Yep, I agree with the chrome bumper thing, as a excellent investment.  I looked at a bunch of vettes (C3's) and found a lot of the 427's, but most of those don't have air.  Having factory air is a plus for resale in my eyes.  I've heard that the 427's are kinda "touchy".  The power sounded so good the hair on my arms stood at attention!  I finally decided to get the 350/350.  350's have been around for quite awhile & they are good engines.  If you want, you can soup it up for a little extra HP, but keep the original parts you take off if you want to resale.

I took a BIG GAMBLE and bought my 69 without driving it.  Crazy, huh??  Well, I didn't do too bad.  There were a lot of pictures.  When you buy an antique car you can count on things going wrong here and there.  It's how you get to know it.  Just go for it and DRIVE & enjoy that sucker!!  If it breaks, fix it and document it.  Anyway, I don't understand what's wrong with your wives.  My problem is that my husband thinks a Vette is just a car.  I tell him that other cars are just cars, but a Vette is special car to me.  There's nothing that compairs with a Vette.  So, I'm a crazy woman that has "Corvette Fever" really bad.

Good luck & go get YOUR VETTE & tell everyone your story.  I would love to read about it. 

I'll chime in here!  While I'm partial to the midyear (64, 65, 66) C2's I went out and purchased a late model C3.  Like a lot of others, my purchase was a visceral thing, and not a whole lot of thought or consideration went into the purchase.  I just wanted a Vette!

If you truly need to "talk" your wife into this...and it seems to me that you are looking at this as an investment rather than a purchase of an icon that you just can't live without (i.e. - I'm not sure you've got the fever)...then you need to take your time and do your homework.

Inspect every car you make an appointment to see.  Most Vette owners will expect you to look at the frame to see if there's major rust or other problems, inspect the rearend for leaks or old bushings.  Is the rear spring sagging?  Do the lights come up instantly when you turn them on, or is there a delay (most likely a vacuum problem), and do they close when you turn them off?  How's the wear pattern on the tires...are they new tires, or original?

With a chrome bumper car I think you'd better make sure that wiper door opens and closes as it should.  I've heard alot of owners on this forum alone say that is a common problem.  Is the interior musty smelling (indicative of a leaky roof, T-tops, windows, weatherstripping, or windshield)?  Has the heater core been bypassed, or not even piped anymore (this reduces cabin heat in the summer months)?  Push on the middle of the windshield at the top near the roof.  If there's a lot of movement you may have a deterioration problem that will cause leaks in those unexpected downpours, which could mean you have a rusted out windshield support bar, and that is not a fun fix.  Most likely the windshield is going to break when they take it out to fix it...I know mine did!

See I could go on and on.  Every classic car had or has it's problems.  Most of them are known by current owners who had to deal with fixing them...replacing this, repairing that, updating others.

Like I said before, if you're approaching this as an investment, then you need to take your time, do a lot of research, and look at a lot of cars!

Now, as to your original question...the chrome bumpers are a favorite anywhere you go.  They are some of the most beautiful Sharks you will ever see!  An investment grade chrome bumper is going to cost you money up front, but I seriously doubt you will ever lose money on it at resale.  Hell, even a basket case, project CB is probably not going to lose you any money in the long run.  But if you're looking for options, I'd suggest looking at the 74 verts (a 454 is a great investment since that was the last year of the big blocks), plus you get the addition of having the only year with a split tail.  The 78 anniversary Pace cars will always be a good investment, and I don't think there were a lot of those that were manu'd with the L-48 engine, but were L-82's out of the factory (more horsepower and torque than the base engine).  Then you have the 82 Collector Editions!

But for the ultimate investment (tongue in cheek) you need to look for the rarest Vette of all...the 1983!

 And no matter what ya'll say... I still love my bubble window, daily driver 79 just as much as ya'll love your chromed bumper,  museum pieces.  

 So there.....

The chrome bumper cars will always be worth more than the urethane bumper cars.In considering a chrome bumper car 68 -72 doesn`t matter just buy the best speciman you can.And enjoy the hell out of it.

By the way Rick.

I live in Dunedin if you want some company to go looking just drop me a Pm.

good luck.

do you have a price range?

on the featured links on the right of this thread.

How to restore and modify your corvette 1968-1982

has a real good chapter on what to look for when purchasing your Vette. Wish i had read it before I bought mine.

And grey poupon69 i bought my Vette Site unseen !! talk about crazy. But, i did good