Last Sunday I went to a car show on the Hennepin Canal. Most of the cars were the usual “seen-it” Camaros, Tri-Five Chevs and–you guessed it–Corvettes, but I liked this ’80-’82 model. Silver-blue is not often seen on surviving third-gens (I think there was a silver-green too, at about the same time), but it really suits it.
Even better, it had a matching navy-blue leather interior. Stunning! Always good to see a third-gen ‘Vette in clean original condition. These are very underrated today (with the exception of the big-block ’68-’72s), but I bet these late ’70s/early ’80s variants are a lot of fun for the money!
I think the C3s has the most distinctive and balanced shape amongst all modern Corvettes. Too bad the chassis sucked and straight line performance deteriorated from ’70 onward.
C5, C6 and C7 can run circles around the C3, but C3 still the looker.
I like the first C3 the best with slim chrome bumpers and the concave tail. Now that not much but trucks have chrome bumpers it looks special on a car IMHO.
I found the C3s too gaudy even as a kid, but the chrome-bumpered ones have grown on me over the years. The plastic-bumpered models have yet to grow on me,however. They suffer from the same problem as the current Camaro: They look like a Hot Wheels car that got blown up to 1:1 scale. The fender bulges are cartoonishly large and are out of scale with the greenhouse. Somehow the ’68-’72 models carry off the proportions better.
+1
Nothing wrong with these that an LT1 or LS3 can’t fix. . .
That appears to be an 82 model, the first full year the cars were built at the new facility in Bowling Green, KY. A few 81s were built in Bowling Green at the very tail end of the 81 model year to work out the bugs of the new facility as production at the St Louis plant wound down.
As to the color, one bit of interesting trivia related to the move to Bowling Green was the new state-of-the-art paint facility. The handful of 81s built at BG and all 82s and subsequent models were shot in base clear enamel instead of Lucite laquer as was used at St Louis. This expanded the realm of color choices and the 82s often had many colors like this including a large number of two tones.
The Bowling Green plant was built primarily in anticipation of the new C4 models, but 82s and the few 81s built there certainly benefitted from the new facility.
The paint appears to be #24 Silver Blue which was also used in combination with Dark Blue as a two tone. It was a one year only color.
http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?type=sample&paint=20607&ditzler=3409&syear=1982&smanuf=GM&smodel=Corvette&sname=Silver%20Blue&name=corvette1982silverblue&scomm=
Looks very similar to a color offered for a year late in C6 production called “Carlisle Blue,” in honor of Chip and Bill Miller of Carlisle, PA car show fame.
I don’t think those guys get enough coverage for their importance in car collecting. When they started the Carlisle shows in the 1970s, it was because antique car shows wouldn’t allow them to show their 1950s Corvettes because they were too new and “not classics,” being postwar cars. It’s partially thanks to them that we now recognize cars as important and worth showing as they age out of the general fleet. IMO, this site owes something spiritually to those guys.
Anyway, GM certainly recognized their influence, and named that color in their honor.
C3 Vettes can be a great way to get into a Corvette, or Stingray in this case, without having to spend stupid bucks. C3s are functionally identical to C2s, just ten inches longer. If you limit yourself to the mild small block, and eschew the compulsion to add on accessories (power steering, power brakes), these things can be had for decent prices and are fun to drive. Past 1970, these things begin to be real slugs with the rubber bumpers and low compression engines. By that time the greater percentage of Vettes were automatics and the car had become sort of a super secretary’s car.
A boss I had awhile ago had a 74 with the 454 and 4-speed. It was factory, and NO slug. . .
One of these in white cruises locally looks and sounds great.
I am starting to warm up to these late c3 Vettes. Kevin is right, these are quite a value if you must have a Corvette. Besides, nobody buys an old Corvette for pure performance, but to cruise around in. These are perfect for that.
A co-worker at Dulles had a ’75 with an L48, a real dog. But it had a great paint job that he had had applied ten years ago for $5000. Good parade car. He confided to me that he had $34,000 in it. Go online and you can find low miles ’75s for about $10,000. We’re not talking show cars but parade cars-15 footers. Do what my dad did-find a profiler, drive it to the Dairy Queen on Friday nights, and when that gets old, get rid of it for what you paid for it, if you can. Good luck, collector cars aren’t exactly liquid.
The Batmobile. The styling that got put on before the Corvette began its decade-plus period of neglected product evolution. The Dark Ages of auto design…when a strangled 350 and an automatic was (for many years) the only setup. Zora Arkas-Duntov might as well have been the King of Transylvania, for all these cars delivered on performance.
As a parade car – for people who know nothing of the history – it’s okay, I guess. For anyone even slightly interested in performance, it’s a car to forget.
Which is why, I’m guessing, it doesn’t hold value.
Well, lets start with Duntov retiring in 1974, so he didn’t really have much to do with these, not to mention all the other things going on the auto industry that didn’t leave much time for small niche models that were selling at a steady pace even with little evolution, ask CraiginNC to explain it further if needed.
They don’t hold much value because they made a shitload of them, 1979 is still the best year for Corvette sales ever, over 50K rolled off the line, from what I recall, the only years you couldn’t get a manual in these was 81-82 from what I recall, properly equipped with a 4 speed, the gymkhana suspension and an L82 and I’ll put one of these up against pretty much anything from that era performance wise and come away a winner, except an exotic….
or a WS6 Trans Am.
“but I bet these late ’70s/early ’80s variants are a lot of fun for the money!”
Needs LS3 or LSA + TR6060.
In any case, I like them.
Not red, huh? Well, it SHOULD be!
Actually, I’m quite partial to gray, as our beloved 1990 Acclaim was gray and my Impala is gray. I saw a new Corvette recently that was gray, and thought: if I was to ever own one, it would be gray.
Dark metallic gray, yes (my current car holds that hue). But not that silvery primer-shade of gray that the inside of every Chevrolet truck was painted in, from WWII to 1966.
I detest that color. It’s industrial. It’s the color of naked galvanized metal. Not on a car that exists because of its STYLE….
Yes. My 2012 Impala is a very dark Ashen Gray – a quite beautiful color, if I do say so myself!
Hi have one of these- in plain white ( unfortunately ) . If I don’t sell it first, it’s getting a coat of Millenium Yellow ( a C5 factory color ) .
Do it!
I really love the chrome bumper C3s. Make mine an orange one, any engine or transmission is fine but it’s hard not to dream about a big block. When I was a kid my friend’s dad took me for a ride in his ’74 454 and I think he had had a few drinks that day because the drive scared the shit out of me. He had the damn thing sideways in the turns.
Not having to deal with snow I’ve always been a fan of hidden windshield wipers. It was such a huge GM thing back in the day. On the C3 wasn’t there a sliding panel that also hid the gap? I seem to remember that on the early models for some reason.
The pop-up panel hiding the wipers was on the early C3s, but later ones had the wipers tucked under the cowl-side edge of the hood, as is now common practice for cars with hidden wipers.
Yes I remember now, it was a pop up panel not a sliding one. I remember seeing a few of them stuck in the “up” position now that you mention it.
Some killjoy will tell us now that hidden wipers and… gasp!… a version with a motorized cover!… are really a bad idea, especially when there is snow to deal with.
But bad idea is the whole point. What a sense of whimsy GM had back then. It’s pretty hard to top the coolness factor of hidden headlamps but that damn pop up wiper cover was even better. A fascinating, totally 60s, American feature.
Let no one say the C3, any C3, lacked for flamboyance.
C3 is the flamboyant one. When it comes to style and flamboyance, C4-6 had nothing on C3.
They had a switch to leave them un the up position to change the blades, or in case of snow.
These cars do have great flamboyance, there is a certain Apollo space capsule mixed with motorama flair in these, especially the early 68-72 version with the pop-up wiper panel, all the warning lights and gauges in the console, the wheeled a/c controls in the center console and the fiber optic lamp monitors built into the console, the 84 and up Vettes have the techno-digital 80’s thing going on, but it still really doesn’t match the POW factor these Vettes had.
Yes there was an Apollo space capsule thing going on with the C3s. The shape, cockpit, pop-up panel and sublime door handles made the C2s look like like antiques.
I like the C4 too — it was a better performing car and ditched macho for beauty while keeping the Corvette DNA. The C5, C6 and C7 were totally forgettable cars. GM stumbled a bit in the 80s but didn’t fall down and melt until the 90s.
The C3 will always be my favorite Corvette and it’s probably the only car I’d love to have in silver (blue or red interior please).
I thought only the ’68 had the fiber optic lamp monitors in the console but not sure…THAT would be my pick.
When I was a kid, my late uncle had a black ’74 and my sister had a white ’77…my uncle fed my curiosity by opening her up and passing a line of cars at WOT on a truss bridge that spanned a lake: memorable.
My sis got rid of the ’77 and bought an ’82 Collector’s Edition which got stolen. That was replaced by a white ’85…I’m not sure which one was her favorite.
Anyway, I think the C4 would be the entry-level Corvette: they seem to be a lot cheaper than the C3 generation. The later C4 gen interiors are just awful though. The instrument cluster & dash lighting is orange, the airbag steering wheel is massive and many many many plastic bits will shatter/bust/crack when looked at wrong. The aftermarket replacement parts are expensive and China-quality garbage.
My cousin and his friend are currently restoring a ’68 Vette. These are fragile cars, have quite a few expensive one-year parts, and are difficult to repair due to their construction.
Realistically, I doubt I’ll ever own another Corvette due to the high cost and effort required to keep it tip-top. The fact that I get more enjoyment per-dollar out of several cheap old cars versus one ‘Vette is another factor.
“Quantity over Quality” is my mantra and my driveway definitely reflects that, ha-ha!
The C3 is my favorite Corvette, er, Stingray! It still carried the Mitchell/Duntov provenance. It can be worked on by most enthusiastic shade tree mechanics. And it still carried the 65 Mako Shark II lines with class and dignity to the end.
The low compression L48 engines can be upgraded for more power while maintaining the stock look; the beauty of the small block Chevy. The early models have reached C2 prices in LT1 and Big Block configurations. But it’s the 76-82 models that can be bought by any entry level classic car buff without breaking the bank. With apologies to some instant classics, THIS is the most iconic modern automotive design made for the masses ever produced. If you don’t hesitate for a double take when eyeing one of these on the road, well, what can one say?
Beautiful color. It is these seldom seen shades of color in the late C3 era that are a special treat.
I have a soft spot for these. My Uncle John had a new ’79, brown (for extra 70s essence) with beige interior and 4-speed. He let 5-year-old me shift it when he said the word. I want to go for a spin right now!
I’ve driven worse. Still looks better than 98% of what’s on the road in your typical traffic jam. My father’s black 2004 vette…is the best bang for the buck car I’ve ever driven (worth about 25K in today’s inflated dollar market).
I think the 1980 is the darkest hour in Corvette history. Especially in California, with a particularly weak-shit 305 engine (automatic only, of course) . . . .
As Texans like to say about urban cowboys, “All hat and no cattle.” That is the C3. To this day, rightly or wrongly starting with the C3, the prevailing perception among non-Vette folks of most Corvette owners is: Gold chains, disco, leisure suit, Viagra, 40-something divorcee w/ a $1000 boob job and a Mary Kay facelift riding shotgun. Sorry, but these things were the original “mid-life crisis.” Yup… All hat, no cattle.
Ask the non-Porsche humpers what they think about your…..oh never mind……. you probably wouldn’t care what their answer is EITHER! 🙂
74 454, 4-speed, FTW! This is that one of my boss’. I had it for a few hours for a good detailing and photo shoot. Love that car. . .