Finding a New Road, Part 1: Here We Go Again

Hello Corvette friends. Hope everyone has been having a spectacular summer like we have been here at CorvetteBlogger’s Detroit Bureau. It’s been a busy one here for sure. In between car shows and assorted activities with our 2 unpaid interns, I’ve once again purchased an old Corvette, smoothed out the rough edges, and have been running it through Bloomington Gold and NCRS judging. Sounds a lot like 2018 and my Targa Blue 1972 Corvette, huh?

Well, this story is a little different. This is the story of a Corvette I wasn’t looking for during a time I didn’t need anything else to do.

Catch up on our all episodes here:
Part 1: Here We Go Again
Part 2: Ready for the Road?
Part 3: Showtime at Bloomington Gold
Part 4: Betting on Benchmark
Part 5: The Michigan NCRS Chapter Meet
Part 6: In Search of Diamonds and Gold at MCACN

As our long-time readers will recall, the Campaign Trail series ended in the summer of 2021 with my Stingray up on Bring a Trailer where it didn’t meet reserve. After the auction, I held the car until September when I made the tough decision to let it go. I am happy to report it’s found a great home on the east coast and those pesky windshield washers even work now!

So, like most here can relate, I immediately embarked on my search for the next one. This time, though, things were different. After the blue car, 2 other early C3’s, and the pandemic I really had no interest finding a car to run through the various judging systems. My sights were all over the map. I was shopping Corvettes of course, but I was also looking at 4-seaters like Trans Am’s, Camaro’s, 442’s, GTO’s and others. I’ve always had a hankering for Jeep Wranglers, but have never owned one. I even placed a deposit on a C8 Stingray at one point. All I knew was I wanted something different. Something I’ve never had before. Something new to learn from and enjoy. Along those lines, I’ve had a C4 ZR1 fetish since they hit the market in 1990. I was a highly impressionable 16-year-old when the King of the Hill took over the planet. It was in every car magazine and, yes, I had the obligatory poster on my bedroom wall in between my Ferrari F40, Lamborghini Countach, and Christina Applegate posters.

Flash forward to April 2022 when I found an ad online for 1994 ZR1 in Pennsylvania. The short version of the story is that I ended up traveling to PA and drove that car home on Good Friday. More on that adventure later. While the seller and I were exchanging details about the ZR1 prior to consummating the sale, he mentioned he also had a 1978 Corvette for sale as well. As someone easily distracted by cars for sale, I had to ask for more information about it. Stay focused, Steve. Stay focused.

Turns out the Corvette was a L82, 4-speed 1978 Silver Anniversary car with Oyster leather interior. Totally not my thing. As we were getting ready to head home, the seller of the ZR1 asked me to take a look at the ‘78 before we left. Of course, I couldn’t say no and had to crawl around some before leaving. Mrs. Detroit Bureau, watching from just outside the garage, already knew where this road would lead. From my cursory review, there were several things that would need attention. Most notably a leaking old fuel line splice and what appeared to be a radiator in some level of peril among other small items. I still wasn’t terribly interested, especially since I was about to embark on an epic roadtrip in one of my bucket list Corvettes. A few days after parking the ZR1 in my garage, the seller reached out via email and after a FaceTime call around the car to check out some other things, I found myself making plans to head back to Pennsylvania a little over a week after my last jaunt there.

So what’d I get this time? My 1978 Silver Anniversary is a rare L82, M21 4-speed equipped car. Depending how you calculate the ratios, that makes 1 of about 1,500 so equipped in 1978. Of course, there’s no real documentation of L82+M21 production, but we do know there aren’t many of them out there. Other than the powertrain, the options are what intrigued me most about this car. The sum of the parts was something I’d never seen before. It has some of the more common items including the AM/FM/CB radio, Oyster leather, air conditioning, convenience group, and rear window defogger. The oddest thing to me (and to many who’ve seen the car now) is the standard steering column and manual windows. I’m sure most of you have seen a 1976 or 1977 Corvette with the famous Vega steering wheel, but how many of you have seen one in a Silver Anniversary car? Turns out it’s one of about 9,000 cars (19%) without tilt and telescopic.

For the 22% of buyers who cheaped out and got standard roll up windows in 1978, GM punished you back sticking the crank right through the new-for-1978 door map pockets rendering them useless. Yep, they’re there on the door mocking you, yet you can’t use them for anything more than pencil storage.

I’m owner #4 of this Corvette and it has logged just 40,000 miles since new. The previous owner had owned the car since 1997 and it’s been garage mates with the ZR1 since 2006. Based on some receipts I found, it appears to have travelled a little over 3,000 miles in that time. The car came with a stack of paperwork, 2 sets of T-tops, 2 sets of tires, and more. It had won 3 NCRS Top Flight awards back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, but it was clear it’d seen limited use since then. Since I’m a sucker for unrestored C3 Corvettes, it’s no surprise I ended up bringing it home. Mrs. Detroit Bureau says I have a problem.

Next it was time to figure out what to do with this old girl. Do I let it sit while I play with my new ZR1? Do I fix it up and get it back to its former Top Flight glory? Give it quick spit shine and move it along to the next owner? Well, if you’ve read this far, you know I chose door #2. Shocker, I know.

So, here we go again. Time to get to work and learn about these late C3’s and really see what this one needs to compete on the various judging fields. Stay tuned.

Coming up next, I’ll walk you through some of the ups and downs of what it took me to get my 1978 Corvette up to my standards, and the standards of the various judges. After that you’ll get to ride along as I head to Bloomington Gold, the NCRS Michigan Chapter meet, and wrap things up at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. Plus, who knows where else we’ll pop up along the way.

Finding a New Road
Part 1: Here We Go Again
Part 2: Ready for the Road?
Part 3: Showtime at Bloomington Gold
Part 4: Betting on Benchmark
Part 5: The Michigan NCRS Chapter Meet
Part 6: In Search of Diamonds and Gold at MCACN

Source:
Photos by Steve Burns

Related:
Follow Along as I Campaign a 1972 Corvette Convertible
On the Campaign Trail with a 1972 Corvette: Bloomington Gold Certification (Part 5)
On the Campaign Trail with a 1972 Corvette: Trail’s End? (Part 10)

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