RARE BARN FIND!! 1 of 17 1969 L88 Corvette Aluminum Head 427! C3 Vette ABANDONED for 45+ Years!! 

My dad has an all original riverside gold 69’ L88 4 spd manual. 47k miles, bought it new when he worked at Penske. Beautiful car.

Kevin is actually a good friend of mine since the late 80's. Our paths crossed when he was an engineer at Ford and I worked for a supplier company. I know that car has been an obsession of his pretty much forever and it breaks my heart he was never able to return it to the state I know he wanted it to be in. Thankfully, it looks like he found the perfect caretaker to return it to its former glory. I'm sure you'll respect the history of the car and make Kevin proud.

What a score! You're now steward's of a genuine piece of history...I appreciate how you said... "We are drag racers,not restorers". Very humble. It's one thing to treat an item as it was intended.It's another when it becomes an irreplacable piece of history(That's what clones are for).Enjoy your time with that L-88,I'm very envious...

I have been watching your videos almost from the beginning, and this one is by far my favorite one because of the history and knowledge of that gentleman that sold you this amazing Corvette I love watching pure stock drag racing, but when you have such a special car and previous owner has all that knowledge about the car to me. It is priceless. I would try to go for the Duntov award with this amazing car. Can’t wait to see upcoming videos of the restoration

Holy shit. Holy grail. Didn't know these sort of finds still existed.

Awesome video! Kevin is definitely a wealth of knowledge, I know you and your dad soaked up a lot of information that day. Thanks for documenting and sharing it with us.

I have family in North Tonawanda and Buffalo!

'Ol boy can taaaaalk! Good stuff :)

Video of the week so far. Awesome

That’s really cool Jordan !

Beyond scoring the car, it’s pretty wild the amount coding / history that’s documented with it. Then the icing on the cake being the Chevrolet blue prints. This is a “holy grail” level find… Be careful if y’all “farm it out”. I can imagine someone harvesting it, and destroying the integrity of it. Thanks for sharing!

This was a rare barn find car - they actually found a barn under the car - it was built in the high Columbia forests and covered with coffee beans - it had a rare V-3 electric oil burning motor - very rare

Thank you for being stewards of that fantastic piece of history. Can’t wait to see the finished car.

What an opportunity to take care of the car that made history...well done, indeed.

That's ridiculously awesome

The paperwork is worth as much as the car. Paperwork = facts.

All I can say is, WoW !!!!! Thank you for all the information Super Great Job !!!!

You folks and the previous owner are plain awesome, keep it up and original

What a gem. Big thanks for deciding to share this wealth of history with the rest of us!!!

Hell of a find. Hopefully you guys will fly Kevin out when the car is up and running again. Would love to hear him talk more about the L88.

What a great historical history on a soon to be a beautiful original L88 restoration. ❤ it. Go Hard 👍🏻😎🇺🇸🏁🤘🙏🏻👻

Love these kind of stories can't wait to see the progress restoring my 69 convertible SS 396 4-speed Factory air Chevelle right now I've owned it since 1984

Nice car, and to have all that history is amazing. Any pics of the heart of the beast?

Kind of a shame when your dream car of 40 to 50 years has to go to the next care taker especially when he obviously loves it, hope you can get it done and take him for a ride before he goes. And back to green the Vette goes. Beautiful that he picked your family to take it back to its glory days.

so cool the car surfaced and had the best caretaker all these years, WOW!

Thanks for making this video.

Excellent, you obviously know the right answer to this specific Chevrolet Corvette.. to properly get it renovated to new condition, cool ! 😎 🏎️ Thanks

Absolutely incredible, I cannot wait to see that in person

Wow Kevin is a book of knowledge. Nice you had him pointing details out on video. I know you guys will do this car proud!

Love talking to people like that. I had a question about a 74 Pontiac formula 455 SD. That had the shaker hood. I'm into the Trans Am, by the way.. had a question about a part in the engine bay being correct... I got a 45min seminar on how that part come to being used on the car.

What a sensational video! It’s hard to believe these cars are still out there!

wow. amazing. Would have thought that all of these were already a known entity, but somehow something amazing will pop out every so often. definitely a stream-of-consciousness delivery from Kevin, but i guess there's a lot of memories, and a ton of paperwork, from over the last 50 years. what a find! If this was all in one piece, i'd have said to preserve it, but since its already all apart, yea a resto would be the way to go.

The car deserves to be restored and used in pure stock racing if raced

What a find I'm sure it will be done right when yall finish with it

I live for this stuff

FANTASTIC! Thanks for sharing such a rare find and experience. Look forward to seeing the progress of the restoration and of course the finished product.

This car needs to do what it wss built for, race it.

Very awesome, I love the history of vehicles like this.

Awesome! Thx for sharing. So cool to hear all of that technical info. I'd love to see more.

cant wait till HD starts the RESTO !

Hey nice find,,,maybe restore it and run nhra stock eliminator?

What great records, memories and details!

Really amazing find!!

Wow! My first time watching your videos. Ken is an amazing guy with his knowledge and I really like his car that you just bought. Looking forward to seeing it restored. Thanks for sharing.

Talk about a ton of information! I could listen to that guy for a few hours. Nice grab!

Mind saying where you got this car from? City, State? That sure resembles like S.E. Michigan, which is where I am from. You hit the lottery with that car and all that documentation, design prints and all. Wow

I could sit for hours and listen to that man talk

I love the fact that you race the clone L88s and make them go as fast as they do. But this is an original. It could be a .5 to 1 Million dollar car. The documentation is incredible. Hopefully the original engine is not lost/broken. If you still have the original engine it would make the most sense to make it a perfect restoration. In that case don't race it. If the original engine is lost, and you can't find a near perfect date numbered replacement, then yeah why not race it, and let's see what it can do, with your racing knowledge. It would be very cool to see what a stock looking and all stock internals L88 could do. If you turn it into a 600 cube it's just not the same. It's a real one, it needs to stay 427.

Super cool, thanks for the video, please update us as you restore !

Awesome episode : ) What a find.

He definitely knows what he's talking about

That's a badass find and you got a lot of history on that one. Love the channel keep up the good work. You deserve every bit of information and tid bits you can get. Love the videos.

INCREDIBLE... including the infoirmaiton.... I would love copies holy crap that is awesome.Especially the open chamber information.

This is such a cold story that the car came!!!! Thank You for sharing

Great video an history of the L88. So cool to just be a listener sometimes.

Restore it, take it to the B-J auction and get somewhere NORTH of $500K. Cars like this are PURE GOLD!!! Who says you can't find anything truly rare anymore!!! Congrats!!!

Sadly, we lost Kevin A. C. Lambert a few weeks ago. He was an automotive legend and such a colorful individual. I suspect, because he knew enough about the future, he passed this car down to you knowing it would be in good hands. RIP Ratbrain...

Super Score !! 🎯

Wow, that's an amazing bit of off the wall rare info from GM. What a lucky mistake that this guy made .... no tri power but not even knowing what a L88 is, yet he found a gem of a car! I don't know but I'd try to restore it to original condition if possible.

Super rare find. Can’t wait to see how it turns out

Wow and congratulations on such a cool find. Keep the vids coming on this beast.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!!

Wow guys, I'm speechless! Well, almost.. Corvettes have been my dream car ever since I could say Corvette, and this one is a rare-as-hens-teeth diamond in the rough! I've always wanted a 68 Vette, cuz that's the year I popped out, and I already mentioned my love for the car. But this one would do nicely, please share more videos of the progress as you, or whoever you tap to do the build, massages it back to its former glory. And if you decide to sell it (which I wouldn't, if I were you), you have my email, I'd definitely be super interested in owning such a fantastic automobile, and she'd be in good hands! Although it's a pretty long line I'd be in, without a doubt... Nicely done y'all! I'm still wiping the drool off my chin after you panned the camera around your shop.. lucky asses!

Very happy for you wow 🎉❤💪😊

That's amazing. Congrats u guys.

Lots of information there

really cool!

Nic jam

The L88 does not appear to have the engine in it. Do you have the original numbers matching engine & transmission that came with the car originally from GM?

This guy should make L88 videos, because all that knowledge is gonna be lost.

Still can't believe this!!!! There's nothing up here in Canada on the west coast even close to finding what you guys have done omg... I mean that car museum restored is worth what... a million plus and then some ?? . I've been for a ride in 5000 mile original 70 hemi Cuda here But geez.. love the channel.. you guys have done a major job in getting a f.a.s.t. car to work.. plus I'm sure it cost a lot of cash lol... I'm just hoping the Mopar guys can step up lol..but I love all cars and all brands.. I've grown up around all of them here in Victoria b.c... penningtons aka.. super family.. have fun snd keep it safe

It's nice talking about your L-88 but we'd prefer to see it????

What a find! Talk about a needle in a haystack!

You have the right idea, restore it back to as it came from the factory, I have a 69' L89 A/T project myself according to factory records less than 50 built.

Love the bought it for his wife and baby. Sure he did...good ol hot rodders! Nice to see a guy who was there knew the people involved and has true facts not a reproduction build sheet with fake weathering. I didnt know you coiuld buy an L88 for the street they didnt have fan shrouds? TO think you could buy this at any dealer or engine at the parts counter....Id be living in a motorhome just so I Could stockpile these. lol

awesome home run ❗❗ so does this have the 'original' engine/ trans/ rear? is it a closed chamber head #842?

That car must have lived in Michigan all it's life...The dealer name Rinke is well known here in Michigan (also for the COPO Camaro assembly facility)

Awesome

Wow !

Great history!! 🏁🏁

Damn...why couldn't i have found it!!😢

kevin knows his stuff, very kool inside info, Once you get the L-88 restored, put Kevin behind the wheel and let him feel the powah podnuh, Kool video

Was that you with the nasty sounding camaro at test n tune at mid michigan sunday?

1st of all glad u ended up with it 2nd its a shame he was more worried about the story than the car itself! I could tell by listening there was a tie to ford some how lol😂 👍👍👍👍

Is that a yenko stripe?

Would you guys install a 6 link in my 69 vette. Restored by Tony's Corvette in MD.

How does an 18 yr old afford an L88 corvette ?!

Should be a CX high shift point th400

I think it should be restored back to factory original. Race the clones. Save the original !

so does this have the 'original' engine/ trans/ rear? is it a closed chamber head #842?

If the aluminum heads are original why is not considered an L89??

I’d love to know what you paid.? Anybody have a guess? Higher than 6 digits.?

Nice ! Which year came with the L88 and power glide with 4.56 rear ? And have you ever seen the ZR1 OR ZR2 cars from 70-72

Listening is like watching paint dry

Rinke Chevy, not far from me! Or at least it was.

Who on earth would order a 400 plus hp sports car with an automatic transmission 😢

Ive got a 69 coupe down here in Australia which came from South Africa through New Zealand and was told it was a Big Block car but it had an LT-1 350HP and M21 with 3.36 rear gears the VIN is 194379S702377 which is correct for 69 Vette and Partial Engine # V1230CTH the rest is gone from machine work which is a 1970 production Engine, I can't find anything to tell me what motor this car came with and all I know is that in 69 they had a 350HP small block, an all steel BB, a steel BB with Alloy Heads and the all Alloy ZL1, I hope someone can point me in the right direction to find what it should have in it.

How in h… did an 18 year old afford a 2 year old ‘69 L88 Corvette back in 1971? That car would have cost about double what other muscle cars would have cost at the time. Dude had some $! BTW, nut and bolt restoration fans like this guy drive me crazy with their over the top codes, etc. They act like they are talking about the holy grail. It’s a flippin’ Chevy bud. ! Drive and enjoy it like it was meant to. If you aren’t going to drive it sell it to someone who will! You guys were EXTREMELY patient as this guy droned on and on and on.

The guy you got if from.....is def not a corvette guy........i don't care how many books and posters he has.......he needs to drive a Honda.......hes book smart and car stupid.....sorry you had to sit there and listen to him babbiling just to get that car away from him..... and he should stop drinking......but anyway.....thanks for saving it.......

nice car new...but why doo countless hours a work...countless thousands-restoraton..n it will never keep up with a modern one..or mustang-camaro??waste of human life!!!!