Vehicle Description
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.