This will always be exactly what I think of when I think of the Chevrolet Corvette: the 1970s-style boulevard cruiser, T tops removed, in some sparkly color. I’ll forever imagine a manly man at the helm, mustachioed, thick hair by The Dry Look, shirt unbuttoned wide to his sternum. Gold chain optional.
I suppose I’ll always also think of Marilyn, the rail-thin middle-aged woman who managed the Dairy Queen where I worked during the summer of 1985. She owned two C3s, one in black and one in a dark blue not nearly this luminescent. She sat deep in her Corvettes; as she pulled into the parking lot all you could see of her through the windshield was the bob of gray-tinged hair piled upon her head and the top rim of her plastic-framed glasses. How in the hell could she afford two Corvettes on her pay?
I’m sure it’s because I’m a product of my time, but oh my God does this cockpit ever feel like sex to me. Cheap sex, fueled by Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill. But, as they say, even bad sex is pretty good.
I did a little sleuthing to settle on 1977 as this Corvette’s year. This car wears the pre-1980 front end but post-1974 tail. The sugar-scoop backlight was replaced with a bubble fastback rear window in 1978. Finally, Stingray badges went away after 1976; for 1977, flags appeared in their place on the body.
What a life, to pilot the old Corvette out for dinner on a full-sun summer evening.
Geist Reservoir, Fishers, Indiana
July, 2017
When I see this model of Corvette I think of the movie Terms of Endearment and the scene where Jack Nicholson plows a Corvette into what I hope was a lake.
The other thing I think about is “nearly all show but hardly any go”.
…or generally have a lot of hair like Farrah…
A friend of mine was given a so-so condition ’76 Corvette by his father. My friend thought it would work out well for his twin boys, who are 16.
Intrigued, I asked what about the Corvette worked for him and transporting his boys. He said it looked good, there wasn’t a lot of power to get them in too much trouble, and it was too small inside for them to perform any shenanigans with their girlfriends.
He didn’t like it when I observed how resourceful his boys are along with how low and long the hood is.
Yep
Oh my, on a Volvo 850!
An excellent CC Capsule and start to my day! This makes me want to mail-order some Hai Karate cologne. You know that if I had some in my medicine cabinet, I’d be wearing it to work today.
Back about the time that I first started to shave I received a bottle of Hai Karate after shave lotion. It made my skin break out into a serious rash. It turns out that some of the male members of my extended family have a skin sensitivity to citrus oils in perfumes and after shave lotions….my cousins had similar (bad) reactions.
60 percent of the time it works every time.
The mid-70s Corvettes were part of the Malaise era but the early C3s were essentially pre-smog and had the GO! to match the show.
I prefer the slimmer appearance of the C2 and C4 but the sheer flamboyance of the C3 is attention-getting.
Bill Mitchell knew what he wanted.
I used to hate these. The C1 seemed to get better every year and the C2 was simply brilliant. But these started out a little overwrought and then descended into more characature than car.
But as time has passed I have made peace with the curvaceous styling. And the 350/350 would have been as pleasant a combination as could be had during the malaise era, even if it was down on power. So I guess I am saying that I could enjoy one of these. Do they sell glue-on chest hair?
https://www.wilshirewigs.com/chest-hair-chest-hair-large.html?SID=hq4hdo7b28hnanpskt9g194fm1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxay0gOS83AIVjrXACh156wx0EAQYASABEgLHRfD_BwE
Well….
No. Way!!!
I wonder how much they pay donors? Because I may be onto a money-making opportunity…
I have some back hair I could sell them
Curse you, Dan M!
I clicked on the link and now ads for the product are popping up on everything I look at.
“…gold chain optional.” More like mandatory, I’d say. As in Mr. T starter set. And around here it’d likely be a “Little Red Corvette”, not blue.
Credit Chevrolet for soldiering on with the C3 during some of autodom’s darkest years when they could’ve folded. Unfortunately, the “disco” ‘Vette became a caricature of itself and cemented, fairly or not, the compensating-for-something/middle-age crisis image of Corvette owners that persists to this day. (In actuality, I believe Corvette owner demographics are among the oldest in the industry today.)
A puka shell necklace (usually fake) was also frequently seen as a substitute.
My 65th birthday is looming just over the horizon. ..I’ve been a vehicle enthusiast since I can remember . I spent 36 + years at GM.
That all being said. I’ve never really got the Corvette thing. My bedroom walls had posters of a 396 Chevelle, a 70 Camaro and a 70 Charger ..no Vettes. Well I did also have a Gracie Slick poster.
Maybe its my blue collar roots, or my socio economic status ? I much prefer he looks of an unmolested, or correctly restored 77 Firebird. A guy two streets over has a rarely seen gorgeous 76 Monte Carlo . Mouse fur Interior , swivel buckets and all. I would prefer that Monte over the Vette any day of the week.
Mouse fur? I can only imagine the harvesting process…
I feel the same way. This is the quintessential Corvette in my mind, and one can see the remnants of it in every Corvette since. Not the best or most desirable one by any means, but the one that cemented its style.
I have not really longed to own a Corvette of any vintage, even though I have been exposed to them all. Back in the early 70s, our neighbor had a restored ’54, blue flame 6 and all, and in my 10 year old eyes, it never once seemed like a sports car (in fairness, neither did an original T-Bird, but those seemed to be more luxury over sport). The next versions all have some charms, but none really call to me. I have driven the C6, but never got seat time in the C7. However, this version always reminds me of the Barbie Corvette and keeps me from truly enjoying it. I always picture it in pink with a busty blonde waving from it. Far from it requiring chest hair, it seems to require the surgical application of silicone instead.
One of my church buddies has a C3, he’s retired and since it is not a valuable collectable he just drives it and enjoys it.
He lets high school kids borrow it to drive to prom every year. Just for the fun / irony of showing up in a crazy car. And maybe to discourage horizontal shenanigans 😛
I’ve known a handful of people with Corvettes. None fit the stereotype at all. Two with C2’s, three C5 or 6, and one C3. All highly educated. The C3 owner was a fellow engineer, married, quiet and mild-mannered. But to be honest, I was always surprised when I found out they drove Vettes. All in California FWIW.
Edit: I just remembered another Corvette owner I knew, also an engineer and my manager briefly. He had a C4, as well as an Alfa GTV6, a Turbo LeBaron and a Cadillac. Again, not really fitting the stereotype but definitely with an eclectic taste in cars.
Yup, this is THE Corvette. Before Vettes were merely leading up to it, and everything after is either mirroring it or trying to fulfill the wild promise it offered. (And perhaps did not really deliver)
Gold chains mandatory.
Rode in one only once, an ’81 model. White/ beige. My brother in law had inherited it from his mom in the mid 80’s. Felt like my skinny, 98 pound weakling, sand-kicked-in-the-face, never kissed a girl, puny horse faced self suddenly transformed into Magnum P.I.!
So I’ll forever love the 70’s Corvette.
I was never a Corvette fan, but when I was a senior in high school I did like the 1978 silver anniversary edition…two tone silver and grey sporting the new “bubble” back light. The L-82 V-8 with 225 hp was relatively potent in this malaise era reaching 0-60 in 6.8 seconds according to Road & Track…They quickly went further down hill with the California tuned 305…argh and went out with a whimper with the “crossfire fuel injection”
Corvette?
Enough said.
Whenever I see one of these, I’m reminded of disco music and leisure suits. Malaise era indeed!
I like Corvettes, pretty much all of them. But these mid 70s Vettes have almost no appeal with me. Even though these were the best sales years, the Vette was no longer a sports car by this time. Chevrolet let it languish and while it was still top dog for US cars, it didn’t take much to get that crown in this era.
A friend of mine had a ’78 25th Anniversary Vette with the L82. When I saw he had to “warm it up” or it’d stall, I told him to give me the car and I tune the carb for him. He gave it to me for a week and I had it running really well. I drove around in it quite a bit and was surprised the attention it drew when I always considered these cars posers. I do recall that the steering was terrible, the ride was rough,
It didn’t handle all that well and it was loud. Nevertheless it was still fun to drive and the L82 had some performance.
The gold chain is optional?
Well, I guess that could save me a lot of pain from my hairy chest hair getting tangled up in the chain. I’m sorry to admit, I’ve never much liked C3’s after the muscle car era. Stomping an almost new ’77 with added dual exhausts with my ’74 Roadrunner was a lot of fun though.
Its quite disappointing to see how the C3 turned out after 73.
I had a 72 chrome bumper roadster with the full convertible top in the mid 80s, a 350 with 4 speed manual. It also had air conditioning which seemed totally pointless on a convertible to me.
It was originally a gold colour and a tan interior but changed it to black with black interior. looked quite nice and stood out on UK roads , even though uniformed people often asked if it was a kit car
The hidden wiper blades seemed to be unnecessarily complicated to me but overall I thought it was a good motor car. it was standard apart from a full stainless exhaust which had a lovely exhaust note but quite quiet, most people in the UK who drive big v8 us cars make them loud on purpose so they are noticed, very immature.
I would call the early C3 a genuine sports car, good fun, nice spread of power, all without temperament. The only reason it cost more to service than a Ford Cortina was because it needed 8 spark plugs.
Took it to 145 quite often on the Risca bypass, at speed one of the headlamps would pop up so there must have been some odd aero dynamics at play. Typical old fashioned handling , it could not keep up with 1.8 hot hatches on the corners, but neither could trad Brit sports cars like the TR6, Austin Healy 3000 or E type.
It is a car I remember with great fondness and would have one again, but not liked any model of Corvette since 72, they degenerated into the kind of cars a dodgy nighclub owners would drive to look flash.
The 1963-1967 C2 Corvette is the only Vette that I find exciting or would want to own.
A friend of mine who is not into cars reckoned the C3 Vette to “sex on wheels” – I just don’t see it.
Just not my thing. A neighbor had a Pace Car? C3, silver and black as I recall, replaced by a series of Porsche 928s. Pete Rose lived across the street from the Corvette owner, and not too long after Pete came home in a Porsche 930, the neighbor ditched the ‘Vette for the first of many Porsches. Keepin’ up with the Roses, such as it was.
It was a cool neighborhood from an automotive perspective…gray market BMW 745i, a half-dozen Triumph TR3s, Mercedes diesels, SAAB 99EMS, a dentist who drove a beautiful Jaguar E-Type convertible. And my parents drove a Cutlass and a Dodge Omni…sheesh.
Anybody seen my coke spoon?
Had a 1982 with the infamous crossfire engine as my daily driver for three years, never gave me any troubles, and was in general a nice enough ride. Not to much power, but still,faster them most other cars on the road overhere. But going fast is not what you look for when buying a stock 1982 Corvette anyway……
The C3 always was and always will be my favorite car, and maybe I get me another one one day to use as daily again. For now priorities are somewhere else, and money can be only spent once……