Little Red Corvette

[Arrowsmith]

Yesterday, it was -26 C with a wind..... and my new-to-me ’71 Corvette was delivered (this is the car Cindy wanted us to have). It was absolutely frigid. When I walked out to the grid road in front of my acreage, the TFX driver was struggling to open the end gate on the semi-trailer and it didn’t look like it would even open (TFX costs more money than many of the car haulers, but I consider them the best of the best). Keep in mind he drove through -40 weather to get here. We discovered the lift was blowing hydraulic fluid past the seals (likely frozen solid). Eventually the lift gate worked, but it was slow going.

Given the weather I planned on the Corvette not starting. And I didn’t even bother. I ordered a roll back wrecker to haul it from the grid road down my driveway. It’s about 1,000 feet. As it turns out, the roll back truck driver called and he couldn’t get his medium duty Ford diesel to start. So, I called another wrecker. They showed up on time too (awesome!). Could barely get the key to turn in the Corvette ignition switch. The transmission was so frozen, it wouldn’t shift out of reverse. Eventually with a designated clutch pedal pusher (me), we managed to winch the car off the lift gate, directly onto the roll back and then we dropped it into my garage. Worked great (took three of us though). But damn....it was frosty out there. I let the car unthaw overnight and this morning it fired right up.

The car is an NCRS Topflight example (scored 99.6 points and didn’t have a fire extinguisher which adds points). But…it’s like many Topflight cars. It will need some love to make it driveable. Camber is way (Way!) off. Longer than stock bolts may have been added to the rear spring sometime in the past. Or the camber nuts weren’t torqued properly and when TFX cinched it down, they could have moved. I’ll fix that. The clutch needs attention. E brake console is broken (but the previous owner provided a new one). There are some instrument issues to fix (needle is broken on the tach for one thing). I’m not driving it on rock hard Wide Ovals (the tires on it are 10 year old reproductions; a complete set of almost new 1971 vintage Wide Ovals were included with the car -- not using those either L-O-L). Interior soft vinyl (seats, door panels, etc.) are rock hard. I’ll have to deal with that too. Many of the engine compartment hoses (and there are a lot of them with a C3) will likely need replacement for the same reasons. Other than that, the car is extremely nice. The body, panel fit and paint is stellar. The chassis and engine compartment are very well detailed. And perhaps the whole car is very much over-restored. I don’t think with modern judging it would score that high again.

With that said, the plan is to make it into a nice fun, safe driver. My gearhead daughter has already called “dibs” on the car. And by the way, it only has two options – an AM-FM radio and white letter tires….I know it will get more…

FYI, I haven’t cleaned off the shipping dirt yet.

[dykstra]

Very cool! Congrats! Your wife would be proud!

[tunes]

Very Nice!! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

[Keith Seymore]

Beautiful! Stay warm!

K

[Steve Shauger]

Wayne, awesome car and CONGRATULATIONS!

[Lynn]

Congrats Wayne.

[napa68]

Glad to hear it finally landed Wayne! This has been some time in the making. Feel free to reach out with any questions. Does your daughter have small hands? She'll be mighty valuable getting into that dash. Not so easy with those meat hooks you have

[Arrowsmith]

daughter lives on the west coast…it’s a wee drive! I’ll be forced to use my meat hooks … L-O-L

[ls6owner]

Congratulations Wayne. Looks like a great car. Looking forward to seeing it sometime when we are up in S'toon.
Oliver

[Mr70]

Very striking car.
...Prince would approve.