re: Up For Auction Ex-James Garner/AIR 1968 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Race Car

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Hey, it was in the body/paint shop for 3 weeks this spring. Had an electric security gate close on the passenger side door. Two 3' scrapes across it. Luckily, it only got to the primer, no skin damage. Painter had pure hell matching it. He ended up calling in a buddy from out of town and they finally got a perfect match. The facility owners paid for the work. I have had it out and about since then. No issues since.

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oh man, that sucks. It’s never fun trying to match paint, especially if it’s an older paint job.

I did briefly, and mean very briefly. I got her all buttoned up, made her appointment to get it aligned, took her out for a shakedown run and stalled on me....immediately thought fuel. Car sat for about five years, moved around, but not driven, just moved around paint booth. I also have a small electrical issue where is staying hot after I turn off the ignition so I’m just going to bite the bullet and have the shop look at both. I changed the fuel filter, comes up to pressure, but will not maintain. So likely fuel pump..

Earliest available window is early July, I hate having to pay someone when I know I could figure it out, but I’m just going to pay the piper this time. I’m ready to drive her.

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Gaps? St Louis Factory: Does the door close? Yes. Does it lock and unlock? Yes. Send it down the line, there's more coming behind it!

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100% spot on

He did the “J turns” himself.

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The year the Corvette started going down

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68-72 are still sought after. Many will agree styling/ performance took a nose dive around 75/76 during the fuel crunch.

69 was the pinnacle of different powertrain options.

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L88

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That's the one you want.

Yep

Steve gets a lot of credit for finishing second at Sebring, but Peter Revson drove the vast majority of that race.
Not knocking McQueen, as he was a solid driver, but Mario Andretti acknowledged that Revson drove a hell of a race.

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Can you imagine any manufacturer offering eight engines on any single platform today?

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A flavor for every palate....

The cost today to offer that would be insane.

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Can you imagine any manufacturer offering eight engines on any single platform today?

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Most I can think of now is 6. And that’s full sized domestic GM trucks. And arguably the 3 gas V8s are all the same engine with a different stroke…

So really it’s 4.

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HP/ RPO

Small Block
300 Base Motor
350 L46 Q-Jet Carb
370 LT1 * solid lifter, Holley Carb

Big Block
390 L36 Q-Jet Carb
400 L68 Holley TriPower Carbs, hyd lifter
430** L88 Aluminum cylinder heads Single Holley Carb
430** ZL1 Aluminum cylinder heads & block, Single Holley Carb
435 L71 Holley TriPower Carbs, solid lifter
435 L71/L89 Same as L71 but with aluminum cylinder head option


*LT1 was offered but was held back to the next year. None were delivered from the factory.

** As advertised, but was closer to 550.

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This is so effing cool. If I recall correctly, the small block and big block engine families all shared a common architecture with different heads, cams, carbs, and even bore/stroke depending on the application. They were in almost every vehicle GM sold, and the volume justified all those different varients.

The customers were lucky back then to have so many V8 options.

Then we went into the 1980s and 1990s with 3800 V6s, 3.1L, 3.4L, 4.3L, Quad 4s, crappy Ecotec 4 bangers, and their full suite of V8 engines + newer diesels .....all paired up to several transmission options each. It got too complex and too diverse to be competitive with all of them. If you stuck to the 3800 or the small block, you got a decent vehicle. The others were more risky.

We are headed to a point where V8 engines are being regulated out of existance. I'm glad GM is sticking to them at least for one more generation.

Eventually when we move to EVs, companies will offer just one "motor" option with the customers choosing between single, dual or triple motored cars. In a way that scalability is probably why GM has invested so much into EV's. It's a return to a time when a single chassis and propulsion setup could be in nearly every vehicle they produce in some way.