A roll of Lifesavers hard candies was one of those things that was consistent throughout my childhood. Part of the allure was that they were so inexpensive relative to other candy on the rack, and often to a young child, more is just better. Lessons in quality over quantity would arrive at some point, but until then, the ability to load up on a bunch of Lifesavers versus one decent candy bar or any singular offering from Willy Wonka (Nerds, Runts, etc.) meant that I could enjoy my allowance money longer.
Another great thing about Lifesavers was that they came in all sorts of varieties of flavors, often with a theme. If the regular “Five Flavor” pack wasn’t exciting enough for you, you could choose the “tropical” assortment of fruit flavors, which were also very good, if a bit tart. If one was feeling especially grown up, one could go for a roll of Butter Rum or spearmint.
Most of the time, I was satisfied with the good, ol’, five-flavor pack that included pineapple, orange, lime, cherry, and lemon. This flavor lineup was consistent from 1925 all the way through 2003, when lime (along with fellow citrus fruits lemon and orange) were dropped and replaced with raspberry, watermelon, and blackberry. I guess I haven’t had a five-flavor pack of Lifesavers since at least 2003, but I’m baffled as to how the pineapple flavor somehow continued to make the cut. No offense to you if pineapple is your favorite, but… yeah, no. I’ve eaten worse-tasting candies than a pineapple Lifesavers, but in my opinion, this flavor just wasn’t up to par with the others. It reminded me of the “mystery flavor” of Dum Dum suckers that was basically all the leftover flavors combined in one big vat, or something. Not bad, but not the best.
I loved the lime-flavored rings, though, the color of which I was reminded when I spotted this ’72 Corvette in factory Elkhart Green while running errands in my neighborhood on a Saturday morning. In my mind, green is synonymous with summer. I love the smell of freshly cut grass and walking beneath a canopy of the lush leaves of the towering trees in this area. A local farmers’ market sells fresh produce on Tuesdays. Green is also the color of getting paid. These are all great things. The removable roof panels of our featured car were off, which added to the warm weather ambiance of the warmest, most celebratory season of them all. I’m going with ’72 as the model year of this example given the amber turn signals up front, which would also be the very last year of Corvette to feature chrome bumpers both fore and aft.
The thing about Lifesavers, though, was once you unwrapped one of the ends of the pack and slowly tore a coil-like sliver of the wrapper away to get to each, successive piece of candy underneath, there was no way to adequately seal the open end back up. Going about your day with a half-eaten roll of Livesavers in your pocket would invariably lead to linty candy, the first one of which you’d have to either chuck out or eat with whatever had stuck to it from inside your pocket. Hence, my metaphor du jour: This ’72 Corvette reminded me of a lime Lifesavers candy. It was a big, bright green pleasure machine (thank you Simon & Garfunkel) in a very tasty, summery shade, built to be enjoyed with the t-tops stored away on a warm day. Its sweet lines and curves made it seem very much like a rolling confection – a delicacy shipped to you by Chevrolet all the way from St. Louis, Missourah, as my grandmother used to pronounce it.
It brought me joy just to look at it. Its metallic paint caught the light in such a way that the surface of its compound curves looked like spun sugar. Its Chevy Rally Wheels are another round, iconic object like Lifesavers. Approaching this car more closely, however, there were telltale signs that this C3’s “wrapper” had been open for a little while. Granted, there was nothing really wrong with it, and its owner should rightfully be proud. I would certainly rock with this car. Nice C3s, especially examples from before the chrome bumpers disappeared, are getting only thinner on the ground. This piece of lime-flavored automotive candy had some lint stuck to it, as a trailer queen it was not. Never mind the not-quite-crystalline resolution of these photos, as I had only my phone with me at the time and not my actual camera. The paint wasn’t quite as shiny as it might have been, and even the “Stingray” badge on the front fender appeared to have melted just a bit.
The horsepower rating for the base 350 cubic inch V8 offered for ’72 was down to 200 versus the 270 number for ’71, but this was mostly due to ratings now being reported in net figures versus gross. The LT-1 version of the 350 (four-barrel carburetor, higher compression ratio, and solid lifters) had 255 horses, and a 454 big-block was still available (through ’74) with 270 horsepower. Corvette sales for ’72 were up by almost 24% over the prior year, at close to 27,000 units, the bulk of which (about 20,500) were coupes. About 6,500 convertibles were sold, but for my money, I’d have been tempted to go with the coupe since the roof panels came off. Curiously, the factory theft deterrent system became standard equipment that year. For as many car crash movies I’ve seen where a C3 got stolen as the prelude to a chase (1977’s Speed Trap comes to mind), this doesn’t surprise me one bit.
Third generation Corvettes have remained one of my favorite topics to write about during over six years of my tenure here at Curbside Classic, with this one being the second so far in 2022. This is not just because it was the great, American sports car when I was a car-crazy kid, but because they were in production forever and plentiful as a result. At one time, the C3 was as ubiquitous as a roll of Lifesavers candy at the local convenience mart or grocery store checkout line.
Even if a pack of Lifesavers was cheap and cheerful, I was still that kid who would attempt to prolong my enjoyment of them by trying to save some for later, resulting in candy that sometimes ended up looking like an insect trap. Like this Corvette and so many other things about summer, hard candy is meant to be enjoyed and doesn’t necessarily need to be kept pristine in its wax paper wrapper. I forgive this ’72 Corvette for its minor cosmetic faults for just this reason. The consistently warm weather has finally arrived, the t-tops were off on this Saturday morning, and the time was right for a little extra summery green.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Saturday, June 18, 2022.
The pineapple Life Saver (there always seemed to be only one) in the Five Flavor package was my favorite. Still might be but I have not had Life Savers in can’t remember how long.
To each his own…and I even like the styling of the C2 and C4 Corvettes over the C3!!
I’ll admit that I have warmed to the C4 in recent years – so much so, that I stopped and went back to a place to photograph an example back in May.
I’ll also admit that I haven’t had a pineapple Lifesavers for a really long time. It may be like one of those things I wasn’t necessarily crazy about earlier, but I might really like today.
You’ve nailed it with the spun sugar analogy as this old girl does look delightfully sticky. In a good way, of course.
I never would have guessed the standard engine for a ‘Vette only had an advertised 200 horsepower (net) but this was still the time for engine variety. For the bulk of my life it seems there has primarily only been one engine option – or a decided upgrade, such as the ZR1.
While I’m a bit ambivalent about Corvettes, this one is obviously very comfortable in its skin. That, I like. Also props to the owner for having repainted the car in its original color, as seen in photo showing the flags. This shade of green, like pineapple Lifesavers, isn’t for everyone.
I do like the Elkhart Green, especially with the tan leather interior. On paper, it shouldn’t work, but on this ’72 Corvette, it works really well – for me, anyway. Loved that it looked like a regular drive, complete with “The Club” theft deterrent device.
The 1968-72 C3 Corvette seemed like Chevrolet’s take on the 1964 GTO (with the Lamborghini Miura’s wilder color palette thrown in for good measure). Then, when the low-performance, rubber-bumper era arrived, the bright colors were gradually dropped and the Corvette went all gold-chain-wearing, disco-era.
Personally, I prefer the base engine cars. Seemed like those were the ones to have as a daily-driver. Even today, I’d take the mid-engine C8 with just a few select options, and none of them would be performance (Z51 or Z06) related. If it were possible to get one at MSRP, the base C8 seems rather like a bargain.
In fact, the most expensive option I’d want might be that height-adjustable suspension which adds 2″ of lift at speeds under 25 mph, simply to keep the body from scraping on high curbs, inclines, etc.
The option you mention in the last paragraph seems like it would be a really good idea and way to protect one’s investment. I had no idea that even existed.
The RPO code for the C8’s front suspension lift system is E60 with an MSRP of $2595 (up from $1995). Unfortunately, it’s not available on the base 1LT so, in additon to the option price itself, you have to pony up an additional $7300 for the 2LT trim just to be able to get the lift option.
It’s a real shame, too, since ‘all’ C8 Corvettes would benefit from the option to keep from scraping the front spoiler of the low Corvette front end. There’s a Youtube video of it in action of a C8 going up onto what appears to be a low platform, but the 2″ rise definitely seems to help (or at least take the worry out of scraping).
Excellent storytelling as always Joseph, perfect in the context of this lime ‘Vette. I remember Lifesaver ‘Christmas books’ being popular, during primary school gift exchanges, during the holiday seasons.
Thanks, Daniel! Now that you mention it, I’m sure I got some rolls of Lifesavers candy with my Christmas presents or in my treat bag. Love that you found the old-school wrappers! Just looking at these different flavors makes me happy again.
A great analogy! I had been unaware of the change in the Life Savers pack. Orange, lemon and cherry were my faves, with pineapple and lime being about equal in the second tier. Truth told, I remain a fan of Wint O Green.
Your candy analogy works too when I think about the only two people I ever knew with 72 Corvettes – both were Orange.
…And that orange color of those candies was, indeed, similar to the bright orange on those Corvettes. I can picture it now.
I like the pineapple LifeSavers. And though I’m not a huge fan of the C3 – so wild in 1968, but it went way past its sell-by date – I like the green. The same shade as my ‘73 Vega 😀
This makes me wonder how long a pack of Lifesavers can last. I did see some really old packages for sale on eBay. At a vintage store near me, I recently saw a tin of some hard candies (not Lifesavers), but there was a sign on the tin that read “DO NOT EAT THE CANDIES” as a warning to the purchaser. I thought that was a funny disclaimer.
Didn’t know they changed the flavors, but I had the same approach to candy (lint included). I wholeheartedly agree about the pineapple ones.
In a related item, last week I bought a pack of NECCO wafers (at a Michaels Craft store(?!)). They were made in Mexico. (I can’t think of a good automotive analogy for NECCOs though.)
I believe Corvettes were still built in the GM plant on Grand Ave in North St. Louis, Mo. in 1972. Bowling green was still a (Corvette) gen. in the future.
You are 100% correct – thank you! I’ll fix it today.
According to Wikipedia, Corvette Assembly in Bowling Green opened on June 1, 1981.
For those interested in things automotive, even those who aren’t GM fans, it’s another excellent place to to take a tour (at least once).
Butter rum and Spearmint…yuck.
You’ve really captured the travails of carrying a roll of open Life Savers (how did they get that name?) in a kid’s pocket in the summer. I remember some really gross ones stuck to the bottom of them.
I haven’t had a LS in a very long time. But thanks for reminding me. And yes, the analogy to the C3 is apt; it’s a rolling piece of candy; looks great on the outside, but there’s more than a few empty calories in it.
“Life Savers (how did they get that name?)”
I’ve always assumed it is because they look like the emergency flotation devices found on boats.
Of course.
Hahaha! I liked the butter rum ones. I think I’d like that as an ice cream flavor, as well. The spearmint flavor was like a less-potent alternative to Certs and provided only temporary relief.
If it got stuck in your throat, you could still breathe because of the hole–in the days before Heimlich and his maneuver. Nervous mothers are not a new phenomenon.
Terrific analogy – I won’t be able to look at one of these candy-colored C3 Corvette’s again without thinking of this. Though oddly enough, the most recent C3 I spotted was a very un-candylike shade of brown.
And I’ve long forgotten the pleasures and hassles of LifeSavers. Like you mentioned, I’d often have to toss the top one (or two), which had become gross in my pocket. My father liked LifeSavers, so for me it was sort of a “grown-up” candy, which is why I enjoyed them.
Also, thanks for emphasizing the “correct” pronunciation of Missouri! As my father-in-law (a 4th generation Missourian) was fond of saying, “Harry Truman pronounced it Missourah, so that’s the right way to say it…”
Missourah??? Oh hayle no.
Missourah sounds way too much like “Mizzou Rah!” which is a total rash just north of here at some university. It is said that way by some, but it’s like 4% of the population. The percentage of left-handed people in the state is higher than the percentage of say “Missourah”. It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard.
It ends with a long “e” sound. Truman was a good guy but he was far from perfect and that mispronunciation is an example of his imperfection.
Rant off. 🙂
Think of it as “po-tay-toe” versus “po-ta-toe”. One just sounds wrong.
So a bit like the Indian Mussoorie then? 🙂
The spellcheck even tries to ‘correct’ that to Missouri!
4% of the population? That survey must have been taken in West County St. Louis or something!
Prior to meeting my dear wife, I knew only one person here on the East Coast who pronounced the state “Missourah,” and he was a seemingly unlikely person to do so. This gentleman was a co-worker of mine, and was an erudite, bow-tie-wearing, Anglophile, New Jersey-native urbanite in his mid 60s. He loved talking about a wide range of intellectual and scientific topics… and he pronounced Missouri as “Missourah.”
I asked him why he pronounced it that way, and he explained that when he was in college (Ivy League, of course), he had a girlfriend from Jefferson City. She insisted that “Missourah” was the native pronunciation, and he’d pronounced it that way ever since.
But hey, it’s better than pronouncing Illinois with the “s”!
Sheryl Crow’s from there, and she pronounces it “m’ZURRuh”.
(And what’s wrong with saying “illi-noisy”?)
Sara Evans is from Missouri too – and she has a song titled “Missing Missouri.” But Grrr… in the song, she pronounces it with a long “e”.
In the original version of “Convoy,” CW McCall pronounced Illinois as “ill-e-NOISE” – it was changed (along with some other things) in later versions… I guess actual Illinoisans must have complained.
Yeah, yeah, but get to the good part: how are we meant to pronounce St. Louis?
Sheryl Crow is from way down in the Bootheel. So far down Arkansas is west and Tennessee is east. Which reminds me…there is a restaurant in Kennett (where she is from) that serves pickled green tomatoes as an appetizer.
The different vernaculars around the state are interesting. However, here’s something you may find interesting…
There is a small yet distinct subset of the population that does not refer to US 40 as “Forty”. Rather, it’s “Farty”, which could also explain the Missourah thing. Or not. Maybe I’m just having fun with you. And some really do say “Farty”.
However, somebody from JC saying it incorrectly is unusual.
I’ll admit that I pronounce it “Missour-ee”. I wasn’t crazy about how my grandma pronounced the name of that state, just because I wasn’t used to hearing it that way. She also talked about my great aunt “Nao-mah”. That’s just how Grandma talked. I adored and dearly miss my grandma, so I have only positive associations with it when people call the Show Me State “Missourah”! 🙂
Joe, after I wrote this comment, I went outside to vacuum out our minivan. Underneath one of the rear seats was… a Lifesaver. I swear I hadn’t seen one in decades, and until today didn’t even realize they were still made.
My guess it belonged to one of my daughters’ friends, or sneaked into our minivan in some surreptitious. But I did note that it was individually wrapped. Our younger generations don’t know the despair of having only one lint-covered Lifesaver left in your pocket!
These were the Corvettes of my high school years. That was also the height of my non driving, non car owning obsession. By sophomore year I’d gotten my license and started with motorcycles as my main interest. I think that these look the best with steel bumpers, the later plastic bumper models looked somewhat cobbled together. Especially when the surface of the plastic bumpers was filled with waves.
When my cousin came back from the Vietnam war, after recovering from his serious injuries, he ended up with a yellow big block Corvette like this. His younger brother had returned from service in Korea and he bought a red small block Vette. Later they sold them and built Harley choppers. After these, they sort of settled into family life.
To me, this was the apex of Corvette styling, after this they never had a strong attraction for me. I’ve never had any Corvette… yet. The new mid engined model just doesn’t appeal to me, (as if I could afford one!) even the last front engined design couldn’t tempt me. If I ever buy one it will probably be a C4 or maybe a thrashed late 70’s C3. This green car is a real survivor. It looks like the respray was a low cost job. It looks like they didn’t remove the emblems, which resulted in the paint peeling off overtime. It’s great to see a Vette of this vintage that isn’t venerated, but driven.
Jose, thank you for this. Two brothers, American veterans, with C3 ‘Vettes, then choppers. And then life continues on into different phases that require different modes of transportation, among other things.
I do like the new Corvettes, though I don’t recognize them as Corvettes at first glance the way I have been able to since, well, out of diapers maybe.
To your point about the C3s with the body color bumpers, you nailed it with some of them having wavy surfaces. It’s less pronounced on some of the nicer examples I’ve seen, but even with my Corvette bumper cover I have in my possession, it would ever so slightly kill the illusion when I would see just how pliable that body material was.
Life savers! What an unusual link, from these to the car. I hadn’t thought of them for ages, but as I read your post I realized how often I had them as a kid. Five Flavors were what a well-meaning aunt would buy me, but I can’t think of any particular flavor that was my favourite, but certainly some that weren’t! There was a floral one for a while, and Musk – yuck!
But back to cars though. When I hear the word Corvette, this is the model I think of first. Love the car and love the colour; I have a spare kit, and a new can of green…..
Peter, now you’re going to have me looking for “elderberry” or “floral” flavored Lifesavers on the interwebs! It’s true even with product planners that you can’t generate a hit if you don’t try new things. 🙂
In the mid 1990’s I had a lemon flavored ’72 Corvette, in similar condition to this lime one. Good, but not a trailer queen. It certainly was a fun car, but was also a little rich for my blood at the time, so my tenure with it was short.
This would have been a hard sacrifice for anyone to have to let it go. As it has been said, better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
I’d have sworn this generation had a one piece targa top.
I thought the C4 (and not the C3) had the one-piece removable top, but in doing a little internet double-checking, I’m pretty sure these C3s all came with a two-piece top. I did see aftermarket one-piece tops, but I don’t think any came from the factory like that.
In my entire life I have ridden in only one Corvette, for one ride, and that was a C3 1968 Roadster with the 427 and 4 speed manual. Upon starting and moving out on the road all I can say is that car was a BEAST and not a car for driving below 50 mph. A colleague had it most likely for an early mid-life crisis before moving on from it.
As for Lifesavers I don’t think I have had one in over 40 years and when I last did it was most likely spearmint.
Now that I think about it, I don’t think that I’ve ever ridden in any Corvette. I’m trying to think of an instance where I would have been just the one passenger in someone else’s Corvette, and I just don’t think it has ever happened! Yet.
I think I’ve ridden in three/four. Ranging from 1987- 2000, model years.
I do remember one was light blue and rather “beat”.
I’d wager it had been in an accident.
Great article, Joe.
like tbm3fan, I too have only ridden in one Corvette, and that was a C4 at the factory in Bowling Green. I had a great factory floor tour there as I was friends with one of the contractors that GM had hired as a literacy coach for factory workers at the plant. This was a benefit negotiated with the union to sweeten the deal that relocated many workers from St. Louis to KY when production moved to Bowling Green. The standard line was that many of these guys were making outstanding money, but couldn’t sign their names or write amounts on checks. My friend was helping to address that issue. Well, the point is that she knew nearly all of the line workers, so I got to spend a day walking around the factory floor (in awe, as I am in all factories) while she chatted up one burly dude after another about their families, classes, etc. It was great.
Anyhow, I will never be able to look at a green Corvette again without thinking of green/lime Lifesavers…which are also my favorite. Gotta love me a great 70s-era green car.
Thanks, Jeff. And what meaningful work your friend was doing. Life skills. In a way, I feel like my own hometown’s (Flint, MI) one-time dependence on GM money and jobs that paid well might similarly have hindered motivation for some of its workers to develop other valuable life skills.
The whole project (literacy work in the Bowling Green plant) was one of those rather rare instances where circumstances come together and are win-win for nearly everyone. In this case, the UAW was in a position to demand benefits that would soften the blow of moving a good part of a plant’s workforce 2 states away; and for those workers, it was truly a lifeskills benefit as many of them had worked half a lifetime on the line and had very little formal education and certainly none of the educational interventions afforded to more privileged students who might have needed assistance to overcome learning disabilities.
The Commonwealth of KY contributed heavily to the project as a way of enticing GM and the unions to relocate to the state.
GM, on the other hand, got to keep skilled workers while moving its facility to a location that was much less expensive to operate than it had been in St. Louis…albeit an area without (at the time) much of a skilled manufacturing labor pool. Also, this was at a time when working on an automotive assembly line was turning into much more of a job that demanded traditional educational skills (such as reading, ability to follow complex written instructions, etc.) than had been the case for the 75 years or so before the early 1990s. So, win-win for all.
I’ll probably be buying some “lifesavers candy” tomorrow! We had a 75 “bright yellow” Vette sitting here in the neighborhood for years. About 2015, I believe it went away.
The guy kept it looking good though.
Most excellent! I hope it’s in a great color / flavor!