Yea, by 79 my TA had a gutless 403.....I had a set of 455 heads available, but never got around to installing them (the power is in the heads on those engines). I found the original build sheet in '87...that car was almost $12k in '79....thought that was interesting. 2719 miles.....is that the daily driver (as you know...sarcasm)? I am particularily fond of the mid-60's Corvettes....very sharp. '80 model was nice as well.....was'nt that an anniversary year (too lazy too research)?

 

garyc660R,

You might have been thinking about the 1982 collectors edition.

No, the 1980 was nothing really special other than it was the last year for the L82 motor and they changed the body a bit with the aero front and rear end. They went to a lighter frame and to the aluminum rear end that looked like a bridge truss. So the 1980 vette lost about 300 pounds. They also redesigned the exhaust coming off the manifolds back the cat. Gave slight increase in HP. Its a good year to get if you want just a driver and a little faster because of the weight reduction over the other smog era vettes. I am getting a driver sometime in the near future I just need that feeling again.

Chet

 

Yep, that was the '82 I was thinking of. Did'nt realize the 300lb weight reduction.....thats a big difference.

 

garyc660R,

You really got to check those old vettes out though for frame rot. Even more so for the 80-82 because of the lighter guage frame. The frame area right in front of the rear wheel where the bottom frame rail meets up with the part that goes to the back the drain holes get plugged from little rocks and road material and if the car is driven a lot in wet weather that area doesn't dry out because of the design and then its a gradual process till the break point. The vette I had was clogged up when I got it in 1983 and I cleaned that area out first thing and the car was saved.

I love those early vettes too. I like all vettes come to think of it.

Chet