Corvette Forums - Corvette Enthusiast Site

I always keep my eyes open f/ 'Vettes when I'm out and about. I see new ones all the time, and the guys who have them, in many cases, just have a pocket full of money and aren't "wrench turners" what-so-ever. I see fewer and fewer C3s around as time goes on. I'm in the Killeen/Ft. Hood area of Texas, and there are two other C3s that I see on post, one in good shape and the other is in semi-ruff shape. There was another one in Killeen that had been restored and done nicely, turned out that it belonged to the mother of a kid in my son's class at Killeen High. The kid's mother had the car completely restored "body-off." (Something to be said f/ the "lady wrench turners," as this lady did all her own maint., carb work, etc., alittle more than just changing the oil. And the car was a beauty, red w/ blk interior. They moved last year.) That's it, besides mine.
There are quite afew people in this area and quite afew car clubs, as both civilians and military spend alot of money on customizing their vehicles. Even the 50s style Hot Rods are coming back in our area, and I've seen some super-high dollar lowriders around in the past year or so, hydraulics, outrageous paint, custom interiors, etc., a majority military from California, but Austin isn't far away either.
My point is that our C3s are becoming more and more rare, even the later years w/ the "detuned engines" like mine are being more and more sought after. (You have to admit, even though my '81 has the rear fiberglass mono-leaf w/ the alloy differential, the spoiler-front and is alittle more slippery in the wind tunnel, it's not worth what the years w/ the performance engines are, w/ numbers matching or w/ an aftermarket hi-po engine in it.) When I watch the auctions on the TV, I see the value has gone up abit in the last five years or so, $29,000 f/ one last night-in great shape ofcourse. Although I've had mine f/ only six years, I don't think I could find one like it f/ the price I paid f/ it.
Lately, I haven't done much w/ my C3, haven't driven it in more than a month, as I've been concentrating on the 455 Olds going into my '62 Ford pick-up that I've had f/ 23-plus years now. (Found a '71 Olds 98 w/ 93,000 miles f/ a great price, and it's 455 and TH400 are in perfect shape) But the other day, I walked over to my 'Vette, opened the hood and started just looking at the engine, then the body of the car. It took my staying away from the car f/ a period to again appreciate how special the car is. When visiting the Classic Olds site, I often hear guys "knocking" the Chevys, saying that they're not as strong as the big Olds engines. It's true that the 455 Olds is not only basically a small block, but the early Gen II models turn out alot of low end torque even in stock form and have a very strong bottom end that stands up to a high level of aftermarket components even in it's totally stock form. They're a very different engine from the SBC/BBC and f/ me, contrasting the two (Chevy/Olds) is very interesting. But let's face it, there aren't a quadrillion SBCs/BBCs around f/ nothing. The Chevy engines, both SB and BB, have proven themselves over decades and haven't changed their basics since they were first introduced. I feel that the Chevy engines speak f/ themselves, and that's leaving out the fact that one of these proven engines are in our very special C3s.
I think that in another decade, we'll see our C3's value rise alot quicker than it has in the past, as there are fewer and fewer of this model on the road anymore, all in all, "it's time is coming" very soon.