Normally, there would likely be no reason to cover, yet another, 1969 Chevrolet Corvette such as today’s Cleveland, Ohio discovery. We have reviewed a countless number of them here on BF so something would have to be pretty special to gin up another. Well, I’d suggest that this Tony P. find, courtesy of its rare RPO L89 option (more on that to follow) constitutes something “pretty special”. Hang with me here, and I’ll explain further.
Some might say that 1969 was the pinnacle year for Corvette power – at least until the late ’90s arrived. The emission control “malaise” era would start in ’71 and things just continued to unravel from there. Chevrolet offered very stout powerplants for their ’69 Corvette with RPO L71, a 435 gross HP 427 CI, three-two barrel carburetor fed mill being the top dog and the one possessed by our subject car. (There was a race bred engine available, known as RPO L88, which claimed 430 gross HP but it was probably underrated by 100 HP and sold in very limited numbers.) One interesting option that was available on the L71 engine was a pair of aluminum cylinder heads and that option was designated as RPO L89 and this ‘Vette is one of just 390 who’s original owner sprung for this $832 option in ’69. What does this aluminum head option get you? A total weight reduction of 55 lbs. and that’s about it. They’re just aluminum versions of the standard HI-PERF, iron heads, with the same sized compression chamber, valves and intake ports. The seller tells us that this L71/L89 engine was rebuilt recently but doesn’t elaborate beyond that. As is usually the case, you row the gears in this Chevy thanks to its four-speed manual gearbox but an automatic was an available option.
Appearance-wise, this ‘Vette is fabulous looking. Original, restored, repainted, etc. is not said so an inquiry would need to be made if a prospective buyer wants more info. The LeMans Blue finish is nice and deep, the chrome shines and there’s no evidence of fiberglass seam separation – it needs nothing.
As goes the exterior, so does the interior. The black vinyl or leather (both were available) upholstery, at least what can be seen of it, looks fine. Ditto the dash, carpet, and console and that makes me think that all of this goodness is the result of a complete redo – not that there’s anything wrong with that. The odometer reads 2K miles which means at least 102K miles of use and the interior environment is just too fresh to have experienced that much use over this car’s 55 year existence.
Final thoughts? At an ask of $50,000, this ‘Vette seems reasonable – almost too reasonable. I would suggest reviewing this car’s VIN, engine alpha code, sequence number, cylinder head casting date, and a lot more exterior images before I were to take the plunge on what should be a very desirable 1969 Corvette. Please look this one over and let me know what you think, you can find it here on craigslist. Trust but verify, right?
The seller is inferring it’s real, without quite saying it is. The engine block is not original, the mention the W foundry mark on the heads doesn’t prove they came on this car, not to mention date code aren’t mentioned. A “correct” coded rear end and original M-21 doesn’t prove a thing without documentation such as a window sticker, POP, build sheet or original engine. People can and have re-stamped parts or bought complete assemblies such as the rear end on the secondary market for decades, often to create clones.
It’s value should be based on its present condition, as a non-matching number Corvette with some desirable factory performance parts, not as a factory L89.
One things for sure, I wouldn’t wire transfer any money to the seller unless I laid eyes on it and it’s title first.
Steve R
Oh my, one of our customers bought a ’73 Bronco (wire transfer) sight unseen and had it shipped from Arkansas to CO and it conked out on him the next day. At our shop for a year and $10,000 later…OW!
Buyer Beware!!
It’s bad enough going to a local lot and getting burnt on that “cream puff” turkey. So why would anyone buy remotely on something they haven’t seen in person? I know of a person who picked up an F-150 Powerstroke in Texas to dive back to Utah (also sight unseen) and halfway home the engine holed a piston.
If it’s real it’s too cheap.
Correct parts doesn’t mean original, nice car but a bit cheap if it’s the real deal. If you have never have ridden in a big block C3 , it’s a ride! By the way to feed that compression ratio today I am pretty sure you have to mix a bit of race fuel to keep the detonation down, not like you can buy the fuel that it was burning back in the day.
Actually maybe, or maybe not with the AL heads and proper tuning.
You’d be surprised what compression you can use with AL heads and 92/93/94 octane sometimes. But you must get your ducks in a row!
Not running too warm and cool intake air are like adding octane also, but I’d add water/methanol injection before I’d retard timing.
How many of the 390 L-89’s survived? This car needs an NCRS expert (Or similar knowledge level) inspection from stem to stern prior to purchase.
Wouldn’t you think that a car of this caliber deserves a professional photographer? More documentation? And a sales platform other than CL?
Did I miss something? Oh yeah, and life in the rust-belt.
Have fun and this one. Too spooky for me.
YES, definitely!!
I just checked the CL listing.
Correct me if I’m incorrect, but didn’t this car start at $25k? It is now $50k.
This one doesn’t feel right. Period.
If there is a Vette person in the vicinity of this car PLEASE go view and visit with the owner and report back to us. Thanks in advance.