1977 Chevrolet Corvette L48 5.7 Liter

Summary:

An expensive and addicting hobby

Faults:

The list of things gone wrong is almost impossible to write. I started installing a completely brand new suspension. Yes, every component of the suspension ended up being replaced from the trailing arms, to the tie rods, to the front control arms to the sway bars and everything possible that costs a lot of money. The entire drive-train has either been rebuilt, including the rear end, transmission, and most recently the motor. The motor is going to have about 300 HP when I'm done with it. With roller rockers, a real nice camshaft, brand new crank, and a nice set of pistons, I'm sure the performance will be a bit more than the original 180HP motor put out.

I also installed a custom exhaust, starting with hooker headers, to a true dual exhaust complete with high performance catalytic converts (to keep it legal and all), then it exits through a set of Dynomax super turbo mufflers.

The whole stereo has been upgraded from a dual shaft head unit with two 4 by 6's to complete custom system costing well over $1200. I could go into details, but it would get quite boring.

Parts are readily available through a vast array of catalogs, but Corvette items are quite expensive... get a few catalogs and shop around.

Some parts however, are extremely hard to find, like the speedometer, headlight switch, and many random parts that have to be found at a swap meet.

General Comments:

I bought the car as a driver, and it ended up as my second car. This was good because by now, it's completely restored. If you plan on owning an old Corvette, either spend the extra money on one that has receipts for everything, and make sure it is in mint shape, OR you could by a cheap one (like I did) and spend way too much money that you will never see again. (I'm up to about $23,000 in buying the car and restoring it)

I've grown quite attached to the car, if you plan on buying one, make sure you know what your getting into first.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 29th April, 2002

14th Jan 2003, 11:01

So you have $23K invested in a Corvette that I believe to be superior in looks to the new ones. It looks twice as good and costs less than half, not to mention insurance and registration costs. Sounds like a fantastic deal to me.

12th Jul 2005, 19:36

My story is that I bought my 77 vette four years ago, everything under the hood is either new or rebuild...

New paint, custom inter. total cost about $20,000...

I actually think it is way too much money that I will not get it back. Though it is like marriage... I hate it as much as I love it... can't stand it, but can't get rid of it either.

I was a bit surprised when I saw the comment that $23,000 could be considered as a good deal...