This highly original 1979 Corvette L-82/4-speed T-Roof Corvette was sold by Dan Spendick’s Collector Car Productions at the Toronto Fall International Classic Car Auction on Saturday, November 2, 2013. I handled this very fine example for a good friend and was mortified when it sold for just $9,500. It was a really good, unrestored, great-performing car. Seemed to come alive at 70 MPH when I was blessed to take it for an extended test drive. Yes, the Chocolate Brown Metallic paint is not to everyone’s taste, but I’ll take an unmolested, highly original car in a relatively poor (but original) color over a restored or repainted car any day of the week!
Here’s my description and first-hand impressions of this special car. Oh, and if you think a 220-HP, 4-speed car is nothing special, it hauled ass! Plenty of power to get into all kinds of trouble.
While Corvette enjoyed record sales levels for 1979, this example is quite rare by virtue of its many highly desirable options. It was special-ordered new by the original owner to his specifications at Aylmer, Ontario’s Hutchinson Motors Ltd., the Chevy dealer I haunted daily while attending East Elgin Secondary School in the fall of 1980.
Finished in a rich and distinctive Corvette Dark Brown with Corvette Light Beige cloth and leather upholstery with the seat inserts in a distinctive hobnail pattern, the Corvette features a very nice, well-maintained and mostly original paint finish with careful touch-ups. The car continues to present very well overall.
Unlike most of the Corvettes built for 1979, this example was equipped with a number of very desirable factory high-performance options including the 225-horsepower, 350 cubic-inch RPO L82 V-8 engine, a close-ratio 4-speed manual transmission, and RPO FE7 Gymkhana suspension. With this powertrain, the Corvette was the fastest production car in North America for 1979, rivaled only by small numbers (1,817) of the Pontiac 400 (T/A 6.6) Trans Am built for that model year.
The Corvette was offered complete with the original owner’s manual and the car was appraised. It also included an original 1979 Corvette dealer brochure with the
As offered, the car was clean, well-maintained (by a skilled mechanic), drivable, and highly attractive throughout. The car started, ran, drove, and handled very well, with very flat cornering and responsive steering and braking. Acceleration was strong and the car really only came into its element at speeds of 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) and more. High-speed cruising was its forte, making the car an excellent Grand Touring machine. Braking was very good as well. Keep in mind that the C3 Corvette is a much different car from today’s versions: it is carbureted, and the ride is stiff. The 4-speed manual transmission is controlled by a mechanical shifter. Corvettes of this vintage are not dumbed-down, fully power-assisted pillows on wheels!
So, if you are looking for a fun, fast and quick, old-style sports car with V-8 punch, classic good looks, and strong performance, one that requires the driver to actually participate in the experience, this is definitely a car to consider. Everywhere I went with it to take photos and test it, the car never failed to get admiring glances and thumbs up – even on a dreary, cloudy Monday afternoon, no less! People stop and look at you when you pass by – when you stop somewhere, people come up and strike up a friendly conversation. It brings smiles to the driver and their lucky passenger too! Almost completely original, unmolested, and very nice and honest in presentation, this L82/4-speed 1979 Corvette will make a great classic sports-car choice. Pricing is low and will likely remain at current levels for the foreseeable future.
