66 Garage Find

[Jim H.]

After years of chasing midyear 427 Corvettes of all kinds in mainstream circles at considerable time and expense, one week after selling my 66 L79 coupe (and regretting it) a friend mentioned an elderly gentlemen's long term owned "old Corvette" in his garage ten miles from me in Los Angeles. Hadn't been started in 5 years and he'd barely driven it in his 30 years of ownership. After five years of her asking him if it was for sale and being rebuffed, she said he had finally admitted he might sell it. Got his name and number, called him, and went to see the car. Expected I was wasting my time. Turns out it was an original October 12, 1965 early 66 427/390 4 speed convertible w/45,000 original miles. It had a '74 396 installed but otherwise was original and in good condition except for the usual Pep Boys fungible parts installed in the engine bay. I coughed up his "firm price" of $25K and flat bedded her out of there before he came to his senses. Six months later she's almost done and I've got a line on an original 427 installed the day after mine. Morale of the story: mine your network and, if you're patient, the right car will come to you... or at least I'd like to think so. IMG_3163.jpgIMG_3189.jpg

[Ara G.]

Re: 66 Garage Find

That's AWESOME. Gorgeous car. I love hearing stories like this...Good luck with it...and enjoy the heck out of it....ARA

[Leif A.]

Re: 66 Garage Find

What a great story and a great find!! Agree with you completely about being patient when looking for the right car. Took me almost 20 years to find my '67 Coupe in the color combo and with the options that I wanted. Truly worth the wait...now, go drive her!!

[Jim H.]

Re: 66 Garage Find

Ara, thanks for the compliment. Leif, you are truly a patient man to search 20 years. Must be a very special car. It's feast or famine. My son mentioned a couple of days ago a '63 SW 4-speed coupe languishing under a cover at curbside a block from his college. He spoke to the owner sitting on his porch and we're going to see the car today or tomorrow. Appears to be NM and fairly original. Maybe lightning does strike twice.

[Leif A.]

Re: 66 Garage Find

That would be a fabulous find, Jim, and certainly very worthy of a restoration. Just as an FYI, my '67 Coupe is Ermine White (972) w/Std Black Vinyl, L79 350hp, M21 4-spd close ratio, J50 Vacuum Power Brakes, A31 Power Windows, N40 Power Steering, C60 4 Season Air Cond, N14 Side Dual Exhaust, A01 Tinted Glass, U69 AM/FM Radio, Q81 Red Stripe Tires...all documented with tank sticker and Window sticker. Now you can see why it took 20 years to find it, but again, definitely worth the wait and she had just come out of a 4 year body off frame restoration.

[Jim H.]

Re: 66 Garage Find

Wanted to complete this thread w/an update on my search for a correct engine for my white 66 427 vin 2901. On an interim basis I replaced the NOM 396 w/a 289 72 Corvette 454 block bored and stroked to 496 and dyno'd at 500 hp/600 ft lbs at the crank. It's my favorite BB engine and has been garage art on a stand next to the freshly orphan 66 327 L79 I've got listed on the C2 orphans board. Talk about a fun engine! Bags of torque off idle and hp for the top end. But it wasn't correct for my '66. Couple of months later, thanks to the orphans board, I discovered the owner of the original 427/390 engine vin 3104 built October 13, 1965 the day after mine and acquired the engine. 3104 (a coupe) went to Australia via Ebay a few years ago and my attempts to locate the owner downunder reached a dead end. Rebuilt the engine and it's going in my '66 NCRS spec as we speak. Not the original engine but correct, including the engine pad per Al Grenning, except for the vin derivative.

[Leif A.]

Re: 66 Garage Find

Way to go, Jim. Enjoy the July 4th holiday...and you car

[Paul H.]

Re: 66 Garage Find

Nice find. Great looking big block for that kind of money. Enjoy it.