Since it is the Fourth of July and I like sports cars, I figured the perfect car to feature would be a Corvette. No – not a C1 or C2, but a C3, which is the Corvette from my generation. I have actually owned a C3 Vette and found it to be a fun car, with excellent handling, good performance from the period and what I still think of as amazing styling.
The specific car I am choosing as my Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com is this 1979 Corvette L82 coupe finished in my favorite paint color for these final C3 Corvettes: Frost Beige, over a tan doeskin cloth interior. It is an L82-equipped car, which to me is the clincher: The L82 gave the 1980 Vette a very respectable 0-60 time of 7.6 seconds, which for the time was faster than the Ferrari 308. Combine that with handling skid pad numbers of .79, and this is the easiest classic two-seater GT sports car you can own. This car is offered for sale at a dealer in Mesa, Arizona.
The seller says this a one-owner car, and it looks to be in quite nice original shape. Now, before you look at the interior pictures below and complain about the automatic transmission, this was the only transmission offered on the L82 in 1980. Featuring an automatic on the last few years of the C3 Corvette makes sense, as they really are more of a GT car.
The exterior looks to be in quite nice condition with no real issues evident. I am not sure if the paint is original or a repaint, but it looks very presentable.
The interior is the same, with no real issues that a good detail would not fix. This really looks like just a nice, older one-owner Corvette.
Under the hood is a 350 Chevrolet crate engine, which was installed in 2005. Happily, the original L82 engine accompanies the car. Everything else under the hood looks to be stock and correct. Again, a good detail would fix a lot of this. I would like to know what the spec is for the crate engine, as it is likely a bit more powerful than the 1980 stock engine.
As you can see in the photo above, the underside is also quite clean, making me doubt that this car has ever been near snow or salted roads.
If you want to celebrate the Fourth of July with something truly American, then this 1980 Corvette is just the ticket. At an asking price of $16,995, it is hard to go wrong.
Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com