1974 Chevrolet Corvette - Do it Right. Or Don't Do it at All

It's getting harder and harder to find "collectible" cars that don't have ridiculous asking prices. Even ones that need quite a bit of work like this 1974 Corvette that needs lots of work most often have sky-high asking prices. This is a refreshing surprises seeing that not only is for sale around the corner from my home on Cleveland, Ohio's west-side, it has an asking price of $3,800. It's in generally good mechanical shape and at that price it's a bargain. Get it for closer to $3,000 and it's an all-out steal. 

L-48 denotes a one-hundred and ninety-five horsepower Chevrolet 350 cubic-inch V-8 beneath it's brown bonnet. If it was an L-82 (two-hundred fifty horsepower) or 454 (two-hundred seventy horsepower, three-hundred eighty pound-feet of torque!) the asking price would probably be considerably higher. When I saw red-letters on the hood I first thought it said "454"; no such luck. Fun fact, 1974 was the last year Chevrolet offered the 454 in a Corvette. 

A spirited test drive revealing to me that either the engine in this car is "tired" or my current "L-48", a 1977 that my wife and I bought going on ten years ago, is seriously juiced. Despite the lack of power, it's not the first L-48 of the vintage I've driven that I thought had anything but "sporty-acceleration", the car handled remarkably well; the front end in particular stayed together quite nicely. Better than my '77 does quite honestly. But I can fix that inexpensively. 

I told my wife after my test drive that if we didn't have our recently purchased 2004 Mitsubishi Eclipse GTS Spyder that I would have bought this on the spot. And done what with it? Well, having bought several automobiles all but on a whim and figured out the details afterwards, my knee-jerk answer would have been to "flip-it". Or sell the '77. Oh, I don't know. Again, I'd figure that out later.  

Flipping cars may sound like a cool way to make money but the margins can be, ahem, marginal; especially on something with as narrow a niche as a third-generations (C3) Corvette like this. Parts can be stupid-expensive and factoring in time spent making improvements and you could be operating at a loss. The seller of this car, who's selling it for a friend, told me the price was firm at the time since a "young couple" were interested in it to replace an old Porsche that had "taken them to the cleaners". Not unlike what one of these could do to your bank account if you don't know what you're getting into. Trust me on that.   

'74 L-48's like this are worth a tad more than my '77 but not that much. The really valuable "C3's" are the 1968-1972 models with their lovely but useless chrome bumper-ette's. '73's with their rubber noses and chrome rear bumpers are "a thing" and have their own following; prices reflecting that as well. 1974 was the first year for the rubberized bumper covers fore and aft in compliance with the federal mandate that cars sold in the United States be able to withstand a five-mile per-hour impact without suffering significant damage. Chevrolet was lauded for the styling job they did on these since they made the older models back then, in particular the now oh-so-valuable '68-'72's, look "old". Turnabout is fair play as they say. 

I like the interior on '74's because they have far more '68-'72 in them than my '77 does. There's a thin-rimmed wheel under that period correct (but awful) steering wheel cover and the HVAC controls are clumsily stuck into the top of the shifter console like god intended. The interior of '77 is a mish-mash of C3 designs; some '68-'72 here, some '78-'82 there. Tilt works but the telescoping column is stuck where it is. Radio is after-market. 

What negates the value of this car was the body; it needs a lot of work. Perhaps a total respray which would include, to do it right, a total sanding if not stripping. This spot is the worst of it and to make matters worse you can't simply spray this fender because it's pin-striped. You're looking at at least the asking price to fix the myriad overall finish issues and that's on the low end. To do it right you'd be looking at double. Shoot, some say triple. So, all in, with various other little issues this has to get it totally "right", you're looking at twelve to fifteen-grand all in which is about, factoring in the asking price, these go for in real nice shape. But if you're buying this to flip, remember what I said about margins. 

Hope those kids know what they could be getting themselves into. After-all, if you're going to do it, do it right. Or don't do it at all. This old-timer with a scant 97,000 on it deserves it. And the guy selling the car is the kindest gentleman. I told him if I see it still for sale later in the week I'd give him a call. Well, newsflash, as of the Friday morning after my test drive it's still there. Gosh, I don't know how serious I am about it but my quick, spirited jaunt in it pointed out to me just how far I've come with my woe-begotten but beloved '77. And how far I still have to go. 

1974 Chevrolet Corvette - Charting the (C3) Changes

I found this 1974 Corvette recently while searching for parts for my '77. The Craigslist ad didn't have any information about what's going on here save for the owner saying he or she was parting this out. All in asking price is $5,000 which is absurd considering five-grand could get you a roller if not a running car. On the other hand it's actually quite reasonable considering what an NOS frame and birdcage would run you. Shut-up and take my money! 

What in the name of Zora Arkus-Duntov is going on here? Reminds me of the "hillbillies" I grew across the street from back on Long Island who did auto repairs and custom fabrication in their driveway. Sorry - "hillbilly" was my mother's derogatory term for them and it was a point of extreme consternation between the two of us that she would find me "over-there" all the time. Their custom fabricating often had dubious results, not unlike like whomever started to "update" this '74 into a later-model fastback. Surprise-surprise, they gave up.  

Not all is lost, though. Me being as easily inspired as I am this hulk has spurred me to take a brief stroll down a third-generation Corvette memory lane of sorts and chart the myriad changes Chevrolet put the "plastic-fantastic" through over it's fifteen year run. Changes that apparently goaded some, actually many, to trade in their old-Corvette for one of the "new-ones". Some of course eschewing the expense of a new car and attempted to plow into updating their old car on their own. How else to explain what's going on here? I mean, seriously, if this isn't a decades old project that had gone south, why would someone do this now? 

1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray with chrome bumpers front and back

Along with numerous ancillary changes, not all of them welcome of course, there were two significant and not-subtle changes in the appearance of third-generation or "C3" Chevrolet Corvette's from 1968-1982. Above is a '69 with it's signature chrome bumpers, modest yet quite tasteful rear spoiler and the "gills" from the Mako-Shark concept the car was allegedly based on. There's a lot of Pontiac Banshee in the C3 as well. 

1973 Corvette - note bumper cover up front, chrome bumper out back

The first big change was due to a federal mandate that all automobiles and light trucks sold in this country had to be able to withstand a five-mile per hour impact without damage. That edict required vehicles sold in 1973 had to pass muster up-front meanwhile the back end required some sort of buttressing or reinforcement for model-year 1974. Rather than attach large and heavy chrome bumpers fore and aft like they did on other makes and models, GM cleverly hid the energy-absorbing bumpers on Corvette behind rubberized covers. 

1977 Corvette with bumper covers fore and aft

While it technically got the job done aesthetically the reviews were mixed. Some lauded the update  while others abjectly hated them. Choose your poison. If you're in the market for a "C3" note how much more valuable the 1968-1972 "chrome-bumper" models are these days compared to the later "rubber-bumper" models. Values of "73's are less than '68-'72's although generally they're worth a bit more than the later models. Love how pin-straight that right-rear tire is on this '77 I plucked from a brochure. As if. 

1978 Corvette "fastback"

The second change came for model-year 1978 with Chevrolet adding a large rear window that transformed the rear of the car into a fastback of sorts. As part of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Corvette, this update came with a significant reboot of the interior as well. 

1979 Corvette L-82

Much like the bumper-covers, the look of the car was significantly different from previous model years and you either loved it or hated it. Of the four iterations of the C3, through my eyes, the 1974-1977 front end on the new rear for 1978 and 1979 looked awkward and unbalanced. Side note - Chevrolet offered a bolt-on "Pace-Car" spoiler on '74-'79's C3's. If I can find a picture of one in the flesh I'll update this blog - safe to say they're absolutely hideous. 

1980 Corvette with front end ground effects and integrated spoiler on the rear bumper cover

Come 1980, some ground effects under the front end and an integrated spoiler on the rear bumper cover gave the car an adroit duck tail reminiscent of the one on '68-'73's making the design a cohesive whole in my opinion. For 1982, the last year of the run for "C3's", that rear glass actually opened. As it probably should have going back to 1978.  

I'm the last person to scoff at anyone attempting to do something as ambitious as altering the overall appearance of a car but to do it well and make it appear seamless is an art form. I'm blessed with what I believe is a fair amount of mechanical intuition and what my father referred to as "Yankee Ingenuity" so on some level I'm actually jealous of someone attempting to do whatever it is they started out to do here. There's a reason why body-work in general is so expensive because so few do it well. 

Pride goeth before destruction as they say and no doubt some well-intention-ed person had to bite down hard to give up here. If I find this listed again I promise I'll reach out to whomever is selling to try and get some more intel on this. Cheers.