
This car was way nicer than I expected it to be. While I am a huge Corvette fan, I must admit that the C3 Corvettes (1968 – 1982) weren’t my favorite. On the other hand, I’ve got every generation of Corvette in my collection, so I couldn’t ignore having a C3.
I have always been attracted to the C2 models, and the later C1 models were great. I went nuts when the 1984 model came out – I had never seen anything like it before. That became my first Corvette, even before I started collecting cars. It was black – a rare exception to my Vette collection. Even though the car looked beautiful, it wasn’t a very good car. It had a horrible suspension and a questionable motor.
I was at an auction when I saw this 71 Vette. I suspect that the color isn’t really a correct red – it’s very bright, and back then the reds weren’t that red. Still, it was a good looking car, and had a 4 speed in it. I bought the car mainly to round out the collection. It actually turned out to be a nice driving car. It had a 350 motor in it, and while it wasn’t a ground-pounder, it was still a quick fun car. I ended up liking it better than I expected.