Yes!

Chalk up another Vette dream come true. I just got a set of Hooker headers and sidepipes. And I just got done polishing them up—12 hours hunched over in the parking lot, spread over four days and too many steel wool pads and tubes of Maas metal polish to count--but worth every minute and penny. Most of the chrome came back beautifully—no small surprise, because they go way back—thirty years, according to the previous owner.

They came with a nice ‘back story’, too. Seems he bought a brand new, bright yellow ’77 from his brother-in-law’s dealership in South Carolina. The Hookers were installed on the car then. He paid $8,800 for it. And it came with him when he and his wife moved to California. He showed me a photo of it (and emailed it to me later as well; which is a nice little ‘bonus’ to have, I think.)

Fast forward to three years ago, and he decided to sell the car as retirement loomed. His brother-in-law asked him what he wanted for it, and he said….”$8,800.” So now the car’s back in SC, its original home, for its original price.

But the Hookers, which had been removed at some point, didn’t get sent home with it. Instead, he kept them and had them lying around gathering dust—until he started packing up to move to Arizona. With a gorgeous customized ’53 Chevy, and two Triumph bikes in his stable, he put ‘em up for sale a few days ago—and I got them. Dirt cheap, too.

And dirty. Probably hadn’t been polished in years, from the look of them. But a lot of elbow grease, a stiff back and all those steel fibers later, and I am the proud owner of a pair of genuine gleaming Hooker headers and sidepipes…which are going to be a whole lot of fun when I get ‘em installed on the ’78 at some too-far-in-the-future-to-even-guess-at date.

I always dreamed of having a Corvette with Hooker headers and side pipes. But until I found the badly, and sadly, abused Silver Anniversary, I never thought I really would.

Now, if you’ve read this far, I’ll ask for some advice: any tips on installation? I know I need the A/C bracket; I know I have to have the car up high; and I know I’ll have a struggle getting them in on the passenger side—so a ball peen hammer will be handy.

Other than that, any helpful how-to’s you can share?

(Final bit to this story—the plastic bag with the old bolts and other installation items in it also has an original, yellowed Hooker order form from back in the day…a little piece of header history.)

Ted, LukesVette2007-02-24 10:40:30

CONGRATULATIONS, LUKESVETTE IS RIGHT ABOUT THE WRENCH SITUATION. YOU MAY HAVE TO ALTER SEVERAL.TO MAKE IT WORK. IT WAS A BEAR ON MY `69 AND I DON`T HAVE THE EMMISSIONS THAT YOUR CAR HAS. GET THE CAR UP HIGH AS YOU CAN ,BACK END TOO. HAVE SOMEONE UP TOPWHILE YOU SNAKETHEM FROM THE BOTTOM. i FOUND THE PASSENGER SIDE ON MY CAR EASIER THAN THE DRIVERSIDE.