Blue is my favorite color. So when I see a C3 in dark blue, it gets my attention. This 1979 Chevrolet Corvette is located in Clermont, Florida. It is not a trailer queen but a daily driver with over 100k miles. It is listed for sale here on eBay with 2 days remaining in the auction. The car has not received a lot of attention or bids. It is currently bid to $6,806 and it appears to be listed at no reserve. The 1979 Corvette was the most popular 3rd generation (C3) Corvette in terms of the number built. Production reached a new high with 53,807 sales.
The tan interior is holding on but shows wear and it looks like a 100k mile car. The leather and vinyl on the front seats have faded to different colors and console needs to be redyed. The steering wheel looks like it has been replaced. Several options were introduced in 1979 based on the prior year’s Indy 500 pace car. These included the optional glass mirrored T-Tops and D80 front and rear spoilers. This car has the mirrored T-Tops which cost an extra $365 but not the spoiler option which decreased dragged and actually increased miles per gallon by about 0.5 mpg. Chevrolet made the high back bucket seats standard in 1979 and had better support and side bolsters than in prior years. These seats were also 24 lbs lighter than prior years.
The base engine in the 1979 Corvette was the L48 designated 350 cubic inch V8 that was rated at 190 hp. It appears that this car was originally equipped with the L48 engine but it has been modified with several performance parts. The other engine available in the 1979 Corvette was the L82 350 cubic inch V8 that was rated at 220 hp. Not much is said about the drive line except the engine was rebuilt about 5 years ago and is pushing about 385 horsepower. The engine is backed by its original GM Turbo 350 automatic transmission.
The car is riding on aftermarket BF Goodrich Radial TA and its factory aluminum wheels. The seller states that the car runs well, the glass is in good condition and the headlights pop up. The Body looks straight and the seller warrants that the car has not been in any wrecks or floods. The car was repainted about 10 years ago.
Beautiful shade of blue. Looks like they did a very good job applying it. These were my favorite of the C3 design. I always loved these style rims. I dont know if these seats were two toned originally, or if they faded funny or if they were partially redone, ( which wouldnt really make a lot of sense but what do I know). Looks like its a great enjoyable driver.
Those seats weren’t two tone, all one color so yeah the sun and age have taken their toll. A buddy bought a new hunter green ‘79 with that tan interior, had the L82 and a 4-speed. It was a sharp looking car and the new interior for ‘79 especially in the tan was a lot nicer than the ‘78 and previous years.
I just Sold my 79 L-82 with the Same Green and 4 Speed, last week. I was really fun to drive. I think I sold it to cheap though..
Lots of rust and corrosion everywhere in the engine compartment. Hard to see 385hp out of a 350 with a post 1973 cast iron Quadrajet intake, if you make the claim back it up with some specs.
There are better examples of mid to late-1970’s Corvettes without the potential issues with rust, I’d hold out for one of those.
Steve R
You took the words out of my mouth. Even 285 would be a stretch with that setup.
Well, it has newish looking spark plug wires and they’re red so that adds 100 HP doesn’t it? 🤣
Go Blue!
The current bid is about the ceiling for this thing. Get it for that, lose those atrocious factory wheels, (sorry in advance to those of you that find them attractive) put on some 8″ rallies, and adjust the stance. Wouldn’t be too bad of a weekend putt around then.