For Sale: 1973 Chevrolet Corvette in Morgantown, Pennsylvania

1973 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe

A long relationship exists between NASA's astronauts and the Chevy Corvette. In 1960, Jim Rathmann - owner of the nearby Chevrolet dealership and winner of the Indianapolis 500, convinced General Motors to give the Mercury 7 astronauts brand new Corvettes for publicity and advertising benefits. Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom were known for racing their Corvettes on Florida's Space Coast highways near Cape Canaveral. Space-race pilot Chuck Yeager drove the Corvette pace car for the 1986 Indianapolis 500.

Let's go backward in time to 1973 and put ourselves into this 1973 Chevrolet Corvette with a "T" style top, and the last year a Corvette would have chrome bumpers (although only on the back of the car) and stainless rocker trim piece. Deep dish wheels, and that long hood, and small cockpit and rear deck, create the sports car America refers to as the Corvette.

Exterior
Elkhart Green Metallic bathes this fiberglass bodied car. Hidden headlights within its shark nosed grille, the upward curved bumps for the front quarters, and the flying buttress rear "B" pillars that frame the vertical rear window are just a few of the highlights from this year. Other features are the front quarter vents right behind the wheel wells, and that shiny rocker trim going with the flow of the side panels. On back are the quad of round taillights, and dual exhaust ports in rectangle form within the rear lower panel. A removable "T" top is nicely fitting with no signs of leakage and sports a bag to put each panel in when you want the open air. The Stingray name is back and based on the shape it could be one gently flapping its outer wings, gracefully swimming along near the bottom of the ocean. 15-inch rally style wheels with deep dish chrome trim rings are on all 4 corners.

Interior
Medium saddle (tan if you will) buckets in high back form create the simple bucket seats for driver and passenger. A textured insert and smooth bolster are noted in their construction. A tan center console races past these buckets and goes forward to the upsweeping dash middle. In the console, is a glovebox, and the chrome lever and knob shift lever and temp. and fan rolling wheel controls. On the upsweep is a cluster of 5 essential gauges, and the AM/FM radio. The wiper switch is on top, and A/C vents are here too. This dash front sweeps upward at an angle, and in front of the driver utilizes dual circular deep inset gauges with a speedo and a tachometer. The original steering wheel is fronting these gauges. Gold carpet and carpeted floor mats floods the passenger floors and the rear storage area. This carpet is all clean and in non-faded condition. As noted, the "T" top panels are solid with interior matching covers, and exterior matching tops.

Drivetrain
Under the front flipping hood is a 350 CI V8 L48. It has a beautifully orange/red painted numbers matching Chevrolet block, and valve covers. All surfaces are nice and shiny no corrosion, and nicely preserved. A Quadra Jet 4-barrel carb is on top, and on back is a numbers matching Muncie M20 4-speed transmission. Way back is a 3.36 posi rear axle.

Undercarriage
Much like showroom, no dirt or rust, all straight steel looking great. C3 Corvette suspension is all around, and disc brakes are on all wheels. Dual exhaust in very good condition snakes its way rearward.

Drive-Ability
This car started right up, and it was off to the test track. Here it performed very well, with good acceleration, smooth manual shifting, and nice power from the 350 cubes. All functions save for the wipers were working flawlessly.

This color and paint just make this car, along with the sculptural body lines, and it's nice to still see the chrome bumpers on the back. A very fine line can be seen on the passenger's side just below the belt line which may denote some earlier repair to the fiberglass. The interior is very nice as are the removable "T" top panels. True to 1973 a powerful and visual example from this era of the C3 Corvette.

VIN DECODE
1Z37J3S414122
1-Chevrolet
Z-Corvette
37-Coupe
J-350ci V8 L48
3-1973
S-St. Louis, MO Assy Plant
414122-Sequential Unit Number

TRIM TAG
G06-February 6th Build Date
TRIM 415-Medium Saddle Vinyl
PAINT 947-Elkhart Green Metallic

Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special interest automobile showroom, featuring over 600 vehicles for sale with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle barn find collection is on display.
This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.