One of these and a Cobra in my garage,and i would be one very happy man. They have to be two of the finest looking two seat, old school 'scare the shit out of of you' cars ever made.Lovely
@@glhoelscher Wow. your Vette sounded like a Power house and a beautiful car at that. I know I give the C2 a hastle.. it's a classic..I agree but the C3 like this and the one you had are just plain gorgeous 🇺🇸🇺🇸👍
As much as I love the stories behind these great cars and the smile they put on my face, you just can't beat those burnouts. Thank you for your weekly stories on these great cars always look forward to watching them.
Another great video. Nice burnout too. I have one of the '70 LS5 390 HP 454 engines put away for some future project. I had a '71 LS6 454 for a while, but it's long gone now.
Great car Kevin, 500 ft lbs Awesome. I am an old chev nut, but i have to admit in 1970 i did not know the top motor for the Corvette was 390 hp 454 ci. today you took me to school. Thank you for all the great videos.
well the LS5 454 with 390 hp for the Corvette was Hyd cam and lifters, where as the LS6 454 with 450 hp for the Chevelle was solid lifter cam, as kevin said they planned on a LS7 454 for the Corvette that year with 465 hp but none were sold to the public. Chevrolet always put there best motor in the Corvette that's why i was so surprised in 1970 that did not happen.
Yes, Newton, that's one of the reasons why my favorite is still the '69 Vette. Only two ZL1s ever made, but they are undoubtedly king of the hill. I also prefer the '69s styling better, round exhaust tips, the four louver "gills", round turn signal lenses in the grille, little things can make a big difference.
Back in 1969 i seen with my own eyes a Nova 427 ZL1, special made by Dick Harrell, it was a $3300.00 Nova with a $3000.00 eng option. $6300.00 was a lot of money in 1969. It was in the showroom of Harry May Chevrolet in Monroe Mi. I drooled all over that car.
I believe GM had a promotion with NASA that enabled Astronauts to purchase a Corvette for $1.00 (one dollar). So you are technically correct in saying: "...they ponied up the cash to buy one of these cars." But practically they were free.
That is incorrect. They were not "purchased" for a dollar, they were LEASED for ONE YEAR for a dollar. After that year was up, the astronauts returned them to the dealership and they were re-sold on a GM lot as used cars. So all of those Corvettes you saw in magazine articles with the astronauts sitting in (or ON) them were actually LEASED by those astronauts for one year for the price of $1, then they were returned after that one year period and they were literally sold off to any random person who could afford to buy them used off the lot. At least one of them was sold in a closed auction in 1970 (it was a 1969 Corvette). The man who ended up buying the car placed a closed bid of blue book value for a used 1969 Corvette plus an extra $30. He lost. He was out-bid by another $30. Fortunately for him, the person who had bid blue book value plus $60 couldn't come up with the cash and the man who had bid blue book plus $30 was next in line and he bought the car. Kevin is talking about the astronauts who actually DID buy their own Corvettes at regular price. So you are confusing the situation slightly.
I just had to laugh out loud when you mentioned the "cool AM/FM radio". Yes, the flipping display is nifty and it's cool as long as you don't have to listen to it. Chevy engineers definitely spent more time getting great tunes from the exhaust than from that radio. Loved the episode, all the facts are right and you pointed out some neat details.
Unbelievably, that radio was a $172.75 option in 1970. Equates to $1152.31 in 2020. A tape deck was even more, of course. Even a basic AM radio was about $60 which would be several hundred today. Yikes!
@@johnjacobjingleheimerschmi3857 Me too. There was hardly any space at all in the C3 to put a decent radio in, without cutting up the center console. Even worse, if you wanted to replace the tiny cheap speakers.
My '76 Stingray is a 392ci SB stroker, easily outputting 500+HP and a 3.1 sec, 0-60MPH run on a consistent basis. Competition Hi-Perf alum heads, 539/292 (@.500 inch) cam, GM LT-1 performance intake and a 800CFM QuadJet coupled with a highly stiffened TH700R4 (2200 RPM stall) trans and 3.90:1 ring & pinion gets this car out of the way in a hurry... and the best part is I'm not around for burnouts!!! My car squats & trots, or for some, shits & gits!!!!!!!! Cannot wait for the winter to end...
Thank you for another Vette! I can't wait 'till the next one. I do prefer the '68 and '69s for many reasons, but the '70 models were nice too. It's sad that the LS7 was never used, especially considering that in the '71 model year they dropped compression. 1970 was Chevy's last big year for performance and, unfortunately, they fell short. I wish they had at least made the LS6 available for Corvettes.
Hey, the LT1 350cid/350hp is no slouch! It may not have the tire burning torque of the big blocks, but they definitely handle better. The real advantage of the ZL1 was that the aluminum castings lowered the weight to almost that of the small blocks for big block power and great cornering ability.
i wish it even was an LT1 :D mine is a regular codename ZQ3 300HP still makes me smile whenever i drive it :D and regarding the ZL1 yep that was true too bad the gas crisis and increase insurance in the 70s didn't made these cars getting sold more
I owned a '70 Corvette 454 Roadster with the four speed. Fun, fast and handled great, especially after I put Goodyear P275/60-15 radials on the car. Wish I still owned it.
@@dukeallen432 - On a '70 Corvette? Nope. I know what I put on my car. 275/60-15 Goodyear's on all four corners with a set of 15 X 8 Keystone Klassics. Handled great with those big tires.
I can’t believe I’m finally seriously contemplating buying a C3. Can I just ask, are they really that good to drive? I get the style, the sound, the art form, the nostalgia, but I fear the ‘driving experience’ might be a little disappointing? I understand these cars are around 50 years old so there has to be some allowances, but if a car of that age delivers on the ‘driving experience’ too it has to be the complete package?
@@camwat5193 Its like driving while sitting on the trunk of a regular car. But, when i drive my 74, i feel like superman. You have to upgrade some things, like the carpet insulation to keep the interior cold and other things.
@@noelflores4389 thanks for taking the time to reply. After waiting so long I’m going to find the best I can which will hopefully mean one that is heavily restored and upgraded where required. I’m in the UK so it’s not as though I can find one locally easily or just head down to a near by dealer. When the lockdown eases I’ll start to make some enquires and talk to owners - going to car shows to look and talk still seems a long way off yet. Thanks for your comments 👍
Taste is a very subjective thing but I agree with you entirely. The lockdown has made me realise it’s time to actually spend some money and treat myself to something I’ve worked damn hard for instead of always being cautious and saving for a ‘rainy day’ which might never happen. My classic car shortlist was whittled down to about 3, but the C3 Corvette chrome bumper is simply the most beautiful. The joy of opening the garage door just to see that would be incredible, never mind actually being able to drive it.
@@davidwilson2657 It will be a very well deserved reward for you and I hope it gives you many years of enjoyment. Enjoy the moment when it comes. All the very best from the U.K.
So the 460hp never existed? I remember reading that stat somewhere back in the '80s and marvelling at what, as far as I could tell, was the highest factory original hp number I'd ever seen, particularly as it delivered more than 1 hp per unit of engine size.
@@matthewrammig Personally, I don't do many burnouts, because it does roast the tires. But when you have that kind of torque, it does feel good to use it once in awhile!
thank you for the burnouts...they had to be done. Zora always demanded that the Corvette have the most powerful engine in the Chev lineup...must have burned his undies to know that the Chevelle got the bigger plant in '70.
Does anyone know how the white lettering on the tires work? I've watched 3 different '71 vette videos in a row and all three have different white lettering on the tires. I'm restoring a '71 and would love to know which is the correct lettering on the tire.
This car had a head collision. The front end is way out of alignment. The driver's side dips down quite a bit. The hood is also not centered on the damaged body.
@@231mac 560hp @ 6400 rpm, also the 1967 had an L88 also 560hp, but they only advertised 430hp so they would be street legal and lower insurance, GOOGLE the L88 hp, tons of info on it.
i have one, my father bought the car new and i came home as a newborn in it. i spent my whole youth drooling over that car. and have great memories in it with my father and as a young kid. when i turned 16 my father handed me the keys. what a mistake that was!! unfortunately a lot of times when your young your amazingly dumb, and i was no exception. my poor corvette bronze big block vert is a basket case now but i hope to start a full restoration soon and bring her back to the streets in the next year or so.
Wow. "Bridgehampton Blue!" AND A 454 ENGINE! With supposedly 390 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque. I say: "supposedly", because some of these numbers were actually--NOT: "TALKED-UP" OR "INFLATED", as one might think--but, instead, the very opposite! It turns out that, in some model-years, the horse-power and torque numbers for some C3 Corvette High-Performance Engines were seriously DE-FLATED or Lowered, presumably to assuage the Safety Concerns of Federal Government Watch-Dogs who did NOT want car makers making what were de facto High-Performance race car engines available to average drivers on public roads in what look like ordinary Sports Cars.
The most beautiful car ever. I have a 71 454 The 454 LS6 4 so 425 HP Clone Do not tell me they don’t handle,a yoke interrupted ,suspension sway bar,four weal disks brakes front heavy minimum. 425 HP , this car is awesome! Period! Would go flat out faster than the over rated 911. That sadly lasts for years. What a dinosaur?
