[VIDEO] Dennis Collins Brings Home an Abandoned 1971 Corvette with an LS5 454 ci V8

Apr 6, 2025

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[VIDEO] Dennis Collins Brings Home an Abandoned 1971 Corvette with an LS5 454 ci V8

Dennis Collins of Coffee Walk fame brings us a loaded 1971 Corvette in his latest episode on YouTube.

Unfortunately, unlike previous episodes, we don’t get a chance to see the car resting in its long-time bed because the seller for undisclosed reasons wouldn’t allow Dennis to film at the barn where it had been sitting neglected for more than a decade.

We do get to see a single photo the family was willing to share, showing the “winking” one-eyed Stingray in the barn, but that’s as close as we ever get to seeing it in Franklin, Texas.

Fortunately, the rest of the purchase went down without a hitch, and Dennis and his crew eventually verified that they made a great purchase of an LS5 454/365 horsepower 1971 Corvette. They were told that the original buyer had checked every option box but one, and sure enough, it seems to be heavily outfitted with power windows, power brakes, power steering, AM/FM radio, air conditioning, and automatic transmission – but surprisingly no tilt-tele steering column. (Maybe they were on restraint.)

Based on photos, Dennis was hopeful that the dust they saw coating the Stingray would just wash right off, but no such luck as it took a combination of Alex’s “Mystery Stuff” and Dennis’ Spray Nine cleaner to reveal that it’ll indeed need a brand new paint job, no amount of buffing out will help.

While it had been repainted white at some point over the past 54 years, the car started out with War Bonnet Yellow (gold) paint, but the original black vinyl interior is still in place, according to the trim tags.

As for that LS5 engine, a check of the VIN by Dennis and Alex confirmed that it’s the original powerplant, and further investigation found that the motor still turned over and eventually they got it to crank up with the right spray into the carburetor.

Not bad considering the family says the last time it had been driven was to the tire store to get a new set of rubber. Dennis finds the receipt, and sure enough, the car had been sitting for 14 years “and it looks like it,” he points out.

But at least another Corvette, and a very important one at that, has been rescued by Dennis and his team. Will you be the one now to take it back to its original glory?