The Laguna S-3 was the successor to the Chevy Chevelle Super Sport. By the mid-1970s, the muscle car scene had changed substantially, and the S-3 would carry Chevy’s intermediate performance mantra for 1974-76. The seller, a dealer in Sarasota, Florida, offers a very solid and likely original 1975 Laguna S-3 with only 43,000 miles. With a wide range of photos to show off this sweet Chevy, the car is available here on Classic Cars of Sarasota for $29,950. A tip brought our way by Jack M.
Second-year S-3s had an aerodynamic front snoot that would be advantageous in NASCAR in the heyday of guys like Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough (Richard Petty was a Mopar driver). While Chevrolet had used the Laguna name in 1973 when the “Colonnade” Chevelles were introduced. For 1974-76, the moniker only applied to the rebranded SS coupes. The 1975 editions arrived mid-season for some reason. A 350 cubic inch was standard fare, but a 400 like the one in the seller’s car was optional with 175 hp SAE net thanks to a 4-barrel carburetor.
The seller’s apparent survivor is one of 6,700 copies assembled in ’75. This is a well-equipped car with almost everything besides factory air conditioning. That includes swivel bucket seats and power windows. An automatic transmission was your only choice with the 400 V8. A prior owner added American Racing wheels and a Sony aftermarket stereo.
Most of the verbiage offered by the seller is “marketing-speak,” so we don’t know the heritage of this mid-1970s combination of style and performance. The emphasis was placed on the former as these cars generally didn’t pass by many gas stations (neither did their fire-breathing predecessors of a half-decade earlier). Other than a few chips in the paint, this Laguna could almost pass for new. Could it be the nicest one left?
A south Florida car with no A/C? Odd.
My guess is it’s not indigenous to Florida.
Which makes me wonder where it has lived before. (think ice and salt)
Yup. The surprisingly few undercarriage shots show a rattle can paint job, including the gas tank. I’m not saying it’s a rust bucket, and somebody could have stored it in the winter. But you would definitely want to check that out closer.
Not any more than my brother’s 2017 GMC Sierra LT with Heated seats is southern FL…lol
IDK, I’ve met some Floridians who go into a tailspin and break out the winter clothes when the temp drops below 70.
It is a clean Chevelle here with the 400 engine. Just add dual exhaust here which can be done with a newer modern trans cross member to let that engine breathe a little more. I believe this is the last year for no cat converter.
This car should have had a cat converter on it. 1975 was the first year for cats.
My mistake on the cat convertor I was one year off.
All show and no go. These cars deserve new engines
My S3 with a 400ci with only dual exhaust and intake for upgrades (factory cross member) has a lil too much ‘go’.
When the light turns green, and im in a ‘lets go’ kinda mood and I get on it, car burns 275s with just a lil too agressive on throttle.
I spend much of my cruz deciplining myself to slow down and reminding myself how rare a car and even a fender bender would be a shame, no less near no replacement parts.
Its design and weight make it king on the highway, sleek and smooth; alloy wheels, precision balanced.
If i were gonna spend money for even more power, id keep the engine, but go vortec/roller, port/polish and cam.
Two high flow cats, cause i like clean.
For now, sure, theres faster than me, but seldom cooler ;)
Really nice car! Certainly looks great for its age.
I’m no Chevy expert but it states it has a 400. Isn’t that a big block? I sorta look at the valve covers on the Chevy engines and those look like small block valve covers? They don’t look like the wide valve covers I typically associate with a big block Chevy?
Yes, it is a small block. The bore was increased to 4.125” and the stroke was 3.75”. There was also a big block of 402 cubic inch displacement which had the same bore and a 3.76” stroke.
Thanks for the info! Cool!
Chevrolet used 400 emblems on both the 396/402 big block and the 400 small block for a few years. The 396/402 was out of production by 1975. When I work in auto parts, most of the catalogs for years both were produced differentiated the two by which carburetor the car came with, big blocks came with a 4bbl, small blocks used a 2bbl. At some point Chevrolet put a 4bbl on a 400 small block, but that was after the 396/402 was out of production. There were a few times we dealt with customers that had installed a 4bbl carb on their early 400 small block and got parts for a big blocks used, most of us would as the customer if it was a big blocks used or small block, they generally knew, but there was no perfect solution unless the car was in the parking lot.
Steve R
Just to look at the vin on the dash proves it was in a damp condition. Not a Florida car for sure. Wonder what vintage air costs to install on this year.
Something strange about this car. The interior looks good but has an a/c dash pad with a blank on the rh side. Never seen that in production. Has the correct round dials/provisions but can’t tell if there are gages in there. The Type S-3 came with the 4-spoke sport steering wheel. The ’73 came with a Caprice or Monte Carlo style wheel. I’ve never seen one with a Malibu wheel.
That’s not an a/c dash. The center vents are for what was the flow through ventilation system; it was called Astro Ventilation early on when vent windows on GM cars went away. The push-pull vent handles under the steering column controlled the air flow. I don’t think there were kick panel vents.
I acknowledged all of that. If you look more closely the dash PAD is from an a/c car with the far right opening blanked out. Not factory. None of this explains the steering wheel.
I agree with you. I think this car came from the factory with a/c. A lot of work was done to hide that it did, but not enough.
Ya, a weird thing to do, less work to fix it.
Looking over it, the bright clean block, the white stripes (rally stripes) usually part of package with Landau (sp) roof and full rally interior but this has clean roof and no rally steering wheel. The paint is peeling on nose, and 75s didnt have color code rear bumpers, 73s did. The badge on the rear is missing, bolted on from behind the panel, and the Chevrolet tag missing from the right corner. This car is a re-paint. The interior: upolstry is new as is carpet and dash is ‘capped’. See the wear from the keys on the column ?, thats no 43k wear, 143 sure.
Yes, it sure is beautiful, and seamingly arrow straight, so a nice find in an ideal color WITH power windows =), yet, no power locks ??
Probably custom order, no roof, no pl, but no rally wheel ?
Cost wise, sure, all that work, on a bird this rare should fetch good money; better than a ’72 alll day long; and we all know how much those same ol Chevys are fetchin.
looks nice. noy too often seen. lose the cheap mags and put stock rallies on it
You may not like them, but 15” Daisy mags are very desirable for someone building a day two car. They are period correct for the mid-1970’s to early-1980’s. A pair of nice 15×10”s with a 5 by 4 3/4 bolt pattern sold for over $1,000 on eBay within the last month. These are a good choice for someone that doesn’t want rally’s.
Steve R
OK, then- I will comment on the price. Crazy Eddie would say this price is insane!