Our $5,000 Project Challenge has provided us with some bad-ass low-buck pieces that we envy, but this late-C3 Corvette owned by Forum member “fatguyzinc” is one that we’d love to be cut loose with for just a few minutes with nobody looking. We’ve given the disco-era C3’s plenty of heat for being tepid performers, but any and all issues with the way this ‘Vette ran in stock form were taken care of with some entertaining bartering, a military guy desperate for restoration parts, and a vision.
A few years ago, “fatguyzinc” came across a $500 Corvette that wasn’t running. A deal was struck, a distributor was installed and he wound up with a nice L-82 powered Corvette to tool around in. That’s already a win in our books, but that’s just the start of the story. One day he was followed into a gas station by a military guy who was in the middle of a restoration of his own fiberglass wonder and made a very convincing argument that the L-82 needed to be in his car instead. Three thousand dollars later, and shortly he also decided that he needed the see-through glass T-tops…another thousand dollars plus body-color tops. Then he needed the factory alloy wheels, which brought in another $500 plus a mounted set of staggered Centerline wheels. Selling off the factory power steering system netted another $300. For those playing along, that means that he is up $4,800 from his original investment, and all that is missing is an engine. Sounds like a great position to be in, doesn’t it?
With talent, motivation and a giant shoehorn coated in Crisco, in went a built-up 454, a TCI trans kit and 2400-stall converter, and a Kilduff shifter that makes a Hurst Lightning Rods shifter look like child’s play. With all of the parts accounted for, plus another $1,000 set aside for “in case” reasons, the total investment on the car is $4,991. Everything was done in his garage, and in his own words, is “rowdy as f*ck, fast as hell, and daily driven.” That’s how it’s done!
Cool budget built Corvette, the fact that you did it in Hawaii is even better as I know that the cost of living there isn’t cheap ( I was stationed there from 1991-2002).
It’s always cool to see a wheezy malaise-era SBC get swapped out for a thumper porcupine motor.
Big Block in pink? To each his own I guess. Now if you changed the “Bl” in the first sentence to “C” ……