WHAT IS IT?
Corvettes are obviously THE legendary American sports cars. First offered by Chevrolet in 1953 as an underperforming I6 with an automatic transmission, the Corvette became a performance icon and race-winner as the enthusiast engineers of General Motors got their hands on it and were given a bit of free reign. There were high and low points for the model over the ensuing decades. It’s now on its 8th generation and finally changed to the mid-engined performer Chevy has been teasing since the 1960’s. However, it’s the Corvette’s third generation, offered from 1967 through 1982 that was its longest-running and highest-selling despite spanning the malaise era and losing much of that legendary performance over the years. Nevertheless, the Stingray styling is iconic, though it offered little in the way of interior or cargo capacity, particularly in the pre-1978 body with the flying-buttress style rear end (replaced by a glass bubble-back in 1978, though cargo access was still only from the passenger compartment as the rear glass only opened on the last 1982 collector’s edition examples).
WHY THIS ONE HAS BEST ONE ON THE PLANET CHOPS
1977 was the last year of the aforementioned flying buttress rear window though the Stingray name was removed by Chevy for some reason that year. While nearly at the nadir of Corvette performance, this example does sport a relatively rare Muncie 4-speed manual transmission as most were being bought with the 3-speed hydramatic by this period. This car has low miles and has completely original paint and interior in the spectacular and period-correct “Corvette Orange” over brown. The velour/leather combination seats are factory original yet also extremely rare as full leather was standard and this was a no-cost factory option. Late C3s have been perpetually cheap used cars so the survival rate of unadulterated examples is low. This is one of the nicest we’ve seen.
Late C3s have been perpetually cheap used cars so the survival rate of unadulterated examples is low.
https://www.hemmings.com/auction/1977-chevrolet-corvette/sold
This is an attractive urethane-bumper C3 in peak Malaise Era spec–Orange Flame with brown velour and matching shag carpet. It’s a more than respectable car that probably would qualify as a Bloomington Gold Survivor, but it’s let down by the engine compartment presentation. Nothing hateful, just not Benchmark or Topflight quality. There are so many nice C3s out there, I’d be shocked if there wasn’t a better Orange Flame manual ’77 Stingray out there.
The color was officially called “Corvette Orange” in the sales brochure, fwiw. It’s an incredibly original and unrestored survivor in an unusual spec (velour with leather trim was a no-cost option that year, leather was actually standard that year) and manuals were already starting to get rare by the late 1970s on these. Given Chevrolet build quality at the time, I suspect those valve covers have looked like that since 1979.