1970's era Corvettes are getting the attention they are due....

I owned a 1975 Corvette and started a restoration before deciding to sell it for my Navy Jeep....The Vette was cool but the JEEP was more my style. My best friend has a 1975 Corvette that is his pride & joy....glad to see they are being recognized as collectable. The iconic shark-nose Vette evokes many memories of the hey-dey of horsepower in the 1970s.


That 70s Car: Are Disco-Era Corvettes Ascending?
WALl STREET JOURNAL
By Jonathan Welsh

When I was teenager about to start high school and already aching for a driver’s license, Corvettes from the 1950s and 1960s were already considered classics collectors were snapping them up. But at the time — around 1980 – it seemed like late-model ‘Vettes would never be worth anything on the collector market.

Their weak engines and cheesy looks just didn’t seem like show-stopping material. For decades hence experts have suggested that early Corvettes will gain value even faster because the later cars couldn’t possibly become collectible. Of course they were wrong.

Those of us who coveted the “Coke-bottle” shaped sports cars when we were in grade school in the 1970s are hitting middle age. And some who are looking for a fun “hobby car” for weekend cruising or as the cornerstone of a collection aren’t buying a ’57 Chevy or a chopped American Graffiti-style hot rod. We’re looking for the cars that were hot when we were kids.

Never mind that the Corvette had been emasculated by pollution controls and the auto industry’s almost universal malaise. It was still fast and cool to kids who depended on bicycles for getting around. Besides, it was all we had.

I spotted this silver sweetheart in a July 4 parade today, and what critics called tacky decades ago now looks smooth and uncluttered. Do I dare say “elegant?” This appears to be a 1978 model. The ’79s looked the same but you almost never see them without the rear spoiler that appeared as an option that year. The bubble rear window was new for 1978 and did wonders for the car’s aesthetics. My favorite feature from this era are the ‘Vette’s lovely deep-dish alloy wheels.

While prices aren’t exactly through the roof for these models, they are climbing. A really nice one can cost $20,000 if it has the L82 engine upgrade, or a couple thousand less for a base version. The ’78 Pace Car edition is closer to $30,000. That’s serious money for cars that not too long ago languished next to Buick Centuries, Ford LTDs and other clunkers on used-car lots.