1976 Corvette L-48 project

I saw on the Facebook page for Corvette classifieds a red/red '76 coupe for sale in late January in Silver Springs, FL. The seller had an asking price of $2K OBO and all that I said was 'That's a great project. Wish I could swing it' and thought nothing more.





Honestly I'm not looking as much as I was just kinda thinking out loud, ya know? Figured something like that would be fun to build together with my 5-year old son, Thomas, to give to him someday. But we are in NO kind of position to even fathom this. Three days later the seller contacts me and says that he feels that the Lord is telling him something and he wants to speak with me. So I call a few days later (and a few more messages on FB) and we speak on the phone. He feels that God has compelled him to give me the car and pay forward a similar kindness done to him over 40 years ago in a similar situation with a Corvette he was gifted. He prayed on it and spoke to his wife and they agreed that I should have this car. I cannot explain it...and I'm just reaffirmed that God always has a plan. I don't even think it's really about the car...I believe it's all for someone else's benefit. My mom said that perhaps its about the Lord's plan for this gent and I'm but a tool for the plan laid out.

So myself and two of my closest friends rent a Tundra truck, borrow my uncle's trailer and head south. I live in Walton, KY so this is a 30 hour banzai kind of trip! We head out on Friday at 5:40pm and drive thru the night, getting to Silver Springs at 8:10am Saturday morning. Here's what we find:







It's an L-48/auto with deluxe red leather interior. Water damage on the inside and the L-48 was replaced with a roller-block 305. Looking underneath it there is not frame damage nor any rot where I can stick a screwdriver thru (passed the test). A few more pics...





So we got her home Sunday about 2am...

...and Sunday late morning I got it dropped off at my uncle's property. Thomas is THRILLED with his new car and he wants to work on it immediately. I'd like to find a running SBC to drop in. Nothing fancy just something that will let it move around.











I had to wash her before I brought her home. Sprayed off underneath too to make sure no critters came along. So, I got her for free. No title but a notarized BoS and it was a repo over 20 years ago so it's out of Florida's DMV records. Worst-case scenario I'll look for a solid '76 body tub with a clean title and buy that and transfer all of the parts onto it. She needs a new front clip and the interior (seats, carpet) are totally shot.

And this last picture choked me up...I was covering the car up and looked over and saw my son leaned up against it. I managed to snap this picture. I asked him a few minutes later what he was doing and he told me he was hugging his Corvette so that it knew he was not going to forget about it (I have it stored at my uncle's property). He then showed me two pieces of the broken body he took so that he can remember it at home.





Later,


Lee

Very cool, and thanks for helping another young one on his way to being a gear head.

This is awesome! Your Son will always remember this moment Lee. As you will when you start your rebuild.

Thanks guys! Looking forward to working on this one once my '88 is squared away in a few months.

Later,

Lee

While some people won't agree or even believe, the testimony and witness you will give about the PO and how it came about may be enough of a reason it all happened.

Glad you made it home, didn't realize you rented the Tundra, I though it was Dennis' for some reason.

I have a running 350, but would require new head and intake for it to run on carb since it is a TBI motor with TBI heads. Had the truck sold, but the kid wants me to buy all the fix 'er up parts for him, ain't nobobdy got time for that.

TAHOE wrote:While some people won't agree or even believe, the testimony and witness you will give about the PO and how it came about may be enough of a reason it all happened.

Glad you made it home, didn't realize you rented the Tundra, I though it was Dennis' for some reason.

I have a running 350, but would require new head and intake for it to run on carb since it is a TBI motor with TBI heads. Had the truck sold, but the kid wants me to buy all the fix 'er up parts for him, ain't nobobdy got time for that.

Thanks Marty for your post. I agree 100% about what He has in mind for this car and why we have it now. Clearly the PO and his wife were moved to give this to us and felt it was the Lord leading them. And who am I to argue with Him? I never once felt that the situation was 'crackpot' or absurd...just more amazed and I just trusted in God about it. And the few times I started to think 'Yeah, RIGHT...' I just stopped and left it in His hands.

Dennis does own a Tundra but it's a white '06. He rented this as he knew it would be a better tow rig (his has the small 4.7L engine) and I did not want to put Wayne's Tahoe under any more hard use as it's seen enough of that in the past.

I'd be interested in the 350, actually. If I know it's a runner that's what I am most concerned with. I just want to get it able to move under its own power for the time being. That way it's not in the way and I can load it up and bring it to the house easily to work on. And Shelly and I do want the pop-up too. We're working on the $$ for that. I have to sell my little blue express trailer to put towards the pop-up. And she starts back to work very soon. But yeah figure out what you want for the 350 if you would.

Later,

Lee

Picture with him on it is a good one!

Reb Stew wrote:Picture with him on it is a good one!

Thanks Steve. I like it very much too. Already scored the 350 from Marty and had a chance at both an entire front clip and an entire '77 body with clean title but no $$$ for either. Oh well all in good time.

Later,

Lee

So, I have a 'wanted' ad running on our local Craigslist for the parts I need to complete Ol' Red so that we can move forward on it later this summer.  Had a very nice gent from Georgetown, Ohio contact me and we chatted a bit.  His name is Fred and he cut me a VERY good price on what he had that we needed.  So, we met up this past weekend and came home with the following:

Front clip and nose to frame brace/extention
Hood (off of a '77)
Long tube headers (no names but he sand blasted them and had 'em painted already)
Two seats (from a '77...not great condition but usable)
NOS red carpet for the rear section of the car
Two headlight bezels (aftermarket but both new)
Complete factory air cleaner and cold air ducting



He gave me the bezels, front frame brace, both brace extensions, the complete dual exhaust that went with the headers and a spare lower seat cover.  He also was stripping out a '77 that had hit a pole (he wanted the 4-speed parts and tranny for his '77) and gave Thomas the speedo and tach from it.  I plan on making a nightlight out of these two for Thomas.  He also has a stock rear bumper cover that he will sell me once he gets it off of his car.  

Very nice fella and his son was a chip off the block too.  Bill (his son) has a sweet '49 Ford coupe that he showed to us.  Still running a three on the tree with the original flathead.  Purred like a kitten.

So, I'm still looking for a few more bits and pieces but we're awfully close now.  Front bumper cover, lower airdam, drivers side headlight assembly, red carpet for the front of the interior, a red console and an external fuel pump and pressure regulator.  

Later,

Lee

Looks like you got a good haul!

Cratethis wrote:Looks like you got a good haul!

Yes we sure did! But the best part was shooting the breeze with Fred and Bill. They were terrific gents and Thomas really had fun making new friends as well. We're pretty darn close to having all we need to have what we need in place. I plan on getting the 350 from Marty (TAHOE) fairly soon and dropping it in. I want to have Ol' Red mobile before I tackle the bodywork.

Later,

Lee

It has been awhile that I have updated our build here on the forum...it's my bad. So, here is where we stand:

The 'vette is at my uncle's property and we have been working on it. Got the junk in the interior cleaned out and found a few bits and pieces that were missing for the car. Also pulled the old dead battery out and have one that works now. So I can at least get the windows down. Also, we picked up the motor from Marty (TAHOE) for the car and it is getting cleaned up and painted before we drop it in. I still need to buy the rebuild kit for the Holley carb, buy and install the external fuel pump and get the header gaskets.

Later,

Lee