I am sometimes amazed that a car as fun to drive as this one has only 19,800 miles on the odometer. This Marlboro Maroon 1970 Chevrolet Corvette is listed here on Craigslist. The Corvette is equipped with the high revving LT-1 350 cubic inch V8 engine and 4 speed transmission. It is located in Mesa, Arizona just east of Phoenix and was found by Rocco B. We appreciate Rocco sending this beauty for us to examine. The listing price is a reasonable $75,500.
The tan interior looks brand new and contrasts well with the external paint color. The Corvette is listed as a survivor and has won multiple top flight NCRS awards and even the Bow Tie award at a NCRS National event. One of the unique things about this car besides its performance engine and 4 speed transmission is the amount of documentation the car has. The seller states that he or she has the tank sticker, build sheet, window sticker, POP plate and the NCRS score sheets.
In 1970, the small block LT-1 (5.7 liter) engine was introduced and gained widespread attention. The LT-1 was exclusively offered in the Corvette and Camaro Z28 models. This engine featured solid lifters, an 11.0:1 compression ratio, the “178” high-performance camshaft, and a Holley four-barrel carburetor with vacuum secondary, delivering an impressive 780 cfm. Coupled with a special high-rise aluminum intake, unique 2.5″ outlet rams’ horn exhaust manifolds in the Corvette, and Delco transistor ignition, the LT-1 boasted a low-restriction exhaust system, yielding 370 hp in the Corvette and 360 hp at 6000 rpm with 380 lb⋅ft at 4000 rpm in the Camaro Z28. For NHRA classification, the Corvette’s rating was 425 hp. With a redline of 6,500 rpm, optimal performance was maintained up to 6,200 rpm.
The Corvette was originally purchased in Michigan in May of 1970. The dealer added a luggage rack when new. I wonder how long the car has been in Arizona vs. Michigan. After 1970, the horsepower rating for the Corvette dropped to 330 hp due to a lower compression ratio (9.0:1) and then the net rating in 1972 was only 255 horsepower. This looks like a great looking car and investment.
Nice catch Bruce, adding the hyphen in between the LT-1. Even the seller has it wrong, three times in his ad. You have to wonder how long he has really owned the car!
That’s what I consider what a follow on model Corvette should be… and was. Great looking, plenty of power, fun to drive. Not much more you can ask out of a car.
A ‘70 LT1 with low miles in great colors is a 6 figure car all day long …buyer beware this “bargain” on the notorious Craigslist !!!
Craigslist for this car is rather suspect..cool name by the way, I sometimes use “Robin Banks”
I remember when these cars were fairly new, and many that owned them traded them off in short order as they were pretty cammy for street driving and needed frequent slid lifter adjustments to run their best. Also these cars were really hot in the interior confines as I don’t think many hadA/C. They were high winding but not good in street traffic.
I can imagine the cabin heat. I had a C3 L82 and it could melt your sneakers to the firewall on a hot day. This gem is special though. Only issue is its “too special” to buy it and add miles to the odometer.
The first LT1 that had A/C was 1972 and they only made a little over 200 of them.
I had this motor in a ’58. It’s my favorite small block. So simple and bulletproof….
Dream car for me. But contingent upon winning the lottery first. It’s absolutely beautiful.
WOWieeee!!!
I owned 2 LT-1 Coupes Bridge Hampton blue white hood stripes, that’s correct you had to stay on top of the adjustment on the solid lifters and plugs, A/C was not a option on LT-1 Corvettes those years. I do believe it was in 72 the last year for LT-1 and for solid lifter engines then came the hydraulic lifter stones. VC
Never had a solid lifter car, how often do you need to adjust the lifters? something an average Joe Blow can do?
It takes a little bit of work and it’s a little messy. How often they need adjusting depends on how good of a job you do (the previous time) and how you drive it.
About every 8-10,000 miles.
Had this motor in a 69 Z-28 I purchased the car in November of 1973 paid $2000 had the fresh mill in it had been raced had a M-22 tranny and 4.10 gears. I used to take her out to 7000 on a daily basis and would side step the clutch at 6000 all the time for fun. The harmonic balance had a degree wheel on it which made adjustments piece of cake with all the high raving once a month did i. Beat car I ever had and until I put the 4.56 rear in it I would get 20 mpg on highway. I can’t speak to the totally stock setup as I had mechanical secondaries double pumper Holly but it was my daily driver around town
Frank,
Little clue. Buy a quality set of allen screw rocker lock nuts. I used to adjust mine every other oil change. After I put 100-200 miles on the new oil.
Warm it up well. Pull all the spark plugs. Pull the valve covers. Make sure you have a quality set of feeler gauges.(I had two), 1 for intake, 1 for exhaust.
Oh, have plenty of clean absorbing type oil rags on hand.
Have fun! I did.
Yup your right about the heavy camshaft and lifter adjusting.My uncle had a gold one.Didnt keep it very long…
A car with this history and pedigree on Craigslist? And what’s with the ill-fitting hood? I hope the next buyer goes over it with a fine tooth comb, and carries out the transaction at a bank or safe place.
Seriously this should be on Hemmings or something
Sometime in 1976, on a Thursday night I met a girl in a bar (Nineteenth Green, Rutland, VT) who overheard my friends talking about Vettes. she interjected that she had just gotten one for her birthday and it was parked outside. Being a sceptic, I went out to the parking lot, and she invited me to go for a ride. It was very similar to this one, only red, ’70/LT-1/4speed. I still recall her saying “I never drove a manual before” as we lurched out of the parking lot. After the somewhat scary ride, we eventually went our separate ways. When I arrived at her parents’ house on Saturday night, for our date, she came out on crutches. Having totaled it the night before. True story.
The LT1 was a power house, my friend had a 70 Z/28 LT1 M22 12 bolt we put ansen bars and a manual 850 Holley, hooker headers, that car beat the pants off many cars. But in bumper to bumper traffic on the main street Cruise he’d have to let it sit in bobs big boy or A&W.
But when we would all head out to the industrial part of town. He would give them some wood.
That thing hooked so hard. Those were fun days
I have a couple for 69 Z/28’s with original 302’s. Compared to them the LT-1 is extremely civilized. It still has solid lifters that need adjusted regularly but it has a bunch of bottom end torque that a 302 didn’t have.
A friend had a 69 Z/28 that he didn’t maintain, We restored it for a wedding present in 1985. Along the way “something” happened to the 302 and he built a “make your own” LT-1 350 for it. I loved the 350. It’s a much better driver than a 302 ever was.
My friend burned his Camaro in a garage fire and I rescued the car and the 302. It was under his work bench with the heads off. You haven’t lived until you end up picking up burned pieces of 2×4 off the top of the pistons in a DZ block 302. It took 6 months of PB Blaster to free it up. Fortunately it was a 40,000 mile stock motor and it cleaned up at .030″ over and the crank cleaned up at .010″ under.
I found a car that I’d been looking for since 1974, finally got it in 1996 with no motor and trans. I put the rebuilt salvaged motor and trans that I got from my friend in it and it’s a “driver show car.” The low mileage car doesn’t go too far these days.
In my defense I did drive the original car 900 miles to a college reunion in 1985. The solid lifter 302 and 4.11 gears gets old at 75 MPH. None of my friends are really sure about what we did, but the cops may still be looking for the car
I go to reunion weekend at school every year, but we chain the car to the trailer and give the keys to my friend’s wife and tell her to not give us the keys until we sober up.
It’s the 11.0 to 1 compression of the 70 LT-1 that makes it tough to run on the street. Pump gas won’t work by itself so you have to run race gas (expensive) or octane booster. I owned a 71 LT-1 and it was much easier to run with 9.0 to 1 compression.
We use the 12 octane race fuel in our 11 to 1 race car and it now sells for $16 a gallon. We’re putting our 15.5 engine on the track soon and hope the 12 octane fuel will work. The 15 octane fuel is $24 a gallon which cuts pretty deep into the budget. The solid lifter Corvette engines were terrors at the drag strips and we use them to get high rpm out of our small engines, but we built a couple of flat 4 Porsche engines that we put hydraulic lifters into get more rpm. Go figure.
Take the funky hood tape off an it will look a lot better.
That’s painted on, the LT-1 is a decal.
You would not believe the amount of work it took to stripe an LT-1 hood. There were just two or three guys at the St.Louis plant who did that art work.
They used a stencil to apply it. You would see the little smears where the three parts of the stencil met each other.
Solid-lifter motors have 2 avenues of simplicity re. lifter maintenance.
Either that which ‘Billy’ (above) suggests, or a more labor intensive but mess-free solution; obtain a set of old valve covers (small block/big block) & drill out the area(s) directly above each lifter nut to enable socket access. Thus, lifters can be adjusted correctly w/o having to deal with oil splatter.
My friend, that method is great for hydraulic lifters. Not so much with solids due to needing access for your feeler gauges. Solids can’t be adjusted when the engine is running.
Billy
Unfortunately for many old enough to remember and appreciate it too much of a handful now. Hopefully someone buys it who knows what to do with it and has the energy and patience to do it.
Nice, but we wonder if they really can document the mileage.
Anyway, it’s questionable, especially listed in a cheesy site like Craig’s List. This car deserves better, especially if it really is investment grade. Better bring your Corvette expert buddy with you for this one.
Fair enough but it has documentation and Bloomington Gold certification as far back as 1981. Buyer will need to do more homework but I’m more optimistic this is the real deal particularly if paint is original as claimed.
NCRS Top Flight certified 1970 LT-1, great looker, no better way to spend 75.5K in my book.