Why is a 1976 Corvette so cheap?

74-77 Vette's were the last of the "Stingray" body style......which IMHO is a positive.

However, they were also cars with anemic and pitiful 180 HP V8 engines........the chrome bumpered predecessors are the ones everyone wants.

I like them....I had a 1974 454 engined car way back when......and would like to buy a 1977.........but there is little to no collectibility in them from what I can see.

 

I curently have 2 vettes...((2) 66's)...had as many as 4 at one time (2-66, 1- 69', 1-81'). IMO (no offense), but chevy made crap corvettes from 73-87). In 1988 they started to come out of the darkness and by 94' had a descent product.

81 had 190BHP and crap electronics and compter BS...pure crap. The car handled well...that was it.

75-79 were pretty poor ass quality/performace closely folowed by 80-82.

73-82 overall were the "dark" years, and IMO for corvette.... not even worth looking at. The first few years of C4 were dismal as well 84-87.

Looks like you are on the hunt... Best thing you can do is educate yourself (like you are doing here) with current owners or guys who have been though it.

At this point the market and prices are a real indication of value and future value. You can probably find a (running) 78 vette for $4K...ask yourself why so cheap....becuase no one wants one.

For $20K to spend on a "fun car" I'd be looking for a GT4, 80-82 mondi, 80-82 GTSi, 77-85 911, 69-71 SB vette, 67-69 camaro, 60's stang... lots of options and lots of fun to look.

Keep doing what you are doing...educating yourself by asking questions, talking with other car guys, searching ebay and internet classifieds and when you simmer it down you'll have a nice fun car you are proud to own.

Enjoy the hunt.

 

Horsepower started dropping off after '73. Also, '72 was the last of the chrome bumper car, as they went to a rubber nose in '73 and rear in '74 to meet the government 5 mph bumper standards. By '75 emissions had run horsepower down to around 180. '76-81 Corvettes were pretty anemic, plus don't forget, they had been using the same basic chassis since '63. That said, the L82 4-speeds were not too bad, all the way to '78. If you can find a L82 4-speed '78 Silver Anniversary edition or Pace Car, that's probably the best of the late 70's.

The C4 cars are performance bargains. '92 brought the LT1 engine, much higher revving and 300 hp, vs the L98 engine used in '85-'91, which was really tuned more for torque and doesn't like to rev over 4500 rpm. LT1 will rev to 6000 no problem. 6-speed manual trans started in '90. The C4 body style ('84-'96) was continually improved, rule of thumb is to buy the latest one you can afford. Still cheap though, we picked up a black/black '96 LT4 6-speed for under $15K earlier this year. The market is way depressed on these because the C5 was such a huge improvement, now with the C6 out, early C5 coupes can now be found for under $20K. The knock on the C4's is they tend to squeak and rattle, it depends on the car. My parents have an '85 that is solid but only has 56,000 miles, I drove a '93 convertible that we had last summer that was solid, but I've been in cars that are total basket cases too.

 

CHEAP; they're over priced!!!!

Those cars were rattle buggies and rode like it too, and they look like crap.

The last good looking Vette' was the 63' split window coupe.

 

Very easy to define:

Rode like buckboards....

No HP,,,,,no power

Drove like a truck........

 

Neil
The 75-79 "Coke Bottle" cars are as close to a horrid choice as you can ask.

James (DunnDeal) is right
A buck Board is a Horse drawn buggy which ironically has the same rear suspension (leaf)

These were NOT screwed together well and because they were fiberglass the squeaks and rattles really did lead to bits falling off the car. The T Top cars LEAK LIKE SEIVES

 

Corvette got hit hard in the 70's during the fuel crisis. After 74, the cars were all "smogger" engines producing less the 230hp..in some cases 190hp. GM had to change evrything after 73 too meet all emssions standards. Cat converters were introduced in late 74.

The crome bumper cars (68 to 72..with 73 only the rear bumper being crome) are in the collector area. Anything after (even though the 74 was the last year for the big block, and the only year with a rubber split rear bumper) are not desierable cars.

They squeak, rattle and moan over every bump, and they do drive like a truck. But they are pretty cool cars.

77 being the last year for the "sugar scoop" rear window is an interesting car, but the engine power was really low.

lots of them built and it shows in the resale price over all. LT1 series from 71-72 are the one to get IMHO.

 

If you are truly looking for a late 70s early 80s C3, MAKE SURE you get the L-82 optioned car and NOT the L-48. Although this is a personal opinion, I would stay away from the 1982 C3 because it was the first year for the Cross-Fire Fuel Injection system...a system that was sooooo good they ditched it after the 1st year of the C4 (1984). And if someone tries to sell you a 1983 Corvette, laugh in their face...they never made an '83 model (unless you count the ONLY ONE in existence, but that one is located in the National Corvette Museum)...


L-48 = Anemic low HP car (ie 190hp)

L-82 = Although not much better 210hp "performance" version....

PS - I have been a Corvette freak for years. I HIGHLY recommend spending the time and going to your local bookstore and thumbing through some of the Corvette books they have. There are TONS of books on Vettes, and they usually detail the differences between the years, options, and improvements along with the weaknesses of each model year.

Good Luck.

 

I remember working at a grocery store and walking by a bar where an Orange plastic bumpered Corvette parked in front all the time. Boy I was in love with that car.
I wonder if a modern engine and management system can be put into one ?

 

Neil......

1972 (chrome bumpers) and earlier cars can be worth as low as 4 times the price of a 1974-77 or as much as 10+ times.....depending on engines/colors/options etc.......it's a huge difference.

The 210 HP L82 motors are gutless.......even with the 4 speed tranny. "IF"......I was to buy another Vette of that genre I'd get a 4 speed car and redo the suspension and engine immediately. So ad on another $15K "more or less" to the purchase price. Then you'll have a car that is a blast. 450+ "real" HP and a race spec suspension transform the car.

The best book in the world that you can buy for decifering Vette's is this one........

http://www.corvetteblackbook.com/

 

I've had an 84 & 85 C4 . They do rattle , but its usually not too hard to fix if you can find where its coming from . Make sure the top doesn't leak. I think from a money standpoint , an 85+ would be a better option then the mid to late 70's , mainly for reliability & performance. And as said before , get the latest one you can afford . Try to get an LT1 if you can because the tuned port cars fall flat on their face at around 120 .

 

Up to 67 looked almost Identical and to the non car guy would possibly think its the same year.

Neil, A couple of my friend have C5's and they like them alot. They are extremly easy to make fast as well.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say that. The problem with the mid to late 70's & early 80s cars is the power. That's all. They are still nice cars.

The major hang-up that many car guys have with these models is that their IMMEDIATE predecessors made MAJOR power. In fact, many of the Corvettes you could buy off of the showroom floor (when optioned properly) in the 60s made more power than the more recent ZR-1 & C5 Z06.

 

The older cars are easy to work on and don't have the fancy computers but what they do usually have is 'rust' unless they are restored. Certain Corvette models like 1967's have unjustified prices. A similar experience in a 1969 model year Corvette is much cheaper. Also nobody here has said a word about 'clones' which can be a financial trap. Original cars also command a price premium; if you just want a 'driver' then there are many choices available. A 1975 Corvette L82 convertible drives ok with the automatic. That was the last year for the HD Turbo Hydro 400 trans. In 1976 the Corvette lost the convertible version and gained a Chevy Vega steering wheel. It was all downhill from there for the next decade... actually 1976 saw the reintroduction of the 1973 aluminum wheel option; it only took Chevrolet 3 years to figure out how to keep air in the tires when those wheels were used. A similar problem occured in 1963 with the introduction of 3 bar Knock-Off wheels. There were some '2 bar' KO wheels used on prototype 1963 Corvettes but they were different. No KO wheels were fitted at the factory on 1963 production Corvettes because they would not hold air in the tires. It seems Chevrolet had a short memory in the wheel department.
CH