She’s more than a bit banged up…a ’78 L-48 coupe, 144K miles, silver
anniversary paint sanded down unevenly by some amateur previous
owner, wrong tires, wrong wheels, interior all but gutted, missing various
parts and barely driveable…but she’s a Corvette, and she’s ours. And now
we’re setting out to bring her back to life, hopefully better than she’s ever
been before.

But to do that, we’re going to need all the help we can get from the
members of this forum. In fact, we’re counting on the wisdom and good
will of any and all of you to assist us in making this dream come true.

A bit of backstory: I’ve loved Corvettes since I was a kid. It took me all my
life, but finally I was able to buy Black Beauty: my 1996 LT-1 coupe.

I married my wife three years ago. She’s English, and when we were
introduced by a mutual friend, she had never been to America. We
courted long-distance, and during that process I discovered that she had
always loved Corvettes as well. (In fact, a previous boyfriend had owned
one—a rarity in England, but despite her love of all things automotive, he
refused to let her drive it!)

Her dream has always been to own a ’69. But I’ve been out of work for a
very long time, and Sharks of that vintage are hopelessly out of my reach.
As much as I wanted to make her Vette dream come true, I thought I’d
never be able to.

But just before Valentine’s Day, something made me check our local
online ‘cars for sale’ listing, which I’d never even bothered to search. And
lo and behold, I found a posting for this ’78. The blurry photos didn’t
reveal just how rough she really was. But, without telling my wife, I went
and secretly checked her out. As sad as she appeared to be--the ripped
seats were barely even bolted to the floor--her ‘bones’ were still good;
no evident body or frame damage, and the small block sounded
surprisingly healthy. The pop-up headlights even popped up! She was a
true blue Shark—and when the female drag car racer who was selling her
heard my story, she was good enough to cut me a really good deal.

Rationally, I still couldn’t afford her—but on the other hand, I knew this
was pretty much the one and only chance I’d have any time soon--maybe
ever--to get my wife and me a genuine C3.

So, a day later, when she got home from work on a winter’s eve, in the
dim light of the carport she saw an unfamiliar--but curiously still very
familiar--shape occupying her parking space. When she walked in the
door to tell me that there was a strange Corvette downstairs, I simply
said, “I know—and she’s ours.” And handed her the keys.

Now that spring is finally here, and I can sell my motorcycle to recoup her
cost, we’re going to begin this great adventure of restoring/improving/
breathing new life into this 28-year-old classic. It’s going to have to be
slow and step-by-step, because we can’t afford anything else and
besides, we want the fun of doing as much work as we possibly can on
her.

And that’s where all of you come in. We want, and need, your advice. Your
guidance. Your do’s and don’t’s. The myriad bits and pieces of Shark-
owning wisdom you might be willing to share.

I’m not the world’s best mechanic by a very long stretch, but I don’t mind
getting my hands dirty. I enjoy learning how to do things on cars that I’ve
never done before (brake work, for example). I know enough to figure out
(I hope) when I need help, or to leave something to the professionals. But,
as I said, we hope to be able to do most of the work ourselves, making
the inevitable mistakes along the way, no doubt.

The plan, and the goal, is to improve this car however and wherever we
can. Up to, and including, the engine. So rubber bushings will be replaced
with polyurethane. Steel brake lines, with stainless steel. And so forth.
Originality isn’t important to us—performance is.

So here’s what we’re thinking: we’ll start with the interior. It needs
everything, from carpet to new seatbelts. And we can tackle it bit-by-bit,
as the bank balance allows.

With that, we’re now officially throwing it open to all of you to chime in
with your advice and information, on an ongoing basis. I hope I won’t
wear out the warm welcome I got here so recently, but I’m probably going
to be posting questions on here pretty steadily, as we proceed down this
new and very exciting path towards turning this ugly duckling back into
the beautiful Shark she once was—and with your help, will be once again.

Congratulation on your new vette. I will certainly help where I can. I responded earlier this week on a seat belt thread. In there you will find a link on installing 3 point seat belts that came from the backseats of late model Camaros and Firebirds. That's an inexpensive way to go if you don't want to spend the money on rebuilding your old ones.

https://www.c3vr.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=64370

Snake-oyl rebuilds seat belts but its not cheap. They do go work though.

http://www.ssnake-oyl.com/main.htm

Ted,
Welcome to C3VR and congrats on getting a C3.
First, be sure you take a lot of "before " pictures.
Then make a priority list of what you want to tackle first, second, etc.
Then Git er on. As the funds are available.
We'll help here as much as possible. Lots of experience at this site.
Good luck.

You have found the right place to help you on your project.  In one form or another, most of our cars are projects.  Some almost (but never quite) done.  Mine has a LONG way to go.

Ask away, one of us will come up with an answer.

kstyer38837.7555092593

Welcome to the Shark pond. It's going to be an adventure.  

First bit of advise....I recommend that you begin your restoration with overhaulin the brakes and suspension.

"Make it safe before you make it pretty."

Sarge

 

After reading your post I recommend a body off rebuild. It may take a while but when you are finished it will be completely done.  I know....mine is still in pieces but its getting there.

Good luck and enjoy the car.

I agree with Sarge.  Get the mechanicals taken care of first.  That way you won't have to worry about spoiling that new carpet or end up taking things in and out of the interior as you're working through the dirty stuff.

And as Dave mentioned take lots of photos along the way.

Enjoy your new toy and welcome to C3VR...!!!

You truly are in the right place. These folks have so much knowledge. They have all been a great help to me. I could not have made nearly the progress that I have made on my 75 withhout the help of the C3VR family. Jump in and take it a step at a time. You will be very happy with your ride!

Scott

As already said, do the mechanical and safety related issues first. Cosmetics can wait. That does mean you'll spend money that you really cannot "see" the results for awhile, but it's the best way to go about it.

There's an enormous amount of talent and experience here. It's certainly helped me.

Just remember...experience is what you get when you don't get what you want. I'm pretty well experienced by now! I'm sure you'll say the same after a while.