I have had in my charge for the past few months, a riverside red with white interior 1964 convertible. My task was to repair the clock which was accomplished and the owner told me, or more precisely asked me if i wouldn’t mind storing it for him for a while while he sold his house and re-locates…..err, no problem! I even get to take the Vette out for some ‘exercise’ from time to time. The mid year body is a timeless design to be sure and the car has a dual ‘personality’. It is far more enjoyable to cruise around with the top down vs. the top up (windows up or down) truth be told. This is about as bare bones as a Corvette came in 1964, 327 300 horse, two speed powerglide, p/s/,p/b, and 4 wheel drum brakes. Now, the state of the art in 1964 doesn’t hold a candle to today’s high tech high torque computer controlled and highly refined chassis/ body/ interior, but it still is hard to argue with what the car was and still is, just a pure joy to drive around and enjoy period! I know the day is coming soon that I will have to part company with my ‘loaner’ but the times I have had will always be fondly remembered and who knows, there may be more items that require attention.

Starting in 1963 with the all new Corvette Stingray, there were engine RPO choices that started with the “L” designation.  They are for 1963:
L75 a 327 cubic inch producing 300 horse power
L76 a 327 cubi inch producing 340 horse power
and the:
L84 which was the 327 fuelie producing 360 horse power.
This continued in 1964 and 1965 which was the last year fuel injection would be available until 1982 in a production corvette.
In 1965 we saw the addition of two more power plants: the L79 which was the 327 with 350 horse power and the very first big block L78 which gave the Corvette a 396 cubic inch with 425 horse power.  In 1966, we saw three L designated engine choices: the L36 427/390 h.p., the L79 327/350 h.p. and the L72 a 427/430 horsepower engine.  In the last year the ‘L’ designator grew to a total of 6 choices and this was the last year for this body style.  Some consider these Stingrays the epitome of Corvette development and power.  They are certainly great cars to be sure.  The engine choices for 1967 were:
L36=427/390 H.P.
L79=327/350 H.P.
L68=427/435 H.P.
L71=427/435 H.P.
L88=427/430 H.P.
L89=427/435 H.P.
There were 20 L88’s and 16 L89’s produced in 1967.  The L89 was basically the L71 with the addition of aluminum heads.  This last year offered buyers a litany of power teams and horsepower ratings to satisfy anyone’s taste!  The car was most certainly a true muscle car when equipped with the big block engines!  We will cover the ‘L’ designator for subsequent years and series as we go.  I thought it interesting enough to start here with the C-2 series and show how the engine size and power progressed throughout the series’ run.

Circa 1963 Chevrolet set the automotive world on it’s ear with the introduction of the all new Corvette Sting-Ray!!  What was once an evolutionary car from 1953-1962 became a revolutionary car with the totally newly designed Sting-Ray.
Here, the buyer was offered two distinctive body styles; the open air convertible, and the fixed roof coupe (something we would not see again for 38 years when the fixed roof coupe would reappear in 1999 in the C-5 series, of course this morphed into the Z-06).  The convertible is an awesome machine and certainly a blast to drive!  The split window coupe on the other hand (a one year only styling feature) proves timeless in design and today remains one of the all time sought after collectible Corvettes.  This series had the shortest production run and yet it is the epitome of Corvette style and passion!!  Now, what I mean by revolutionary vs. evolutionary is the C-1 series solid axle cars were basically updated year to year whereas the all new for 1963 was a clean sheet of paper and again updated from year to year although the frame and suspension geometry under pinned the entire C-2 and C-3 series (sharks 1968-1982), not too bad an investment in tooling for General Motors eh?  Too bad they can’t repeat this kind of manufacturing today! (Although the C-5/6’s are very close) these cars will always stand the test of time and remain this author’s favorite Corvette series ever produced.  I would never turn down any Corvette, but if I have my choice it would be a 1963 coupe 327 with a 4 speed manual transmission!  Just one of my all time favorite corvettes.

I am writing this piece because i want this blog to include stories of corvettes of all vintages as these machines are the stuff dreams are made of!