Sometimes I feel like the resident defender of C3 Chevrolet Corvettes (and me a Ford guy!). I feel they offer style and substance at what is often a bargain price. This very original 1970 LS5 may not be inexpensive, but it is pretty special, and comes with a great story. It’s listed for sale here on craigslist and is located in Manhattan, Illinois. The asking price is $18,500. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Rocco for sending in this cool find!
This is how the car was found. According to an article written in 2015 here on superchevy.com, the car was stored for roughly thirty five years after a fuel tank leak. The owner pulled the fuel tank out and just left it on the rear deck of the car. Gradually life piled around it. A younger friend had fallen in love with the car at 8 years old while it was still on the road, and eventually managed to purchase the car in early 2015 (by this time he was 43)!
The article has some great pictures of the car being dragged out of the garage (the tires would still hold air). It was covered with sawdust as the owner was a woodworker. At this point, the long time friends agreed on a price and changed ownership of the car–the seller wanted “cold, hard cash” so the buyer took a bunch of $10 & $20 bills and froze them in containers! You can tell they must get along well and have good senses of humor.
Back to the car. As you can see, the Mulsanne Blue paint is original, but damaged in the right front. It looks like the body work may have been completed. I’d sure try to blend the paint in as most of the rest of it has cleaned up fairly nicely.
While the interior is a little tired as well, it is original. And look, a four speed rather than an automatic!
The current seller has recommissioned the car and says it runs and drives great. That’s an LS5 454 cubic inch V8 in there. I was wondering about the difference between an LS5, LS6 and LS7 in 1970, so I looked them up. The LS5 had 390 hp and 500 lb·ft of torque, while the LS6 engine was rated at 450 hp. The very rare LS7 actually put out 465 hp and an unbelievable 610 lb·ft of torque! However, even the LS5 would be enough for me! What do you think about this exceptional C3 Corvette?
So you waited that many years just to flip the car…
If I pursued a car that long, my kids would be selling it for me after they put me in the ground…
Amen to that Doug! I recently purchased a car that was my best friend’s in highschool from late 80’s. That car will go to my now 4 year old son at some point & hopefully along with my highschool car never leave the family so to speak.
For many years, I have persured the 71 K10 my dad sold off in 1979, shortly before getting my driver’s license. I learned to drive in that truck, & like the average dumb teenager, had assumed I would get it when I got my license.
The man who bought it in 1979 still has the truck, & several times a year I have offered to buy it, to no avail. I would have probably made a bad financial judgement had he ever priced it.
A year ago this weekend, I had a major health issue that required surgery & a lengthy recovery. Funny thing about things like that is they make you put your life into perspective. I realized that I wanted that 71 for purely sentimental reasons, & that honestly it would probably rarely be driven more than a few times a year. My kids have zero emotional connections to the truck, so when I pass off this rock, instead of staying in the family, it would be sold at some estate auction.
So now, I work on things that I want for myself to enjoy on a regular basis, instead of the white whale. Oh if Jerry called me tomorrow & asked if I wanted to buy the truck, I would definitely think about it, but I wouldn’t make a stupid emotional decision.
It wont be for sale long. Great car!
Small world. My brother lives in Manhattan, Illinois and has a 1970 Vette that has been off the road for nearly 36 years.He bought it in 1980 and I think he only put plates on it once. It’s also a 454, with a beefed up automatic and sits in his garage. He says its the biggest horsepower 454 but I’m not sure which one it is.
Says he’s going to put it on the road but he never does.
Perhaps like so many other things in life the buyer has to have it from 8 yrs old, has to have it, has to have it, has to have it, and then once you have it ….. well, it’s not quite what I thought it would be like at all.
My first girlfriend was a lot like that, it was crazy how much personal time I lost!
Jamie,
I get being a defender of C3’s. My dad had a yellow ’74 454 (with the luggage rack that, given the use we put that car to, was well worth having) that he bought new. Born in ’75, I spent my entire childhood with that car and developed quite an affinity for them, and still think they are some of the most beautiful cars on the road, whatever their performance became. I lose interest once the rear window bubbles up, but still, outside of the short run of ’53-’55’s, it’s my favorite body style of corvette. The 454 in dad’s blew in the early 80’s and he replaced it in a buddy’s garage with a 350, which given the ’74’s 454, was no hinderance on its performance, quite the contrary. A little later on, he got sideswiped by a young driver on 440 one day ripping a few holes in the fenders, he did all the fiberglass work himself in the driveway at home. Turned out quite well, but he never got around to repainting it. Anyway, about the time my older brother and I were reaching driving age he sold it to my uncle, who painted it black, who sold it to his insurance guy, who wrapped it around a telephone pole. So much for tracking it down one day and buying my childhood back. :(
This one is a beaut.
Great story. Thanks. I hope my kids remember riding to 7-11 for “num-nums” safely strapped in the car seat in my 1976 Corvette. It was a family tradition for all three boys.
I vividly recall comfortably riding “in the back” (essentially the t-top storage area) while my brother rode up front. I look in them today and can’t imagine how I ever did it, but I did, daily, and happily!
Guys the LS5 was rated at 365hp. It is more rare than a LS6450.
Not in a corvette.390hp in a corvette. and not 1 ls6 was made so it is not more rare.
but 1 ls7 was made.in 1970 1971 ls6 was 425 hp.
Ahhh…the Mako Shark! It’s gitten to be too late in life for me to have a Corvette but if I do it’ll be a C3. Not refined like later C-‘s but when I saw pictures of the ’65 GM Mako Shark concept car, I was blown away. Still am half a century later. :-) Terry J
“hostile projectiles”…
Terry, I bought my first new Corvette in 2013, when I was 63! It is never too late to pursue your passion! By the way, the woman in that photo is stunning…
Ha Ha Steve, Never too late to appreciate the beautiful things around us. Thanks for the inspiration . :-) Terry J
It is a small world as this car was sold at Cellozi Ettelson Chevy dealership in my hometown Elmhurst IL. Interestingly there slogan was “HARD TO FIND TOUGH TO BEAT” because of the weird way you had to get to the dealership.
Heritage Cadillac was mere blocks from my parents house where the original owner traded it off in 1971. I wonder what he traded it for?
The story is cutoff at this point but why is the guy selling it?
nice car, looks like it needs 10K in restoration work, too bad there is no A/c, nice car in a great color
10K if you are doing all the work yourself (and that is soft…I am talking full restoration) probably more like $20K if you are doing all the work yourself. More like $40-50K if you are paying someone else. Paying the RIGHT person to do the work Paint and Bodywork alone is $20K. Plus interior, plus undercarriage, plus mechanical and plus the long list of gaskets, grommets, weatherstripping, emblems, trim pieces, chroming, tires. Restored to its glory as it “rolled out of the dealership concours” is going to push $60-100K. Again, DONE RIGHT. Just my opinion. This is a car, being numbers matching, corvette, big block 4 sp that deserves a full blown resto done right. If someone can RESTORE this car, every part of it, with excellence for $10K I will bring them every car I buy. This car has everything BUT it needs EVERYTHING. Just because it is ALL THERE does not mean every inch of it still needs restoration and reconditioning.
The LS7 was never available factory installed in any vehicle
The LS6 was only available two years, 1970 in the Chevelle/el Camino and in 1971 in the Corvette
The LS5 was the top big block for Corvette in 1970
Sorry bud, but the 70 1/2 SS Chevelle came with the Winters LS7 454. Aluminum block & heads, rated at 475 hp.
I’m in love
Nice Corvette but those are not 30 year old Illinois plates.
Those plates began production in 1984, 33 years ago
We have/had a 1970 LS7 that was gotten back in 83 and the guy we got it from pulled the motor and blew it up in a pulling tractor. 😠 We gave it to my son after college and he has it. He and I rebuilt the 350 in it and did the tyranny, rear end and rear leaf spring. He learned to drive a car in it and it still has the Muncie 4sp and 4:11’s. He works for a HUGE chevy dealer in Noblesville and a guy there has anever original LS7 crate motor so someday it’ll have the correct motor just not matching #’s. Wich isn’t a big deal sense he will pass it down to his kids and so on. I loved that car, can only imagine it with the 500 hp + – in it
See al8apex prior post he is correct, LS7 was never installed from the factory, maybe the dealer did the swap, but the LS7 was only available through the parts department.
The 1 ls7 corvette was produced but not sold. A gm exec drove it.
I learned to love my C3 when I was popping around a curve on a two lane road and a deer ran out in front of me. Swerved around it to find another one decided it was time to cross – so into the oncoming lane – only to find a car coming right at me.. So quickly back into my lane..
It happened so fast – I’d just pulled a weird S maneuver in a curve – at speed and there was no drama from the Vette.. no squealing, no body roll…
I was in love..
These were also known for having horrendous quality control issues from the factory.
1968 yes that is true…not so much in quality control but simple engineering and design in the first year C3. 69 fixed most of the issues and I am not sure where your comment comes from in a 70? I have had several and can’t agree with your comment. The first year, 1968 had somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred(s) of changes into 69.
Just a beautiful Hotrod. Drive it have fun with it. Take it out and burn some rubber. Leave it as is. Easy to fix, unless you want to make it a show car.
Make sure it stops and goes. Leave the rest alone.
I always liked the way these looked, and as redwagon said “had to have it” until I bought one. It was the most uncomfortable car I ever owned! I sold it within a year and never looked back. Still like the looks of them though.
Rusty…I agree…I love them and have a couple. I’m not a “vette guy” as I like all cars. I’m six foot and in a wheelchair. A couple years ago I drove my my 80 from Chicago to Boston, NYC, etc. I love these cars…but after a long road trip I feel like the I’ve been on a mideval torture device trapped in a hot dungeon with no shower!!! C3 martyrs for life!!!!!
I have had several mid year Corvettes (including a ’63 roadster for 40 years) and one ’69 coupe. The vacuum headlight system and the wiper door designs on the ’69 are complete unadulterated engineering disasters compared to the simplicity of my ’63.
First vette owned, bought at hight of gas crisis in 77 from 2nd owner. I used as daily driver for years. Started to tear it apart one year, and never finished. Sold it to guy put back original, sold at Carlisle for lot less than he had in it. I still have newer one as my daily driver, except in winter weather
THIS IS MY CAR. It was not a friend’s. it was my cousins car and I TP’d it in 1979 when I was 8 years old at his wedding(see pic in profile). The LS-5 is 390 horsepower and was the biggest you could get in 1970. The LS-6 was not available in the Corvette until 1971. I am selling it because I can no longer do a full nut and bolt restoration as I had planned to do due to personal issues that have come up and I have too many cars. I am also selling my 1969 Mach 1 SCJ and my 1968 Galaxie. If you want to read the article as it was originally written in Vette magazine, do a search on “Cold Hard Cash Corvette” and you will find it. you will also find it currently listed in the Chicago Craigslist. please leave a phone number if inquiring as I have received several emails since this appeared on this site.
Thanks, Darrell! Sorry about the confusion between friend/cousin :-) Feel free to answer any questions on our forum and good luck with the sale!
Thanks for chiming in, Darrell.
Having owned a C3 (’70 350 Convertible) for almost 30 years and then selling it, my guess was that you really wanted it mostly to get it back on the road and when you realized that you couldn’t do it the justice it deserved, you decided to sell it.
That is one of the reasons that I moved mine down the road. I did all that I could afford to do and the guy I sold it to was planning on a full restoration.
I have that 1970 LS5. Looks and runs great.