1981 Corvette C3: Regular Car Reviews  

> The Sweepstakes is open to legal residents of the USA (including D.C, excluding residents of Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, and New York) wait, what?

What are the odds of winning 2 cars in a row? Also, whoever detailed the sti did a pretty stellar job.

A identical car in year, colors, and build as I had in bought used in 1984 as a youngster, even the miles on it when I bought it was 16,900 then. Sad! LOL!! But was destroyed by a tornado. Never had fully insured it so total loss. Took me over 6 years to recover the loss paying for it even after it was gone.

HELL YEAH BROTHER

BIG 1970s BUSH

The perfect comment doesn’t exi…

Hello, I'm from the future, and this comment still makes me laugh.

we need @RegularCars to say that in the V O I C E

😂

Rare. One of only 10 black cars made on a Sunday in April.

knightrider historians could verify that. just slide them some hasselhof hair as a bribe, who's going to argue with them about it

For Knight Rider??? I had no idea. At one point, I read somewhere that a 280ZX was considered.

Thank God they didn't go with the Corvette. The TranAm/Firebird is so much cooler of a car.

The unofficial car of "why would I comb it? It's just going to get matted when I see Marge tonight."

I CALL IT THE "LOVE NEST" 💪

[Muffled Welcome to the Jungle playing in the distance]

@@JPR3Dfixed: _[muffled “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” playing in the distance]_

BIG, HEARTY BUSHES THAT COVER THE BIGGEST ROAST BEEF FELINE YOUVE EVER FUCKIN IMMMAGINED U MILENNTIAL LI-LI-LI-LIBBBBERRRALLL

They were all named Randy back then.

@@ElCrab Same childhood memory, but my guy was my dad's friend named Ron. Ehh, at least it's in the ballpark of R names. And I vividly remember the car sitting in his driveway, radio blaring the 1981 classic "All Those Years Ago" by George Harrison.

​@@ElCrab when I was a kid in the late 80's, me & my friends actually did used to call everyone with a mullet "Randy" hahahaha..... Partly because of Randy Johnson (the pitcher) & partly just because.

Safety always off

And failing grade 10

Re: the long hood, I had a cousin who had a ‘68. He attached a curb feeler vertically to the leading point of the hood so he could see where it ended.

Thank you for being the first person I've seen on the internet in ten years who properly spelled the term "jury-rigging".

Wait, hold up... someone did a burnout in an '82 Corvette? In rain, you mean?

@@Kalepsis Jerry-rig has its own interesting story and is a variation rather than a misspelling. Use dates back to the 1800s. Language is a mess. Always has been, always will be. Best embraced. And of course, the argument of "cheaply and poorly made" vs "makeshift and quickly assembled" is pedantic.

@@72dodge340I have a 82 and I did one as well, but had to drive through water and even then it was hard as hell. Did get it sideways once in dry weather leaving school.

1 hip replacement for every displacement

Size matter. And its no replacement for displacment if you can make 1 hp per cube the more cubes you have the more hp thats why people took the 400 crank and put em in the 350s to make a 383 with a longer stroke and alot of power

Bullshit i had a 76 and blower had an off position

I have an 82 Firebird and it turns off fully

@@cleverkitsune4302it does have an off position but it dosnt really work. It does kick on when you put in the key and turn and if it’s on the off position the hot/cold air kinda halfheartedly dribbles out still.

The always-on fan was part of "Astro Ventilation," a flow-through ventilation system which started in 1968, as the C3 did not have wing windows. 68-77 C3s without AC had a constant running fan. 68-77 C3s with AC had an off position. 78-82 C3s with AC had no off position and ran when the key was on like this car, a feature which seems to have been added to prevent CO buildup in cabin. To add to confusion, the words "Astro Ventilation" was stenciled in script on the door windows (where the wing window would have been) from 68-75, whether or not the car had AC. (Cars with AC had the "four seasons" system) Also, some 74s had 75 glass and didn't have the stencil.

​@@cleverkitsune4302 You're both right, see below.

what a beautiful Monday morning.

Glad you enjoy it!

There was another?

Barbs and knots. Best of both worlds! :D

DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT

Ok, unrelated, but surprised to see another demigirl here...

Stingray, actually.

@@stevevarholy2011 No, that's... that's a Corvette...

@@thejay8963 Make that three. :)

I had a 76, it had an l48 only cali cars had 305s

The 1975 models with the L48 had 15 less horsepower than the 1980 305 models...it was a rough time, the emission regulations should have not been applied to the Corvette.

That's the engine my slug-slow '80 Mercury Brougham coupe had, heh! Edit: @Raptor3388 Looks like I need to put my glasses on - you're right, it was a 302, d'oh!

@@greenbriar07 a Mercury would have had a 302, or maybe even the 4.2L V8 in 1980…

That only happened in 1980 California.

Exactly!!!

Buy one. They are cheap and plentiful and DO come with a lawnmower engine 😂

Shockingly cheap if they're original. I have a 77 C3 and I only paid so much because it's a 383/5 speed. Feels like a C3 should.

“Fuck off, I got work to do”

Smokes! Give em!

*same guitar riff on repeat*

Safety, always off.

At least Julian had a an all black c4

That's a nice lookin' Cooter you got there 😂

There actually is one built in. You can pull a vacuum switch under the dash to switch the lights on and off without moving them

THEY KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!!1!

Those C3s were dirt cheap when that movie came out... I should've bought one as my 2nd car, went for an early 2000's Maxima instead. Vettes don't rust either, and Rusty Nail drove a rusty truck. 🤣

Agreed on preferring the earlier look. Most bubble back C3s had fixed glass. The '82 special edition was the only true hatchback.

I adore my 383 C3. An absolute blast to drive.

Nothing will top the intro for the AE-86 video

The famous "Breaker One-Nine"

You say that like it's a bad thing...

Shocking. My 77 is my nicest car by a mile and everyone geeks about the Baja bug instead.

And easy to fix that performance problem. Build any small block Chevy and slap it in there.

Please don't they are wonderful on their own, suspension wont compensate for poor weight distribution

@@cleverkitsune4302 Dude, it has almost 50/50 weight distribution with slightly more weight biased to the rear depending on options and engine, all within the axles which is exactly what you want for oversteer correction. Cars like the Ferrari Enzo, all generations of Porsche 911 or the BMW E30 have it way off by comparison - not saying the C3 is the best candidate for impecable handling but it will definitely benefit from suspension mods (that are usually easily reversible) and it's weight distribution is very much a perk rather than a problem.

@@Strongholle Seconded. These cars respond VERY well to ~500lb-ft front springs, a ~360lb-ft fiberglass rear spring and some bilstein sports. But only if ALL bushings, yes even the dreaded trailing arm bushings, are FRESH.

@@Maakyuhlinsky After working in a restoration shop I found that a big chunk of the unwieldy handling American cars are famous for come from perished suspension components, lack of maintenance and bad mods. Drive a stock E30 with shot bushings and shocks and it's like walking on oily marshmallows. Once again, an almost 2 ton box of steel from the 60's or 70's with a steering box and one finger power steering is never gonna handle like a go kart but too many cars are cosmetically restored while the suspension is left like it came from the field it was found in. Plus, on many vintage cars (not this 81though, presumably) the suspension is tuned for soft bias ply tyres with tons of sidewall movement which behave nothing like modern tyres.

The 80-82s are lighter than the 78-79s but all of the parts swap. Aluminum heads/radiator, relocate the battery. Delete the steel vaccum tank and just run manual brakes. All that takes a lot of weight off the front of these. Or just do the dreaded LS swap and have an aluminum 5.3 from a 2008 truck. The transmission is literally the same for an '82 lol.

That's bold for a first car!

I definitely don't wanna sell my C3 any time soon. I have fun every time I drive it.

Anyone that doesn't like the look of a C3 can't be trusted.

An LS swap with original suspension just sounds like a fantastic way to acquaint 2/3 of the car with the nearest roadside tree. lol

Gotta get a strait-laced ex-cop as your partner/buddy, and Mike Post to write your theme song; bonus points if you live on a boat that will never leave the dock

@@RobCamp-rmc_0 and Vietnam veteran.

A cooler full of Budweiser, some strange purple pills that the guy at the truck stop sold you, three buttons missing from the tops of both of your shirts, and you went to bed at 3 with a 10 and woke up at 10 with a 3. 1981 baby!!! Where's that Glass Houses 8-track...

This is exactly the comment I would expect from someone driving a C3, complete with no sense of irony.

@@falcomo I was 18, Dude. Now I have a frame-off perfect 1969 convertible triple-black 4 speed 427. I wouldn’t trade one second of driving that car in exchange for my choice of any girl alive (sans my wife). But hey, back in the day and the hot chicks, it was a two way street. Even when I was 18, I didn’t understand why girls were so intrigued. But, at 18, I certainly didn’t question it. 🤤 So, even from a young man’s point of view, I get your point. If an older dude is using a car to pick up chicks… it’s just pathetic, for the guy and the girl.

Yeah that 78 Anniversary Vette is second only to the Mustang GT-H