1979 was a great year for Corvettes and their popularity in the showroom hit a new high with 53,807 sales, the most of any 3rd generation (C3) Corvette. Most 1979 Corvettes were ordered with the optional Turbo 350 automatic transmission like this car. The silver paint is striking with the black trim and white (oyster) interior. This car is for sale in Hutto, Texas, north of Austin for $15,000 and is listed on Facebook Marketplace.
The 1979 Corvette could be ordered with the L48 (190 hp) or the L82 (220 hp) engine. This gorgeous silver Corvette has the L-82 engine as noted by the badging and the black finned valve covers. Several options were introduced in 1979 based on the prior year’s Indy 500 pace car. These included the optional glass mirrored T-Tops which cost $365. The car could also be ordered with D80 front and rear spoilers which decreased dragged and actually increased miles per gallon by about 0.5 mpg.
The high back bucket seats became standard and had better support and side bolsters than in previous years. A pair of seats were also 24 lbs lighter than prior years.
This Corvette has the polished factory alloy wheels. The base price of Corvettes increased from $9,750 in 1978 to $10,220 in 1979. The interior of the car looks original along with the original radio, tilt and telescopic steering and grey carpet. Prices of C3 Corvettes have been fairly low for many years ranging from $8,000 to $15,000 depending on mileage and condition.
There are so many low mileage Corvettes around just get a low mileage figure in your head and sooner or later one will come along that matches it.
Those sales numbers are amazing. Do they even sell 50,000 Accords a year now? LOL!
Accord sales are usually between 20,000 and 25,000 a month, occasionally the hit 30,000 or drop to 18,000. Full year sales in 2018 were 291,071.
Steve R
Ah ok. Thanks. With automakers dropping passenger car lines left and right that is very surprising. But I believe you.
I think it’s mainly the domestic manufacturers that are dropping passenger cars. There is still a strong market for them in many areas of the country.
Manufacturers are required by the government to report sales because it’s intregal in many economic forecasts. You can google any make and model by either yearly or monthly sales and the numbers come up on several websites.
Steve R
Love it, wish I had the cash.
I think 1979 actually has the highest sales in the entire history of Corvettes- go figure!
I figure because they still look good even today. Were else will you find all that bodywork, done just for looks, a rear hatch that doesn’t open and the horsepower of a 4 cylinder Camry. It really doesn’t matter, when you have 10 tons of “style” working for you. I like these better and better all the time and it won’t break the bank keeping it on the road. Even better, there are companies popping almost any part, you can get anything.
Low hp, yes. But not low torque. My 81 has 190 hp from the factory but it’ll slam you back in your seat and squawk the tires quite nicely from a standing start and do 0-125 mph in pretty short order.
Try that in a Camry and let me know how it goes.
And I agree, for the dollar, you cant get much more fun and easy to find parts. You can rebuild the entire car in aftermarket parts right down to period correct door panel fasteners.
This a no brainer for the end of the line C3. Condition and overall colors and option schemes are at the top of the list.
As it gets harder to own one for free over a short time, this one ranks high.
I’ve seen these later C3’s with a lot fewer miles for less money. I might get one and pull the engine, rebuild it for some decent HP in the 400 range and drop it back in looking totally stock. They are comfortable cars, reasonably reliable and serviceable. Hot rod the hell out of it and not worry about chopping up some rare version.
Too bad it is an automatic.
Too bad the later rear spoiler that was integrated into the rear bumper was not yet available – cleaner design.
I would prefer a foot operated parking brake to get a higher(black) console to rest my right arm on, like on 2nd gen f-bodies.
I also would prefer a black steering wheel & dash here, again like on 2nd gen f-bodies, for a white interior option.