The Corvette is often called America’s sports car, but in the late ’60s, they were really more muscle car than anything. That’s especially true of the ones that were equipped with the go fast 427 V8! This particular convertible Corvette left the factory with a 400 horsepower L68 427 and a 4-speed. This combo provides great straight line performance and the ability to select the gears yourself if you do happen across some twisties. If you’ve been on the hunt for a genuine big block Tri-Power Corvette project, this one can be found here on eBay in Kemmerer, Wyoming with a current bid of $15,000.
The seller states that they are letting this one go simply because they have too many big block Corvette projects underway. That sounds like a terrible problem to have! They also admit that this car needs a lot of work. It was in a collision and there’s going to be a lot of fiberglass work to be done. On the positive side, they claim the frame wasn’t damaged and isn’t rusty!
The 4oo horsepower 427 is currently out of the engine bay but has already been machined. They had the block magnafluxed and bored out, but they didn’t have them deck it to preserve the numbers for verifying that it is an L68. It looks to be complete, including its triple carb setup. Once it’s back together, this should prove to be one heck of a machine to drive!
This really is going to be a big project, but you don’t come across big block Corvettes every day. Chevrolet built just 2,072 L68s in ’69, making this a fairly rare Vette. Interestingly, it wasn’t optioned with air conditioning like many of the other L68s. Whoever ordered it must have figured they could just put the top down if it got too hot! As nice as AC would be to have on those hot summer days, it does save you a little power, some weight and possibly a little time in the quarter mile. So, would you enjoy wrenching on this Corvette or does that body damage make you nervous?
Did I dream this, or was this car featured last week? A worthy project for sure!
Feb 4. Sunday. Lmao.
I liked seeing this one last week.
I still wonder what looks like behind the seats blocking the tapped rear end.
These are known for rust in rear dog legs and bird cape as well as metal under fiberglass in front panels by headlights that stick.
Much of the right side has pop rivets holding it together from rear quarters to front fender etc.
I hope the block is real and not a grind and restamp etc.
Anyone able to validate the stamp design on block ?
My small block didn’t have the circular line (showing 2) in pics.
I hope I don’t hear it’s a factory replacement etc☹️
Look at this vette 427 casting and see the eBay casting
https://goo.gl/images/fE2YFy
I’m not really sure what your saying. Are you referring to the VIN and engine suffix code stamping’s, on the stamp pad. The ones on the seller’s block look good to me.
The pad broach marks are there, and the stamping’s are typical of Tonawanda’s engine stamps and St. Louis’ VIN stamps. The two larger “2”s don’t belong there, but I’ve seen similar strange marks, done by engine builders.
More importantly, the block and VIN stamp were both stamped at the same time at St. Louis. Because of this they should be identical, and from the pictures the seller included, the engine and trans VIN stamps look the same to me.
Thanks it was the “2”s bothering me! I guess I have heard to many stories of restamping engine blocks to fake it and make numbers matching
sounds a little shady to me.
427/425 HP was not available with air conditioning.
This a 400 hp.
It pains me to see pics like this. I see things like this in my neighborhood and around town also. An owner of a fine car who just lets it rot. How dare they do that? How did this wonderful corvette end up like this? It should be loved and pampered, not neglected and forgotten. What a shame.
Well, here we go. This is definitely my wheelhouse. (Before I begin, though, BT Management: I haven’t received a BF email – either new or updates on previous comments for a couple of days. I just came here on a whim)
The two 427 Tri-Power Corvettes I have owned were 1968 and 1969 convertibles. Both were built with Factory A/C and 4-speeds.
At one time, I had a long phone conversation with Dr. M.F. Dobbins, the Godfather of Corvette restoration books. I had called him, because I was in the middle of refurbishing my 1969. The emissions sticker was really worn and I looked up the replacement in his catalogue.
To my surprise, the part number on the replacement ended in ‘133’, and the alpha reference was ‘CJ’, but the VERY original sticker on my firewall had a number that ended in ‘134’ and the alpha was ‘CK’!
He and I went round and round about it, until he (in his most learned manner), told me that because my combination was so rare (manual trans, A/C and small port BBC with Tri-Power, that that particular combination might have required a new emissions sticker (even though the sticker was supposed to be correct for all BBC in Corvette except L-88/ZL-1).
He said that it was typical for GM to just iterate the number and alpha by one, rather than issue some whole new series.
I did not order his sticker, but rather left the correct one in place. I can therefore substantiate any owner’s claim that their Corvette came with that exact set of equipment options, simply by examining their emissions sticker. It is still not replicated, the only ones that exist will be the originals, and I feel sorry for those anal retentive types who have replaced their originals with the wrong one.
I can almost guarantee that this vendor’s emissions sticker is ‘133’ and ‘CK’ – because it didn’t have A/C.
For that, and many other reasons, I lean heavily toward sympathetic, rather than complete, restoration.
From that picture you included and a previous one, I can see that your ’69 didn’t get much sympathy…but it sure was gorgeous! Maybe this one would be right up your alley?
When we received the ’69, it came in on a hook, and was only barely recognizable as a Corvette. Since it needed ‘everything’, I decided to build my dream car (which happens to be an Air Conditioned, 427 TriPower powered, 4-speed Corvette roadster). Thank you for your input.