Since Monday the 4th was Star Wars Day, I decided to tie in a car to that amazing movie franchise. You may be wondering, looking at the above photo, how the Corvette ties into “Star Wars” and the answer is “Corvette Summer.” This was the film Mark Hamill (aka Luke Skywalker) made after “Star Wars,” and it featured a heavily customized version of our Pick of the Day. This 1977 Chevrolet Corvette is listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a dealer in Davie, Florida.
Unlike the heap the kids in “Corvette Summer” get in their auto shop class, this specific example is a bit more special: an all-original 1977 L82 Corvette. It has covered a total of 21,000 miles and is a one-owner car from new. It is painted in its original Corvette Tan over a Buckskin Leather interior. Again, this is an original car with some wear but is still a bit of a time capsule.
The exterior looks to be in great shape, with good body gaps and no evidence of any damage over the years. The paint looks a bit faded but still in remarkably good shape. The car is riding on correct Rally wheels clad with BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires.
This C3 is well-equipped with four-speed manual gearbox. factory air conditioning, power windows, deluxe interior with leather seats, tilt/tele steering column, and AM/FM radio.
The interior looks to be as original as the exterior, with the leather, door cards, and dash all in good shape. It you had a detailer do a complete job on this car, I know it would go up another level as everything in the interior looks to be in nice condition — just very dirty. This is a car worth spending the money to get it clean.
Under the hood is the factory L82 V-8 that I can only assume is a matching-numbers example based on the photos provided and the overall consistency of how it looks. Again, a detail would really make this car shine. All I would replace would be the underhood insulation pad as it looks pretty beat.
The underside is the same story: in nice shape but dirty, with a small amount of surface rust though nothing that looks at all serious. Cleaned up, this car would be a pretty amazing time capsule and a very inexpensive way to get into a classic-era Corvette with the most desirable drive train available at the time. The seller does state that it has received a new radiator, rebuilt brakes, and a new power steering reservoir.
I personally would love to see someone buy this car and make it as good as can be without painting or restoring it. It likely needs suspension bushings and such, but if a person were to do this and get that all- important professional detailing, this is the kind of car that would be almost unrecognizable from the car he or she bought. Sure, that will require a bit of extra money, but money spent that will only add to the car’s value.
Finding any single-owner 1970s Corvette with very low miles that somehow escaped being messed with is getting harder to do. I am also betting that this ‘Vette has a lot of documentation from the original owner, as the seller shows the original warranty card from when it was new. This 1977 Chevrolet Corvette, with an asking price of $15,990, represents a truly great buy in today’s collector car market.
Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com
