By Antti Kautonen
Yesterday’s purple custom Corvette C4 wasn’t an easy sight on the eyes. Obviously, we need to scale back the aggressiveness, and here’s a 1976 Chevrolet Corvette C3, finished in a colour that reminds me of plastic mannequins – or an unpainted scale model, if models are what we’re talking about.
The tan Vette is a California import, and resides in Helsinki at the moment.
The ad describes the ’76 Vette as a garaged, one-owner car. The 1976 Vettes got a steel floor instead of fiberglass, to shield the occupants better from the heatsoak from the catalytic converters. Power was at 180hp for the base engine, which I believe this to have.
The interior appears clean and original, with the seats largely intact. I also spy a period-correct radio. The colour scheme continues in the fleshy tones, accentuated by a couple of wood panels and the steering wheel flypaper.
Nice rack. Seriously, I think the luggage rack is a good-looking addition on the rear deck, and the wheels suit the package. There seems to be a colour mismatch on the door, but that’s probably easily rectifed.
The Corvette is for sale at Old Cars World, with the asking price a not-unreasonable 12 500 eur. It’s probably not between Finnish plates yet, but the taxes for a 1976 car can’t be mind-boggling. I’d also claim the car would make historic plates as is.
[Source: Nettiauto]
Jeff Glucker
Antti, the wheels are the stock steel wheels for this year Corvette. There were optional alloys starting in '76, but they're rare. Also luggage racks were long available as a Chevrolet accessory, and nice to have (except when it's time to fill up).
Stock wheels? More power to them.
These the optional wheels? The Corvette is a bit hard to see because of the convertible Talbot Samba. Sorry about that.
<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/74465213/CMS13/74060034.jpg" </img>
Yeah, they first appeared for 1976. They were supposed to be released for '73 (they appear in pre-production marketing photos for the '73 models). The way the story goes, the wheels were being made by Kelsey-Hayes, and the quality of the first batch was so poor that Chevrolet canceled the contract (it was too late to start over, with the production just around the corner), and the few sets that were usable found their way into the hands of special friends of the Corvette.
Heh, thought they looked like they could be originial. Maybe i should have taken a picture of the Vette too.. Too busy photographing* to actually look at the cars. Maybe i'll be smarter next time.
*poorly. damn people getting in the way and me screwing up the settings when in a hurry.
The door matches the rear bumper, which is probably a replacement for a crumbling original.
Steering wheel flypaper… HA!
Maybe it matched when repaired? I can imagine that even a 10yo respray could age differently from the original paint.
I once heard this colour described as "hearing-aid beige" (and that was before the recent Top Gear episode). I think it's a much less pretentious description than most.
It's Buckskin, color code 56:
http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?…
These Vettes are pretty, but a new Carolla would blow its doors off. Also, these cars had no trunklid whatsoever, which kinda makes the luggage rack a necessity.
The C3 is often considered one of the more phallic designs………so I guess the color design team was drawing from nature?
Not the best color, but not bad at all. The interior is pretty sweet too. Then again, it's far from the best 'Vette, and they're asking multiples of what I'd consider paying
If I ever buy a Corvette it is almost surely going to be a mid-70's model. Let the haters hate. To them I say thank you for keeping the prices depressed so that some of us of more modest means can afford a Vette. That asking price works out to about $16,300 US, which is more than double what similar ones are often selling for in the US
Luggage racks in every iteration, on any car suck.
There is a 76 at a local tow yard thats been sitting up on blocks for a while. Its missing its t-tops and the luggage rack is gone but every time I see it I wounder what an ls swap would do for these cars…..
Imagine loading up the luggage rack for a long road trip. You hit the road and after a few hours you stop to fill up.
Oh, crap.
Do the carpets match the drapes ? Just a thought.