Imagine driving by a carport attached to an old lady’s house for decades, watching a vintage classic car waste away. That’s the story spun about this 1977 Chevy Corvette, which is said to have been recently rescued from a Georgia carport where it’s been parked since 1989. The seller has made some cosmetic enhancements but there’s further perfecting to do. Check it out here on eBay where there’s a Buy-It-Now of $8,700.
The seller is quite enthusiastic about the cosmetic improvements they’ve performed, which includes a “killer” clearcoat paint job and a cosmetically-restored engine compartment. The interior is the car’s biggest let-down, but the seller has already replaced the factory black carpet since these original pictures were taken. However, the seats will still need to be re-done, along with the door panels. And then there’s the rough console and ill-fitting aftermarket radio…
The engine bay does look pretty sharp, and the seller claims the L82 runs and drives very well. Even the A/C still blows cold, which seems to indicate despite the years of dormancy, this Corvette was taken care of to a point that it didn’t require a complete tear-down to get back on the road. It is an automatic car, unfortunately – I always felt the manual transmission made this pre-malaise era ‘Vette much more appealing.
I dig the orange paint job, but I could do without the tinted windows. In fact, I wonder why the interior is so rough if it had tinted windows from new or at least years ago. Hopefully they weren’t just added in this most recent round of cosmetic “improvements.” Even with the carpet and paint, you’ll still need to source lots of interior bits and likely address some deferred maintenance. Bidding is active, but not close to the BIN at the moment. What’s it worth?
Clear coat laid on top of 40 year old paint will likely start to peel in a year or two.
I had a 77 back in the late 80s for a bit. It was the nicest car I ever owned and I felt like the king driving it around. I was at the top of my game. It was an automatic and wasn’t that fast but the ladies in my redneck town loved it.
It had been a theft recovery when I bought it and it showed 57k miles but it was sketchy and may have had 157k who knows. It had been rode hard.
I drove it for about a year before disaster struck, I was leaving a small town bar and was giving a lady a ride home cause her and her friend had gotten into a fight and her friend left her there, any who I was trying to impress her and did a brake stand in the street with a lot of people watching and took off.
Well I hit the railroad tracks going a good clip and the car started violently shaking and the left rear wheel came off and it caused the car to go out of control and I launched it right into a barber shop.
It turns out these cars had really weak rear spindles and we’re known to break and it did.
The town Marshall was nearby of course and heard the ruckus and came over there. He had it out for me and could wait to get me on something and he had me on dui, possession of a gun and drug charges. The lady I was with got off Scott free even though she had drugs on her.
The car was brought to my brothers place out in the country and it had fiberglass damage all over as well as the axle damage. It sat there for years and was sinking in the mud and finally I sold it to a guy that parted it ou .
That top of your game was being drunk with a gun and with drugs? You made us all feel a little better about ourselves after that. Thanks!
lol
yup!
Note to self…do not go out with Joe!
How do you think a guy who lived in a trailer afforded a corvette?lol….I didn’t make a lot of good decisions back then but I did make a lot of fun ones.
I had plenty of time to reminisce when I went to prison in 93
Great story Joe, I am glad you survived. I have had similar stories. It was the 70’s. Send lawyers guns and money. Merry Christmas my friend! Mike. PS. I think MH might be a little out of touch on the 70’s. It’s not like today with guns. Might have shot a sign or two but not shooting anything in the city. Hey, young and dumb at the time. Sounds like you came around. Congrats Joe. I give you credit for telling it like it was! Thank you.
That is one of the most memorable stories I’ve come across on Barn Finds.
I love these car/ people stories.
Here is a family friend’s Vette. 78 or 79? Rescued from a family garage where it had sat for many many years. Mileage low, but obviously all new rubber hoses, belts, brakes were needed. Now a source of pride in PA.
New at posting. Hopefully here is that pic.
Trying again.
Third time charm?
Don’t feel bad Neal, Images do not seem to load here quite often. I saw another post here today with the same problem. Pretty simple process. I don’t have a problem on any other site. Anyway, thanks for trying and Merry Christmas, Mike.
Another thing, when you jack these cars up you need to Crack open the doors, they were known to get stress cracks in the body just from jacking them up or putting them on a lift.
One thing I never understood about the Corvette in the 70’s, how is it all the normal cars had to have those 5 mph bumpers and the corvette didn’t even have a bumper in some years. Enlighten me GM car gurus. Was that nose and rear taillight extension supposed to be the 5 mph protection ?
@JW. The 73-82 was a bumper cover. there is a substantial steel bumper under the cover.
Randy thanks , love this website for all the knowledgeable people here.
I never cared for the luggage rack, and IMO it looks even worse in flat black!
Care for it or not, with two people traveling somewhere for more than a day, that was the only option for carrying much more than a handbag. A waterproof bit of luggage could be strapped on (rear vision negatively affected, of course), allowing a change of clothes and other necessities to be carried.
Naturally, filling with fuel was then also problematic, but hey, it is a sports car!
at least they did the carpet. I was used to buying carpet sets for Camaros, chevelles,mustangs mopars ect. They where easy to install and just over $100 cheap. I bought a 68 corvette c-3 and the carpet set was almost $400. And its a lot more work since there where something like 12 different pieces .Didn’t expect that.
“o” forgot to add,WAY overpriced and I dispute the miles. I am halfway kinda looking for one so I,ve been seeing prices. I miss my 68 and don’t have the money one (fav. year)but if you look you can get lucky for maybe $5,000. I know that they are slugs, but just rebuild a sbc and put some muscle in and they get some real power and they are just fun to drive.
Where’s Lucy? Does she need a ride?
These later c3 Corvettes can still be found at low prices, there are 3 for sale within 10 miles of me and they are all under $7500 and look to be in good to great condition. They are of course not known for their power, but were great driving cars. Though they don’t get the respect of the c1 c2 and early c3’s I think the value of these will continue to go up. ThIs one I think is over priced, I’d put it at $5000, maybe $5500 and no more.
Auto really kills it for me. Most auto’s in my area go a good grand less than manuals. Wonder just how expensive it’d be to convert!
My big brother got his drivers license when this model came out. He brought home a sales brochure from one of our Chevy dealerships(like he was actually goung to get one). I looked at it I think more than he did, and drew tons of pictures of this model Vette. Takes me back!
I have one with the L-82 and 4 speed. It may not have a lot of horse power but with 370 gears its a blast to drive. I put carpet in mine and it is a pain to do. I went through the rear end and the u-joints on the half shafts. That was a pain too. The a/c systems don’t work well but they turn a lot of heads and are so much fun to drive. This one is over priced.
I remember my first adult job at a Chevrolet dealer in 1978-79. Corvettes cost 14 grand with the L48, 16K with the L82. Drove a bunch of them after lengthy prep time for quality-control issues…felt really cool to actually wear a car! Tight inside but fun, fun, fun. We sold our Indy Pace car model for $27,000 after the boss got tired of seeing little kids’ footprints on it on the showroom floor.
yea, a shame to see something like this wasting away..as a teen , there was a 68 Vette, 427, with side pipes sitting in a ladies driveway on 4 flats, wasting away..it was the last thing her son bought before shipping out to Vietnam..He never made it back & she couldn’t part w/ it..it sat that way for over 10 yrs & folks made offers, but she’d never sell.. I never knew what happened to that classic Vette.
Just like the seller mentions, interior parts for these are easy to get and affordable enough. Makes you wonder why he just didn’t do it.
I replaced the carpet set twice while I owned my ’70, along with seat covers and other misc interior parts and nothing was very difficult or time consuming.
Sold for $6,000.00. 50 bids.
One of the ugliest Corvettes ever made. Now you add that horrible color to it. SMH