One of the objectives of automobile reviews is to sing a car’s particular praises. Some examples are a bit light in the praises department – you have to dig, and even then you might still come up with a null set. Is that the case with this 1972 Chevrolet Corvette? I’ll review, you decide. This Corvette is located in Miami, Florida and is available, here on eBay for a current bid of $6,100, twenty-five bids tendered so far.
This is not the first time that we have covered a ‘Vette being offered by this seller, so his wares are of a certain memorable quality. This particular example is a pretty standard ’72 Corvette coupe, one of 27K to roll off of the St. Louis assembly line that year. It has an automatic transmission, power windows, and may have had A/C but it appears to have been removed. It is currently residing in a rather down-trodden condition, missing its front bumper and grilles along with the passenger side fender vent, and imbued with some rough-looking fiberglass repairs in various places. The doors don’t align all that well, the rocker panel moldings appear to be attached with drywall screws, or something similar, and the headlight pods have a serious alignment problem, especially the passenger side unit which is cracked. I can’t put my finger on the aftermarket wheels though I know that I have seen them adorn a multiplicity of different rides.
The VIN checks out in this case and power is provided by a 200 net HP, 350 CI V8, engine. It has been modified with an aftermarket carburetor, aluminum intake manifold, solid-state distributor, chrome-plated valve covers, and an aluminum bladed fan. The radiator is missing, as are the cooling hoses; this engine appears to have been dormant for a long stretch. The seller states that the engine “turns manually ” so at least it’s not seized. The transmission should be a Turbo-Hydramatic 400, three-speed automatic. It looks as if there is some missing componentry on the passenger side of the engine compartment but that could be the result of removed A/C bits such as the evaporator core – it’s hard to say with certainty as it’s a bit of a mess.
The interior is rough. The seats are completely worn out and it seems as if what’s left of the deteriorated padding is covered with some pretty scruffy looking seating surfaces – not to mention that the driver’s seatback is wearing blue overspray, probably the result of a little resale touch-up. Curiously, the steering wheel looks like the one out of my ’91 Jeep Cherokee. The door panels have chunks taken or bitten, out of them and the door release handle is missing off of the passenger door while both locking knobs are missing. Small stuff? Probably but how many more missing/broken items are there? There is a non-OEM radio stuffed into the center stack dash opening while the upper portion of the stack has a large, gaping hole.
OK, praise time. I’m not coming up with any. You could say, “Well it’s a C3, steel bumper car”, yeah it is, but only on one end. Parts? Maybe, like the T-400 transmission. I’m out of ideas, what are your suggestions for praiseworthiness?
Well, this looks a little eh, crusty. Probably more than a fair amount of crust that you cannot see, too. Crustacean habitat.
This is one of the worse Corvettes I’ve ever seen on here. I don’t see much on this car that’s restorable, or reusable. The body looks really rough, with a quick paint job to try to hide it’s (many) flaws. I’m particularly bothered by the repairs/modifications made to the rear exhaust panel, and that the exhaust isn’t exiting in the original position anymore. It’s not the original engine either. The small stamp pad on the front of the block, identifies this as a late 70’s, or 80’s small block.
I have always wanted one of these, but this one looks a little sketchy.
Look at it this way, somebody probably had a lot of fun beating the crap out of this thing over the years.
Ans aren’t those wheels off some kind of Blazer or pick up?
No. It’s the overspray on the seats!!! LOL!!! That says it all!
While 72s are climbing in price these days, this one should be parted out. I have restored two C3s over the years. The $$$$$$ to make this even drivable far exceeds its value. Now if it was an LT-1 with C60 and other options, then worth a look.
This is pretty bizarre. Bidding has taken it to 10K, and this is a beaten base model. It looks like it been hit on the passenger side, there is bondo, rust, crooked rear wheels, I won’t even bother going on about it. Pretty sad case here.
Yes seems strange to me too that the price is getting to that point for a car which seems to have almost everything worn, missing, damaged, etc.
This is a good one for somebody that doesn’t know anything about cars and wants to learn by doing. It’s pretty hard to make it worse and won’t cost too much going in. Then, when he figures out he’s over his head, sell it for parts.
This car is worth about 8k I’ve seen worse would be a good project for someone doing the work themselves
$8k? This car is a $2k car, tops. Someone even changed out the steering column for a 1980 model, presumable because of a head on collision or something similar. Seriously, this car makes my skin crawl. Some Insaniac took the bidding from 6k to 10k in one shot. I resume they mistyped and didn’t check what they bid. Anyone looking for a project car needs to look somewhere else.
This has been relisted. I guess the winning bidder has awoken from their stupor, cleared up their hangover, and wised up.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-Chevrolet-Corvette/174641143785
Hi Frank, Thanks for the heads up. I saw this.
Condition:Used
Ended:Feb 15, 2021 , 11:48PM
Winning bid:US $10,100.00[ 26 bids ] Agree on the hangover.