I have owned several vettes in my lifetime and never paid more then 7500.00 for any of them. With 6 kids and a mediocre job I managed to get 3 through collage. and even after a lenthy divorce have managed to keep a vette since I was 25. as you may have guessed these wern't the greatest vettes in the world, but they were mine and it took a lot of my time and money just to keep up with everyday repairs. I thought I was the only one that had these problems but I was WRONG. There are a lot of Poor Man Corvette Owners out there like myself who love thier vette no matter what shape they are in and we deal with all the problems we have with our C3'S. THEY ARE GETTING LONG IN THE TOOTH, and it seams like as soon as ONE PROBLEM is fixed, another one crops up. Some things are do-it-yourself and others are strictly for the mechanics and even turning it over to a mechanic it dosen't always solve the problem. Especially Brake Problems.
Which has plagued me now for over a year and a half. but that's another story for another time.
What are some of the things you did to your vette to save a buck. C3'S make up more then half the vettes ever produced (will have to get the official stats on that) it may be more then half. and were not all making 6 figures and if we were we would all be driving C5'S. So how about it, your not a rich man/woman, how do you maintain your vette. What do you sacrifice just to drive one of the greatest marques ever. and do you do most of the repairs yourself. The latest repair I made was fixing the passenger side power window. It took me about an hour and a half including removing and replacing the door panel. it turned out to be a severed wire between the door and body frame. I was able to splice the wires back together and now the window works pefectly. got lucky on that one. Man I felt good after I finished.
So jump on in you poor souls and tell us your story, because WE ARE THE C3'S.
P.S. Please forgive any mispelling errors.

I can tinker with cars but I'm not a mechanic.
The Shark definately is a money pit and although I haven't given up food to buy parts I have skipped a few lunches and put off buying that new computer.
When I got the car, the interior was in poor condition and I decided to fix it myself. It took me a month to install new carpet, fix the driver seat, install new door panels, new weather strips, fix the rusted floor boards. Thankfully, the dash and console are in good condition. Don't think I will tackle much more although it felt really good to know I did all that work myself. Maybe I should attempt to repair the clock !?!?!?! Then again, maybe not...

YES,I have great respect for those like me live on the breadline but own one of these great cars.Some other VETTE owners look down thier nose UK at me or my vette,dunno if it's snobbery coz i'm not a doctor,soliciter por own my own business or the vette not STANDARD or it needs a bit of work on the interior.Mine's a 77 t-top,i swapped a 78 camaro that i tidied up and a trike motorcycle i built.Since owning 2yr i've rebuilt the engine gearbox by trading my labouring skills to the local mechanic laying concrete floors etc in my spare time.The point is,we're all in the same club,we love vettes!I'm glad the C3 VETTE REGISTRY is here so people like YOU can help out people like me.On that note what other makes of car parts will fit my 77 vette eg window winders handles mine snapped,brakes?gearboxes?engine parts.

|UPDATED|3/5/02 4:12:46 PM|/UPDATED|

This sounds like my kind of disscussion. I'm definitely restoring my 76 L48 on a budget. It's my second Vette. The first one was a 1962 that I bought in 1966 for $1800. Wish I had it now! Shortly after buying it I got that letter from LBJ offering me a govt. job in a green uniform. Bye Bye Vette! I retired in Nov. of 2000 and my primary goal is never to work again but who knows? I bought this Vette about April of last year for a pretty decent price and was real lucky with what I got. The engine is pretty tight but it was real slow. I'd heard the mid 70s were famous for this so I didn't think too much of it. I also redid the interior right afer getting it. Replaced most of the panels, dash, carpet. Recovered the seats myself. Took about a month for the whole thing. It took a day for each dash panel! - what a job! Went from a red that was mostly painted by a previous owner to buckskin. Then I started on the engine. New plugs, wires tune up and still crappy acceleration. It's got a crate engine with eldebrock carb, manifold, headers and I was told, a cam. I rebuilt the carb and it ran a little better but not much. I'm talking 0 to 60 in about 10 to 11 sec. Finally I noticed that the carb didn't seem to be opening up all the way (I'm slow). The linkage had a lot of slack in it due to the carb, change. I rigged it up with some spacers and WOW. I'm hitting between 6 and 7 sec. 0 to 60 now. I'm no mechanic either but I like to tinker so this car is perfect. The next project is paint. I'm considering stripping the old paint and doing it myself.

Hi I,m new here also, I live in spring city
Pa .I have an 82 that I went crazy on over the winter and will have done for warm weather driving . I had a BMW that someone needed more than I did so they stole it . I used to club race something I enjoyed very much . I found this car by accident ,,, it was locked in a barn for seven years and is in pristine shape . I did the usual brakes ,tires ,etc to get everything in order. I just hope I do not wind up kicking myself in the butt for tearing the engine all to heck and back. Hope to meet some of you pennsy residents this summer.

Geo

O.K. I knew I wasn't the only one without deep pockets, at least there's 5 of us that will admit it. I do whatever I can to keep my vette running without losing sight of my mortgage, car payments, gas, electric, food,etc.,etc.,etc. Having said that, let me fill you in on my latest repair. In another post I stated my brake problems that have plaqued me for almost 2 years has been solved.
It is back in the shop getteing a new clutch, and whatever else it needs in that area and hope to have it back this weekend.
I have been working a lot of overtime and have managed to save $800.00 to pay for it.
I gave up a trip to L.A. JUST TO GET THIS DONE. Man, I wish I were going to Calf., but there will be other times.
I hope to run into some of you this season as I cruise to corvette events, until then Save the Wave, and it won't hurt to save a buck or two.
Joe v.

I know what you are talking about.
I went as far as to go to the Antarctic to get my vette. No the vette wasn't there but the pay was OK. I have noticed that allot of the parts that I need I can get from Napa allot cheaper than going to the vette catalogs. It's still winter here and if it gets into the 40 I'm outside working on the vette. so far I have rebuilt the steering control valve, parts from Napa only cost me about $12.00 for the rebuild kit. had to buy a dash assembly ouch they are very $$$. Rebuild the power antenna. The battery died,there's more but i don't want to get into it right now, and there is more to do.
tom

Here, Here.
I too am of the poor corvette club. I have always wanted one and never
realistically thought that I would own one. I now have a 76 that has been rodded
and put through the mill by three previouse owners.

When I bought my $20,000.00 Buick, nobody said a word. When I came home with
a $5,000.00 piece of $#!t, every one of my friends was over to see it and wanting
a ride.

You have got to love the alure of America's sports car.

Hey, you're lucky. My $5000 piece of S#*t cost $6000. After putting another $3000 in it, it's worth about $6000. But I'm glad I got it. Beats watching TV.

Those are some good stories guys, I also bought mine cheap, we settles on 3200, well I had abit of money, and some side jobds and credit card and this and that, I do have alot of cash stuck into mine, I figure I would be very close to break even if I sold, so I'm pretty happy about that. But I did do every thing on my car, from gutting it to putting it back together, body, paint, engine, electrical, carpet, I can;'t imagine what it would have cost of I had it done. Great job guys.

Dave
Mr69vett