While it’s often said that the C4-era Chevrolet Corvette is one of the best sports/muscle car values out there, the C3 doesn’t typically get the same sort of affection. It’s often seen as more of a Saturday night cruiser, and a cheap one at that, whereas the C4 can be set up for not only cruising, but track days as well. This 1977 Chevrolet Corvette, however, shows you that at least one muscle car shopper in the late 70s was thinking about the backroads in addition the straightaways. Find it here on craigslist for $12,950.
This ’77 Corvette was built a very specific way when ordered at the selling dealer. First of all, it has a 4-speed close ratio manual transmission, which you simply don’t see in the C3 cars. Very, very few of these seemingly got the three-pedal setup, so that’s the first clue it’s something special. But then you go a bit further, and it turns out this ‘Vette also has the rarely seen FE7 Gymkhana Suspension, which added upgraded shock absorbers, a heavy-duty front sway bar, and a rear sway bar. Nothing crazy, but if there was such a thing as a track-ready C3, this was it.
The seller notes that this Corvette is also equipped with the optional G95 rear axle, which many C3 enthusiasts consider the ideal setup. It gets you a 3:36 gear ratio, which is sometimes referred to as the “highway axle ratio.” It apparently returns respectable fuel mileage, provides strong off-the-line grunt, and can maintain comfortable highway speeds. Putting this all together, it’s apparent the original owner of the Corvette really wanted to create the best version of a C3 he could find – and having a local dealer willing to place the order for a car set up in a way not every buyer would want.
Brown leather is also a very specific request, and it appears to be in good condition overall. Again, there’s very little about this C3 that didn’t request the specific preferences of the original owner, and thankfully, many of us would want our performance car set up exactly the same way. What always blows my mind about cars like these is how affordable they still are when a car ordered with similar performance-oriented options – say, like a Porsche 911 – would cost you significantly more money. For less than $13,000, this looks like an incredibly fun summertime ride. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Curvette for the tip.
While I prefer the early chrome bumper C3’s, this thing looks great. I would not be ashamed to park that in my driveway. To me it’s the perfect combination of options. Should make a wonderful cruiser. Interesting that it has generated so little interest here and no comments til mine here on BF. Seems to confirm the general lack of interest in this era of ‘Vette. What is it about these fellow BF readers?
No mention of the Straight 6 under the hood. Just kidding! It would be nice to know a bit about the powerplant, which I assume is a 350. Nice car though, and lots of cool options. Price is certainly affordable! more so than the big block 69 above which seemed a bit steep. Somebody’s gonna get a good buy here!
The Craigslist ad says it’s a matching numbers L82 and also says it has an X in the vin so it’s an original L82 car. Very reasonable price for what looks like a rare optioned car in good condition.
A 4 speed was “rare” in a ’77 Vette? First time I’ve ever heard that. This appears to be a pretty nice example of a C3 for a very reasonable price.
Out of 49,213 Corvettes produced in 1977, 2,060 had the M21 4-speed manual transmission. Thats 4.19% of total production.
It is interesting to compare that to the Z28. Out of the 14,349 Chevrolet Camaro Z28s produced on 1977, 5,114 had the M21. That is 35.6%. I think that probably had something to do with the demographics buying these cars by 1977.
While it may be true that only just over 2,000 were ordered with the M21 gearbox, there were over 8,000 ordered with any 4 speed.
It’s not that important to always want to be right.
The fact sheet I was looking at on vettefacts.com does not list out the standard manual. Just the M21 (2,060) and the M40 auto (41,231). So I missed those additional manuals. My fault. But still, that’s a pretty low percentage, lower than I would have thought. Just over 16%
I have a 77 L48 automatic. Could have a small cam. Handles surprisingly well. Same color as this one. I like this one a lot.
Chevrolet built over 49000 77 Corvettes, it was the highest production year ever. I’d say less common describes 77 4 speeds better than “rare”, since about 8000 77’s came with 4 speeds, or roughly 16 percent. About 6100 77’s came with the L-82, and 2060 of those were 4 speeds. 7200 Corvettes were ordered with Gymkhana Suspension, and it’s probably a safe bet that Gymkhana was a more common option in L-82 cars. Classic White was the most popular color coming on 3500 more cars than the next most popular color, which was Black.
It looks like an okay car to me, though I don’t care for the brown interior. It would have been nice if the seller had included a picture or two of the engine compartment. One interesting item is the horn button. The brushed aluminum horn button’s were recalled a few months into 77 production when the NTSB determined the button didn’t pass the federal reflective interior surface regulations. Later 77’s came with a color keyed horn button, and owners of earlier cars were offered a painted one to replace their aluminum ones, but (obviously) not every owner replaced theirs under the recall.