Featured Back In Time to GM 2 Buy a 76 Vette.

XFIRE82 · Sep 14, 2018

.....Well I had probably once in a lifetime experience recently. Maybe a few of you recall the story and pics I posted about a couple of years ago about a friend of mine that took apart his 70 454 Donnybrook green vette that he bought and only drove once in 79 I think it was ( heck I forgot already ! ) , but never worked on it since then, he got ill and I took it to restore 3 years ago so that he could drive the dream he had, then things changed right after I started and he sold the car. But he still has the dream of a C3, so the last few weeks we went hunting. Found lots of junk, cars said to be oh so original with original paint and tires low miles etc but are bad bad bad. But on another wild goose chase to Edmonton coming home he stopped in to the GM dealer in Lloyd as a 76 was advertised from there. He looked at it and thought it was pretty nice but wanted my opinion so 2 weeks ago we went to give it a look. For me it was like going back in time. They let us take it over the pit and look all you want at the frame etc. Road tested it . I looked it over and over. They freshened the car up with a very nice paint job, and replaced leaky ps ram cylinder and hoses, a/c line , odds and ends that needed it. The car is Safety Inspected , so all is checked out and done what needed. It is a 68,000 mile car , L48 4 speed T-10 , original interior is still nice.......and most of all nothing was ever butchered on the car, stock am/fm radio plays, no stupid headers put on or canadian tire air cleaner , it's a bone stock rust free 76 StingRay. So yeah , I said don't let this one go by. We left it that day as he was still waiting for a new coolant reservoir tank to come in . So today we were free and went picked it up. It was so neat to buy a Vette like this right from a GM dealer , like going back in time. 2 hour 15 minute ride home and he was happy as can be as he got to finally drive his dream C3..., it's not the '70 454 but it still goes like crazy. Some pics turned out too dark, darn , it looked like rain or snow cloudy day but turned out OK.

Rruuff Day · Sep 14, 2018

XFIRE82 said:
.....Well I had probably once in a lifetime experience recently. Maybe a few of you recall the story and pics I posted about a couple of years ago about a friend of mine that took apart his 70 454 Donnybrook green vette that he bought and only drove once in 79 I think it was ( heck I forgot already ! ) , but never worked on it since then, he got ill and I took it to restore 3 years ago so that he could drive the dream he had, then things changed right after I started and he sold the car. But he still has the dream of a C3, so the last few weeks we went hunting. Found lots of junk, cars said to be oh so original with original paint and tires low miles etc but are bad bad bad. But on another wild goose chase to Edmonton coming home he stopped in to the GM dealer in Lloyd as a 76 was advertised from there. He looked at it and thought it was pretty nice but wanted my opinion so 2 weeks ago we went to give it a look. For me it was like going back in time. They let us take it over the pit and look all you want at the frame etc. Road tested it . I looked it over and over. They freshened the car up with a very nice paint job, and replaced leaky ps ram cylinder and hoses, a/c line , odds and ends that needed it. The car is Safety Inspected , so all is checked out and done what needed. It is a 68,000 mile car , L48 4 speed T-10 , original interior is still nice.......and most of all nothing was ever butchered on the car, stock am/fm radio plays, no stupid headers put on or canadian tire air cleaner , it's a bone stock rust free 76 StingRay. So yeah , I said don't let this one go by. We left it that day as he was still waiting for a new coolant reservoir tank to come in . So today we were free and went picked it up. It was so neat to buy a Vette like this right from a GM dealer , like going back in time. 2 hour 15 minute ride home and he was happy as can be as he got to finally drive his dream C3..., it's not the '70 454 but it still goes like crazy. Some pics turned out too dark, darn , it looked like rain or snow cloudy day but turned out OK.
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Michael. Congrats for your friend finally having a chance to live his dream. And by the sound of your recap, he's not the only one who enjoyed the hunt and finale :thumbs:

XFIRE82 · Sep 14, 2018

actually Rruuff I was more excited than he was I think, the car is nice . But there is another part to the story which I will save for another day if goes as planned, a bit of a shocker for me but we'll tune to that channel when it is time.

nascar03 · Sep 14, 2018

michael..
That looks like a pretty nice Corvette.
Thanx for helping your buddy get into this car.
Dealers don’t usually want to deal with cars of this vintage.
It must be a nice car for them to handle it.
Graham

Black 03 Z06 · Sep 15, 2018

Great story Michael. Now you have us intrigued on the "what else" is going on part.

72ray · Sep 15, 2018

great story. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy!

XFIRE82 · Oct 21, 2018

OK , finally I can sit down here and finish what I started telling you about Part 2 of this adventure I had like kinda going back in time buying a Vette from a GM dealer. This was , is , abit of a shocker for me but here it goes.
I told you about how we picked up the nice 76 Stingray off the lot at the GM Dealer in Lloyminster. What I didn't tell is that there was another Vette out in back that was just sitting there. I didn't pay attention to it cause it was newer than a C3. Now if you ever seen me say in posts , Corvette went down hill after 1982, I don't like the looks of any of them. I have participated in and attended many Car Shows over alot of years and anything newer than a C3 I just walk past and not look at it, sorry guys but that is just me. The newest Vette I ever sat and rode in is my Crossfire 82. OK back to the other car. After we got back home with the 76, we was talking and my buddy said he talked to the owner again of the 76 who just happen to own the other car too, who happens to own the dealership !! , the car is a '93 . Yeah he said he'll sell the 93 , had enough of putting parts into it , but he decided to just order a new one and let these 2 cars go. He said a price which I'd rather not say, you won't believe me anyway, but no one here would say no I'm sure. He did the following, new paint , new tires, brakes, rotors etc , a/c compressor and lines, Optispark and water pump, auto tranny , exhaust work , weatherstripping , new Pioneer stereo and a bunch of other odds and ends, windshield looks new. In short I bought it without sitting in it . Had to wait as I wanted a Sask Safety so you know the car was gone over before it can pass safety. A few other things were needed so waited as I told him no rush, I'm tied up with farming plus I had some medical issues to deal with, just got out of the Body Shop ( hospital ) myself a week ago. Anyways we went back to Lloyd 2 1/2 hour ride , paid the man , sat in it first time, fired it up and drove it home. I now own a C4 , still hard to believe I own a ugly Vette. It still needs a few details which I plan on doing before I decide to trade it for a truck or just put it away and maybe pull out at night so no one sees me driving it !!
Seriuosly it is not as nice a car as my 82. The 82 handles better, more comfortable to sit in and looks like a real Corvette. This thing is hard to get in and out of , the seats are from a dune buggy hard as a rock , the guy who designed the roof panel was on drugs using the 4 bolts.....oh yeah he told me don't drive with the roof off as the car vibrates and I looked up the reviews on it from new and yeah many reports of the car vibrating with the roof off plus things like air bag exploding for no reason, optispark is a nightmare creation under the waterpump, all engine seals leak from new, there is a list of issues with the C4. But I had a weak moment and am going to give it a shot. One convincing factor is the color, my opinion the nicest C4 color, Black Rose Metallic. Also the wheels and seats are newer Collector Edition...seats are terrible wheels are OK. It has a nice rumble to it makes you wanna step on it. I don't care for the digital speedo but I like the button that switches it from metric to english. The liter thing readout means little to me as I never had a vehicle that shows things like that. No telescopic wheel like my 82. What is kinda cool is the passive key remote which is the first year GM used it on a car and mine actually works. The flip front is like my 9000 Louisville tandem , easy access to the engine better than the C3. Wider tires in back than the front which I like. It seems to pull hard but I never nailed it as I have to get used to it first and I'm not a speed demon, like I only drove it once so far 230 km I think it was. Seemed good as my 82 on gas going by the guage but that don't matter much. That extra brake light in back spoils the looks, what were they thinking cutting a hole for that ? It is what it is I guess. If we all liked the same thing then it would be boring. I will study the makings of this car and give it a better review later. Just about time to park it anyway. I tell it as it is , something for you readers to pick over . A few pics I took today. Oh, the white one at the end is his 2019 that just came in before I picked up the 93....I did take a pic of it but never even looked inside as it is even more ugly than the 93 ..... :facepalm: