[AbqVic]

Yet another Old Guy here....

Had a 67 Coupe in the early '70s that provides many fond memories. But, easy to forget that those cars, while being outstanding for their day, had many deficiencies that would not be tolerable today. In addition to squeaks as mentioned above, factory cooling was completely inadequate.

Mine was Milano Maroon with a black interior. It was a cool daily driver. Factory air, power steering, power brakes, electric windows, AM/FM radio, tinted glass, base 300 hp engine, two speed powerglide a/t; all original factory options.

I loved the car, but was frustrated by high engine compartment heat that caused the secondary carburetor float bowl to perculate gas up through the venturi tube after the car was shut down and sat for a few minutes. The gas flowed down to the back cylinders and fowled the two rear plugs after a week or two. Then the resulting misfire and engine shake would break the two exhaust manifold fiber donut gaskets between the manifold and the head pipes. Had to change plugs and the gaskets about once a month.

Tried many solutions but the simplest solution didn't occur to me until after I sold the car. Just lower the float level in the secondary bowl. I think that would have done it, but my diagnostic skills were not too good back then.

Speaking of selling, I bought the car for $1600 and three years later a guy knocked on my door to ask if I would sell the car. I said no at first, but he kept telling me how much he wanted an automatic trans Vett for his wife and pulled $2300 cash from his pocket. I was weak because of my frustration with the carb problem. So, bottom line, I ended up saying yes and he drove off with the car that night. I didn't even have a way to get to work the next day.

It's easy to forget that Stingray Vettes were just used cars back then. But, later I was thinking that the buyer of my car was a guy that was ahead of the curve on the collectibility of good Corvettes. Maybe?

Another factor that contributed to low Vette prices was the gas shortage in the early '70s. A lot of 427 big block Vettes were sold at giveaway prices. I saw a yellow with black stinger 67 coupe with 427 big block on a mickey mouse car lot around that time period for only $2200.

So, yes, I think the new C7 is worthy of the Stingray name and I'm planning to get one. I hope to do museum delivery for the experience and the pleasure of driving it home about 1300 miles.