[VIDEO] Barn Find 1969 Corvette L88 is Rescued after 45 Years of Storage

“Location, location, location” may sell houses, but “documentation, documentation, documentation” sells cars, especially ones as rare as this barn find 1969 Corvette L88.

The L88 is already a very special Corvette, by virtue of only 116 being built by Chevrolet for the ’69 model year. This car, however, is even further distinguished by the fact that it is one of only 16 L88s to be fitted with an automatic transmission.

What makes this particular car so interesting, besides its optional engine, is Kevin, the fellow who has owned it since 1971. He relates the story of how he came to own one of the most valuable Corvettes ever, during a 30-minute video. Based on the interview, he’s obviously one of the foremost experts on the L88, with tons of rare internal documents obtained over the years from former Chevy employees. He even visited Zora Arkus-Duntov, and one of his documents is even helping the NCRS make changes.

The L88, of course, was a 427/430 horsepower monster that was sometimes hard to deal with on a regular basis. Indeed, the person who owned it in 1971 had bought it for his wife, who hated it because sometimes after having to pump, pump, pump the accelerator to get it to crank, flames would backfire across the hood because they had the wrong air cleaner element in it and the light would scare her baby in the front seat!

Now, though, after parking the car in the late 1970s, getting ready for a restoration that never arrived, Kevin has decided to part with the car after 52 years, with the good folks at Horsepower Depot the lucky recipients, not surprising since they’ve made several L88 replicas over the years.

This one won’t be a replica, though, and they plan to treat this super-rare Stingray to a full-blown rotisserie restoration. By the way, the current owner is also including boxes and boxes of old parts off the car, hard-to-find things like the original starter and the bolts for the intake manifold.

It’s a long video, but we highly recommend watching the whole thing, if for no other reason than to listen to an intelligent expert who knows the L88 perhaps better than anyone alive.

Source:
Horsepower Depot / YouTube via AutoEvolution.com

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