk out of it near the bottom of the back edge and a crack mid-back wheelwell that was gobbed with the guy's repair, the rear bumper had a 1/2 inch gap from the body and was sticking 3/4 of an inch out from the side along the bottom, the interior was stripped right out, seats were sitting in it tho. And while they did what seemed like a 2000 point inspection on my dodge- 1pt/$ which we trailered there to save gas, we did the usual checks on the vette like any classic vehicle- rust, what's there, what's missing, vin number checks,... And after half an hr they had me get the truck off the trailer for a test drive.

They liked it enough to do the trade after a few side discussions and blood pressure raising doubts... Which made me want to scream at them to "just do the trade!" The wife didn't wanna let the car go- she said so within the first 2 min we got there... So I thought "*****, I just paid $200 for my brother and his friends to haul my dodge around for the day-" (the wife has the last word 97% of the time.) BUT they wanted to go fishin all summer and the vette was untouched for over 2 years at that point.

Once the title was signed I was ready to get it loaded up and gone before they went back on their word!!!!
So we got the tote and 2 boxes of parts loaded up in the back of the truck, got the car on the trailer, and b-s'd for a few min to be nice, and then got the **** out of there!!!

As soon as we were a couple blocks down the road we all were amped up that I made such a screamin deal! I was high on new corvette ownership, and couldn't wait to get wrenchin'. But an hr later, just about to Rochester at that point, the trucks battery light came on... but luckily we got the light to come off after a quick stop and a few raps on the voltage regulator... So it was pretty smooth sailing after that, and they dropped me off in Lacrescent and took an hr break- it was around 9:30pm at this point, so around 11 they took off for Nekoosa and took my new car with them.

No word from anyone until 2 days later... I wanted to play it cool and not ask everyone if my car got there alright. It arrived to my folks place fine, but my older brother wasn't thrilled to see I made the deal- which explains why nobody wanted to talk about it. He wanted a corvette for awhile, but got a newer yukon denali, gsxr 1000 and a 2010 Harley instead... and I'm the bad guy for getting a wore down/tore down corvette... We've said maybe 6 words since then, I tried to be nice and chat- but he's got a serious bad attitude about my car and hates my guts. Oh well. Screw him then. Harley riders- they Rev it at the light/stop, Gun it to 25 mph, then get off the throttle to cruise slow enough for everyone to see how cool you are. WOW cool... not! Any vette owners that have a HD are excluded of course...

Here it is in the home base garage after its travels:

So I got the 78 on March 27th or 28th, and after just over a month of partial days of work, a few long delays, bad weather kept us from painting so many times... and a couple of side projects that got in the way for over a week each time- an old Rupp mini bike got dropped on us the 1 day we had great weather to paint... It's pretty much done- we're going to wet sand and do another coat of paint after I park it this winter... Dings, chips, and the crap that settled into the paint will be taken care of then and I can rest easier. It's been this "finished" for weeks now, but the power steering gave us trouble- check my thread: Phantom behind the wheel... and you might just have the info I need. ANYWAY- check out my pics to see the transformation over this past April. Here it is now:

A huge Thanks goes to my dad the master mechanic- He's great at what he does... Look what he did with under $1k and 2 months of very part time work on this thing... The car's got around $3,000 into it with $1000 cash and the dodge's practical selling value of $2k on a good day... not bad for 1/3 the cost some guys pay for just their car's paint jobs!



Like my forum Name and signature quote lead people to believe- It's got very little $$$ into it, the fun/$$$ ratio is unbeatable. Thanks for reading guys- hope it inspires others to go save some sweet Corvettes!!

c3_dk

Well it started 15 years ago, I was looking for a classic Porsche 911 (I still do !!) But I went for a Corvette. I had to be a 69 convertible, and of course a BB. But the prices was very high for a BB, so second in line was a 69 L46, 4 speed, Riverside Gold or Fathom Green.

I bought a 69 L46, 4 speed Riverside Gold back in NJ 2007
I had it shipped to Denmark, so I had the car in late summer 2007
The winter 2007/08 went with make the car ready for road inspection. It passed road inspection in spring 2008

You can see the sales text from the sell under my profile

So what is next?
Well it is a classic Poesche 911 (prefure a 1972 coupe) or a 1969 Corvette coupe.
But the 1969 convertible is a life time keeper :-)

jesse10886

cheapo78vette that story is awesome!! i also love hearing these stories from everybodie no matter how boring or even if they got it at a dealership with no work needed. there is a story to how we all fell in love with our c3s and what made us want one an where we have taken them. i knew that no matter how much work my car needed i was gonna finish it the first time i took it to the beach an took this picture

the car was still ruff but i loved having my vette at the beach


3dk that is cool that you got exactly the car you wanted in exact options/color ect an having it shipped to denmark from the us an you got it with no horrible suprises unlike many other foreign buyers who have been miss led by the seller your car is beautiful

PhilaScott

Always liked Corvettes. Was traveling in FL and saw the new Atomic Orange on a newer vette. Loved the color but the body styling had no soul. Decided to do some homework and see when the burnt metallic Orange first came out and see what GM had in mind. (I came around to Orange being a cross between Red and Yellow.. two colors I like on a vette so Orange had the essence of both .. plus it's just a cool color).

So, I find in doing homework that GM introduced the first Firemist colors (metallics) and and 71, they offered Ontario Orange. Ding ding ding. A winner. Some more homework on 68 - 72's and honed in on 72 -- last year of the dual chrome bumpers (no offense to the 73 guys..)

72 the fiber optic stuff was gone, HP ratings changed, but the 72 embodied the best of that era (to me). Started the search for a 72.
Looked everyday. Looked everywhere. Probably looked at 500 C3's on Craigslist, ebay etc. Visited local vette shops, car shows etc.

Then.. I saw an ad that I knew was one that the pictures were a little vague.. not enough detail but enough that I could tell this car was right.



I was looking for an older owner/seller who didn't know how to post pictures and market via the web -- someone whose kids probably posted the picture. BINGO. Found it.

Called on a Monday.

Called again Wed with more questions.
By Wed night I had already crafted a plan to fly from Philadelphia to Ohio if I decided to do this; view car and if it checked out, drive it back !

Thursday, called him back and after few more questions commented "geez, sounds like the only thing i need to do is buy cover". The owner commented, .." no, i have three covers on it, you can have them too."
That was it.

We negotiated a price and I brought a cashiers check. Emailed his wife my bank info so they could validate the check before I arrived.

Sat, 5am, limo arrived at house. My 14 year old son and I hopped in and took the early ride to airport. I fly a lot, so I used my mileage for two round-trips (figured if the car didn't check out, we'd just fly back and have a great story). If the car DID check out, we'd drive it back and have a BETTER STORY.

So, we land at 9am and the owner picks us up ... in his Lexus. Off to a great start. Get to his house and he opens the garage. The vette is covered. He goes to one side and says help me roll back the cover.
As we start to unroll the cover, I'm nervous, excited, nauseous, pumped and anxious. The car is beautiful ! I mean, really really nice.
He backs it out. Now, I've never driven a 72 but knew I wanted it. He flips me the keys and heads inside with my son and his wife. Took the test drive around the block. It was idling a little rough -- but I knew this car was right.

Went to local DMV and got temp plates for ride back to PA. Already got the insurance and had him sign the bill of sale. Went back to his house and loaded the car up with the original parts he had (radio, covers etc.) and he followed me to the gas station. I filled it up and waived goodbye.

Next came the 6.5 hour drive ACROSS PENNSYLVANIA with my son and me doing 55 hoping that nothing broke down. What a blast ! It was great day.. (July 31, 2010) Not hot, not cold and only a few drops came down from the sky.

We would pitstop for gas at every rest-stop .. to every other one and never turned the car off AND never let it go below 1/2 tank.... wasn't' taking any chances! I was expecting a radiator hose or tire to crap out. (got AAA and Hagerty coverage so I had two shots at redemption and had the name of 12 repair shops on the way). I was ready for anything.



Once we got within 30 minutes of our exit, I began to relax a little.
Pulling home into the driveway my wife said.. Is the car supposed to be that loud?



That night, I was looking through all the receipts and paperwork and found name of 2nd owner on the title. Did some internet homework and found that the 2nd owner lived in FL. Drafted a letter and enclosed a picture of the car. Asked her for any pictures or paperwork etc. That was in August.

Day after xmas, my answering machine is blinking. I see FL on the caller id. push play... holy cr-p.. it's HER! She says she has pictures and the original tank sticker!!.. (She sold the car in 84 to the guy I just bought it from).. What are the odds? Two weeks later, I get a package full of ...








(These pictures are from 1982.. note the seats .. they were originally vinyl and were changed to leather in 82 when the car was
redone... I never noticed this till this summer when I redid the interior.. pictures later in this story).









I was just amazed that I had found this documentation.
Next, the car went to NCRS for a chapter judging (more documentation).



INTERIOR (BEFORE... as purchased)





INTERIOR (AFTER ... restored)








And I've been working towards 2nd flight thereafter....

How's that for a story!

PhilaScott

That's awesome!

Luke in SA

Always wanted a corvette since I was about 10 years old.

It took another 29 years...
I decided to go to a "Corvette Show" with my cheque book in 2011.

Came home and said to the wife "Are you working tomorrow ?"
She said "No"
I said "Good, You need to come with me to pick up my 1968 Corvette that I just bought"
She said "What ??? Sounds Awesome. Your kidding. Where. Cool. Unreal."

It's been a different life ever since. I love it.

Remember, There aren't many Corvettes on the other side of the world. If I lived in the USA it would be EASY.

Scratch

Don't think I have a interesting story...
Never liked Corvettes (except back in 1976), hell, I never liked Chevy's
Was always a MoPar guy. Well in 1998, a friend sold me a red on red C4 coupe. I tinkered with it, and got into Corvette history a little. When I saw the C5's, had to have one, got a 1998, and the mods began.
Eventually, sold all the fun cars, but still wanted/ needed a Corvette to hang out with my local Corvette buddies.
Was looking for a p/u truck, saw an ad for a 70 blue coupe, seemed reasonable money-wise, so started looking for C3's and options.

Back to the top; (except in 1976). Moved to Florida for a couple years, and would always go to the beach. Some gal would always get dropped off by her boyfriend at the same spot that I always went, he had a early green C3, I thought that car was cool. Maybe I just envisioned me in that car, with her

Well all my buddies said I wanted a big block, so after a few months of looking, just missing some deals, not happy with others...found a 69 red on red coupe, big block. Elderly owned by a guy last 12 years in Michigan, who mainly took it to car shows.
I was happy, except no AC Was mostly stock looking, 427 had been replaced with a 454 and has a 5 spd. Now I have a good looking driver, mostly stock looking, BB and it's red
I can tinker, remain in good standing with my Vette buddies, wifey likes it, and since it's not all original, may still add Vintage AC to it.
(A couple older pics from previous owner)

Stewart's74

Always love to read these stories and talk with other Vette enthusiasts about how they acquired their cars.

My story is simple.

My Dad bought the 74 brand new in March 74 from Humberview Chev-Olds in Etobicoke Onterio. I was 7 years old. I instantly became the coolest kid in school.
Fast forward to today.
I own the vette now. I'm no longer the coolest kid in school but the car has been part of my family for the last 38 years.
Lost my Dad in Feb of this year (Miss him terribly) but i have many, many memories of him and I in the Vette.
So cool.. wouldnt sell it for anything.

Cheers,

Stu

Rotonda

I bought my 77 new in the Spring of 1977 from Lattoff Chevrolet in Arlington Heights. I drove it for several years and my wife asked if we could trade cars - I'd drive her Alfa and she'd drive the Vette. We traded.
Several months later, when we were out to dinner, I asked her why she had wanted to trade (I was enjoying revving the hell out of the Alfa). At the time, she was doing a great deal of land deals in Cicero. She told me that she was sure that the Boys were involved in several of the deals and she was damned if she was going to wind up dead in the trunk of her car. She wanted to drive my Vette because it didn't have a trunk!
The 77 has been through a lot and almost got sold a couple of times (that's another story) but we kept her, gave her a new frame (still another story!), fresh running gear, a new TPI engine (L31 + A LOT of upgrades), and a 700R4 The cockpit is all done and she is waiting on a bit of bodywork and paint.

tjschraf

I got my first one, a 77 when I was 19.... I am 22 now. Bought it solely because it was a good deal from a friend, since I am not the biggest fan of that year. I never thought I would get so into the classics that were built many many years before I was even born. My favorites are 53-72. Since then however, I have been lucky enough to have gone through several corvettes as well as other cars. Some of my most favorites have been a 63 split window, 68 and 71 coupes, two low mileage zr1's, and a 64. Right now, we have a couple left, but as you can tell...they move quickly and we are on to the next one...fun little hobby/obsession

desue

Some good stories here, I have nothing special to add. My story is:
I like 'em, so I got one! Sure, there are a million other things I could dump my money and time into, but they are not as much fun! You only live once. I wished I'd had mine 10, 20 years ago, but was in the poorhouse then (well, still am, just not as bad ) I haven't had mine but a few months but it's already created some memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Like my son called it "that old car, can I have it when you kick the bucket? he also says that it doesn't look like a "girls"car. My daughter doesn't want to run errands with me unless I drive the vette! She has been encouraging me to put mine in some shows, she would love that.

BKelby

My grandpa had this gorgeous yellow 79' Vette that I always loved as a young kid. He would take me in rides and take me to/pick me up from school in it every so often. When I was about 7 years old, I asked him if I could have it when I turned 16 years old. He told me, "For $9,000, sure!." So, I was set on getting that $9,000 by the time I turned 16. My grandpa was the biggest hero in my life and I was with him pretty much every single day. Some years passed and by the time I had turned 15, my grandmother had already passed and my grandpa was starting to get into a depression. I had purchased a 2000 Mustang already and I was fixing it up. I was in the middle of sanding it down for a new paint job when my grandpa came over to the house and informed me that he was going to have brain surgery in a few days to hopefully have a tumor removed. I didn't get the chance to really talk to him for a long time, because I was needing to finish sanding my car. My mom and him were talking as I was sanding it down, then he left a little bit later. Did the usual... gave him a hug... said goodbye... He told me that the doctors were sure he'd be okay. So, I believed him and thought I'd be seeing usual him again. Well... the surgery didn't go too well... It was a large tumor and they had to remove part of his brain to get it out, and they still didn't get it all. He pretty much became a vegetable over the next few weeks. He would just ramble off random nonsense, my mom would tell me. She never wanted me to go see him in the hospital, because she didn't want me to remember him being like that. She also told me he doesn't remember anyone and can't register anyone's name, not even hers. But I finally convinced her to take me to see him. When I walked into his room and seeing him... it looked nothing like him. My grandpa always had longer combed back hair, but he was completely bald. But as I walked in the room his face instantly lit up. As my mom was talking to the nurse, my grandpa slightly gestured something... but I couldn't understand it, so I walked over to him. He grabbed my arm and pulled my ear down to his mouth and he said "It'll be okay."

A few days later, we had to take him off life support and we were told he would pass later that night. So, we went up to the hospital and I held his hand through the entire day. That night he passed around 10:30pm. Afterward... we went home... and I was a mess pretty much the next week or so. But about a week and a half later I got a call from my mom after she left my grandpa's house and she told me to walk outside our house. So... I walked out our front door... and right then I saw her pull into the driveway in my grandpa's yellow 79' vette. T-tops off and everything. I walked up to the car and she said, "He made it clear that he left it for you, so here you go." I couldn't believe it... My mom took me for a ride right then, and during the entire ride I just couldn't believe what was happening. A few months after having the car and pretty much washing it every day... I sold my 2000 Mustang so I could just have the Corvette. I have babied the Corvette ever since. I am now 18 years old and have had the yellow 79' Vette for almost 3 years.

KevinG

Very touching story! Take care of her as your grandpa is up above watching over you and very proud of you taking the reigns of the vette!

Blue73Shark

My Aunt Babe, single all her life living with my grand parents, died in 2004. She loved cool, flashy cars and owned a 58 Pontiac Bonneville convertible (with a continental kit on the rear) which I drove on weekends in high school and college in the early 70's. I used part of the inheritance she left me to buy a blue L82 73 coupe. I know she would be proud of my purchase.

Red 71

Bought a 64 back in 65 and then a 66 in 66 followed by a 70 in 71. Got married in 73 and went through a divorce in 77. Kept the house but had to agree to pay off the ex wife's car. Sold the 70 to do that. Retired in 99 and bought the 4th Corvette, the 71 in 2004. It now stays in Ohio and I have a 67 Nova for Florida.

pancake

I grew up in a household where Corvettes were revered as the pinnacle of American muscle. The old man had owned several Corvettes prior to getting married and having kids and he talked about them constantly. He would often bring out the photo album of his favorite car.. a '68 Marina Blue Poly 327 4 speed car. He ended up meeting a guy who had wrecked a 427 car and he purchased the whole big block drivetrain out of it. Then he painted it white, added zl1 fender flares, daytona springs, Ansen Sprints, etc.. And later had to sell the car to put a down payment on a house.

Skip ahead 40 years, and I found myself in a position to pick up a toy. I had sold my motorcycles because I really had an itch to pick up an older Vette. I had my heart set on a 68-72 big block car, but I just couldn't find anything in the right price range. So I was sitting in front of the computer checking ebay and came across a '78 l48 4 speed car in Golden, CO... which couldn't be farther away from what I actually wanted. But there was just something about the car.. something about how it looked. So I did an incredibly stupid thing and clicked buy it now.

OOPS.

Fast forward 2 more weeks and I had purchased two one way tickets to Denver so the GF and I could fly up and drive it back. This was in October 2011, and we had a week of solid beautiful weather and then a cold front moved in the day I picked up the car. I went out to meet the seller and got my first look at the car.

Aesthetically, the car is good. It had a fresh paint job and the interior had been redone with exception of the arm rests. It was missing a radio, and the power antenna mast had long since disappeared.

The car also had no wiper blades on it and it was starting to rain.. So I took ownership of a car.. in a rain storm with snow on the way.. and couldn't use the wipers because there were no blades. The windows wouldn't roll down.. the left rear tail light was out (bad ground)... and the GF was there to nag and bitch while I barely navigated to an Oreilly Auto Parts in Lakewood to get some wiper blades.

I made it to my brother's place in Denver to stay the night and woke up the next day to find 8 inches of fresh snow on the ground. I had to stay a second day to wait for the snow to melt... So the next morning I woke up to leave and the car doors were frozen shut. I found a bucket, filled it with hot water, and got the doors unstuck.. Loaded up the single bag of luggage, and we headed South. With no radio. For a 12 hour drive. No radio.

The previous owner had assured me that he had a mechanic go through the car and he wouldn't hesitate to drive it anywhere. I'll never believe that line of BS again.. that's for sure.

The car did make it home in one piece. I've put a lot of work into it since then and am actually pretty happy with it. I had a 383 built that is just waiting to be installed.. I can't wait to get it between the fenders and go spin the wheels!

But the moral of the story is that only a moron would buy a corvette sight unseen. And I am that moron.

VT 383

Newbie here... first post!
50-ish years old, muscle car fan all my life.
First cool car was my 71 Camaro with a lowley 307 when I was 17. Loved that car! Fast forward, built a Factory Five Cobra 12 years ago. Original plan was to build it, have fun, trade it for another toy. Just sold it two weeks ago. Go figure. I always liked the Corvettes, the old styles and new styles. The mid-years weren't my fav because of the emission rules and so-so performance. I told my wife we'd get a Corvette next so we would check them out when we came across them. She liked the Cobra because it 'had curves' I liked the C4's but, they don't have 'curves'. The C3 is one sexy curvy machine. I was keeping my eyes open for one of the later C3's with modern options. I'd sacrifice the all the modern stuff for a 70-ish convertible but anything decent is out of my price range. Came across an 81 with all the good stuff and a 383 block to boot. It's in great shape and visually original. I'm looking forward to alot of cuising with my honey!
George

marshal135

I read Jedi's testimony and It brought a tear to my eye.
I too got a car background from my mom.
My dad was a show off in 1948. He had a '48 Merc convert.
So dad gets the girl who looks like Marilyn Monroe.(mom)
Fast forward, married in '56. Brand new 56 Ford Fairlane two tone.
Dad returned from Korea and worked for Ford dealership in Phila.
Next, 1962 Buick Electra 225 convert. ordered in lavender exterior
just for mom. She liked purple as her birthstone was amathyst for Feb.
Next, 1969 Mach1 in green, I spent allot of time in this car going to the jersey shore.
Mom passed in 2003.
She let me have hot rods in high school etc...
She even pushed the clutch in while on jack stands so I could reinstall the 4spd trans.
My life: well raising a family for the last 25 yrs took presidence.
I always wanted another muscle car.
Stumbled onto a Craigslist add last August.
I purchased a '68 BB safari yellow cp in Aug. 2011.
1 year now its all been worth it.
I know mom would've enjoyed riding in it.
Love ya mom!
Marshal