Mike & Linda Waal’s Grand Touring (GT) 1980 Corvette

Published on April 5, 2022July 27, 2022 by Scott

See the USA in a Chevrolet, CORVETTE!

Dateline: 4-5-22 (this story was first published in the April 2018 issue of Vette Vues Magazine) – The term “GT” is arguably one of the most misused automotive designations. The term dates back to the 1930s in Europe and is an abbreviation for the words “grand touring,” or as they say in Italian, “Grand Turismo.” In the classic sense, a GT car was a road-going, lightweight, semi-luxurious coupe, built on a high-performance chassis. In the 1960s, American carmakers started to apply the GT term to many of their new pony and intermediate-size cars. Continue reading “Mike & Linda Waal’s Grand Touring (GT) 1980 Corvette” →

C3 Corvette Wednesday, Check Out 1968 to 1982 Corvettes – Reasonably Priced!

Published on August 26, 2015August 27, 2015 by Scott

K. Scott Teeters Corvette art prints are available in our Amazon store!

Wednesday, the third day of the week is our day to honor the third generation Corvettes. Vettes from 1968 to 1982 are also referred to as “Shark” Corvettes because they were styled after the awesome 1965-1966 Mako Shark II show car.

If you are looking for an entry level Corvette, the newer C3 Corvettes can be purchased at very reasonable prices for several reasons. First, Chevrolet sold STACKS of them. Sales of the 1976 to 1981 Corvettes were astonishing with each year selling OVER 40,000 cars per year! The only ever year to experience similar sales was the first year of the C4 Corvette, 1984. Continue reading “

C3 Corvette Wednesday, Check Out 1968 to 1982 Corvettes – Reasonably Priced!” →

1982 Collector Edition Corvette – The Polished Shark

Published on September 5, 2011December 2, 2011 by Scott

Dateline: 9.5.11
Illustrated Corvette Series looks back at the Last of the C3 Corvettes

For the last three months I’ve been having fun with my VETTE Magazine monthly column, “The Illustrated Corvette Series” looking back at what I believe are the “best” of every generation Corvette. So far, we have looked at the ‘62 Fuelie Corvettes and the ‘67 427/435 L89 Big-Block. This month we’re looking at the last of the C3 Corvettes, the ‘82 Collector Edition Hatchback. While it wasn’t the stump-puller from the late ‘60s and early ‘70, the ‘82 Collector Edition was a very sweet machine. So, let’s get straight to it! – Scott

The ‘70s had been a challenging and strange time for America’s sports car. Performance had been on a decline since ‘70 but because of little to-no-competition, Corvettes sold like hot cakes, hitting an all-time high of 53,807 units in ‘79. Between increasing federal demands for emissions and safety improvements, there was little time for performance. In fact, what should have been a performance improvement through the use of lighter materials – aluminum differential, tube headers, etc – was offset by reduced horsepower due to more stringent emissions controls.

When Dave McLellan inherited the Corvette from Zora Arkus-Duntov in ‘75, it was not a pretty picture. Poor quality was rooted in the seriously outdated 1920s St. Louis plant. Rumors of a new assembly plant began in ‘73. Another challenge was the Corvette’s very old chassis and drivetrain. Designed in ‘61, most components were not shared with any other GM car. John DeLorean tried to address this issue with his plan to build Corvettes on the Camaro/Firebird chassis pan. While this might have made GM’s bean counters happy, it would have been a bad move. McLellan was charged with the responsibility of tighter government controls, keeping the Corvette fresh, improving existing hardware, transitioning the car’s assembly plant, and designing and implementing the new C4. A real peach of a job, right? Continue reading “1982 Collector Edition Corvette – The Polished Shark” →