I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!!!

I should say that my previous comments about build quality is purely my own opinion based on previous experience with those cars, and that was mostly in the 80's and 90's. If today's Vettes are built better (and the horsepower and speeds they are turning out today with modern technology would indicate they are) then that can only be a good thing.

A story of interest, when I lived in Phoenix, AZ in the 90's, a friend of mine worked at the GM Proving Grounds in Mesa. They decided to hold an open house, open to the family and friends of the employees so my friend invited myself and a few others out to the show. It was really kind of interesting to see the different things they had going on, but 3 things have really stuck with me thru the years. First was a ride on the test track. Now this wasn't a hi speed run around a race track, this is a course where different portions of the track are built in different ways to simulate different road conditions thru out the country to test suspension reactions and durability. Think of some of the worse roads you've been on and they have a segment of that track that copies it.

Also interesting was the skidpad demonstration. Sort of like a stunt team show. They displayed different types of driving techniques and some of the ways they test their vehicles. Such as the transmission test in a 454 SS pick up. They parked the truck in front of the grand stands and just stood on the throttle. Then with the tires smoking, they shifted back and forth from drive to reverse without ever lifting off the throttle. Gotta love it!

As this was 1990 and ABS was still a relatively new technology, one of the skidpad demonstrations was showing how well ABS works in adverse conditions. First they showed how well the cars (Corvettes for this demonstration) stopped on dry pavement with and without ABS, with good and bad tires. Then they hosed down the skidpad and did it again. The car with bad tires and no ABS slid right off the end of the pad, obviously the best was the car with good tires and ABS.

The best display of all though was a test mile they had, an 87 Vette I think it was, that had a 454 big block with a tunnel ram topped off by the plenum of the Tuned Port Injection manifold. They called it a Tunnel Port Injection. Would have been cool to see that one released.

 

Back in 1982 or so I was at a buddys house and he said he had something to show me in his garage. In the garage was a 1969 Corvette. Total stock, mint condition, 30,000 miles on the odo, Sitting on the floor was the 427 engine in a couple of hundred parts. I have never known him to actually drive the car again. I would not be surprised if it was still in pieces in his garage.....

 

Worked at another shop in the late 80's, the owner of the shop had bought an early 70's Vette for $2000 at a repo auction. I don't remember the exact year of the car, but I know it had a non original 74 nose barely sitting on it. When it came into the shop on the back of a rollback, the fenders were flapping in the wind, it only had a couple bolts actually holding it on, cracks in the fiberglass from the corners of the hood opening, the carb wasn't even bolted on the 427 big block. Got all the mechanicals fixed up, bolted the front clip on properly, did the fiberglass repairs and a cheap inshop paint job the boss did himself and he had a killer car. The back end of the car was actually jacked up a couple inches because the engine had so much torque that when you put it in gear it squatted down to normal height.

Fun times back then. Miss the good old days.

 

Right, the big block cars pretty much ruled the drag strips. You just couldn't beat the asphalt shredding torque of those monsters. But the extra heavy weight just didn't fair well on the road courses, making the cars too nose heavy and throwing off the balance.

Personally, I love the big blocks...NO REPLACEMENT FOR DISPLACEMENT!!!!!

 

I worked at a Chevy dealer in the mid 70's. Had a new lube guy lift up a new 75 vette up into the air and it promptly slid off to one side and over the hoist. We delivered the owner his new Vette to him when he came in to pick his up.