Chevrolet: Corvette L-71

Listed for sale is my 1969 L-71 C3 Corvette with 427 / 435 HP Tri-power!!

This car has quite the storied history!!

The original owner of this '69 L-71 427 / 435 HP automatic. /strong> Robert. lived in Spokane. Washington.

He had a '65 Corvette 4 speed with a 396. but in an industrial accident @ work he lost his right arm. so he ordered a '69 L-71 427 / 435 HP Corvette from Camp Chevrolet in Spokane with an automatic transmission so he didn't have to shift gears!!

He was so anxious to get the car that he flew to the factory in St. Louis to take delivery. picked up the car & drove it home. Apparently not 30 miles out of St. Louis. his first race with the car was outrunning a 428 Cobra Jet!!

Shortly after getting it home he removed the stock wheels & put a set of custom rims on the car. There is a picture attached that I acquired from Bill showing the car in '69 with these rims.

Robert kept the car for 4 years & then sold it in '73 to Fred. also from Spokane. Fred drove the car thru the mountains on his honeymoon!

Fred sold the car two years later to a lady in Spokane in the spring of '75. nbsp;but she found the car had too much power for her. so in late '75 she put the car up for sale.

Fortunately Robert's younger brother Bill saw the car was for sale & he bought it from her in September ‘75. with Bill becoming the 4th owner.

Bill put a Baldwin Motion paint job on the car later that fall & in mid '76 while driving the car. he lost control. went off the road & hit a sign post. doing some minor right front body & frame damage.

He had a friend who owned a '69 350 HP convertible. so he took the engine. transmission & rear end out of the L-71 & put it into the convertible.

His plan was to eventually fix the front end of the L-71 coupe & then replace the drive train that had been moved to the convertible.

Before he could start work on the coupe. the convertible backfired & caught on fire & then there was no car to drive. so both cars were parked!!

Time went by & in 1990 Bill decided it was time to get the L-71 back on the road. so he disassembled the L-71 & started sending parts to be re-chromed & anodized. but quickly ran out of money & stopped! In '92 he decided to sell the "cars". as the engine. transmission & rear end out of the L-71 were still in the convertible!

A car collector. Hans. in Tulsa. Oklahoma had a '69 L-71 4 speed Corvette coupe & wanted a '69 L-71 automatic coupe to add to his collection.

A good friend of Hans. Roy. was the National Judging Chairman for NCRS @ the time & Hans asked Roy to find a numbers matching L-71 automatic for him! (In fact if you watched the Barrett Jackson Scottsdale Auction last month. you may have seen Roy introducing the '54. '55 & '56 serial #001 cars that sold as a package for almost $2M) Roy found the '69 rare automatic L-71. travelled to Spokane. bought both cars from Bill & shipped both cars back to Tulsa.

From '92 until 2000 Hans acquired many NOS parts for the L-71. such that when I acquired & Imported the two cars into Canada. there was also six crates of parts!

So why did Hans sell the cars; well he didn't!!

Unfortunately in 2000 Hans passed away & his wife sold off his entire car collection. She he asked Roy. a well known Corvette expert & the gentleman who had originally found & acquired the cars for Hans. nbsp;to sell his Corvette collection.

If you watched the 2014 Barrett Jackson Scottsdale Auction. nbsp;Roy. nbsp;who had bought a few of the Corvettes from Han's collection. sold two of the highest dollar Corvettes @ the 2014 BJ Auction & both of these cars came from Han's Corvette collection!!

I found the cars for sale in the Hemming's publication.

After purchasing the cars. I travelled to Tulsa & had the two cars & six crates of parts shipped to a renowned. ultra-meticulous. Corvette restorer in Delta (Vancouver). British Columbia. Canada.

The restoration process took four years. as every last nut. bolt. screw. hose. clamp. etc. has been re-built. re-painted. re-plated & or replaced with NOS or GM authorized re-production parts. So in addition to all the major driveline components. all of the nuts. bolts. screws are NCRS correct! Pictures were taken during the restoration process by both the restorer & me when I would visit to check on the progress. so there are literally hundreds & hundreds of pictures available covering all phases of the restoration process!

Since the original frame was in such great shape (see picture). nbsp;to "properly" fix the minor frame damage on the right front corner. a period correct donor frame was purchased from a Corvette that had been damaged on the left / driver's side & the short 2' long horn was removed from the right front of the donor frame & attached to the L-71 frame on the front right & then the frame was checked & insured to be laser straight. This alone was a $3k repair!!

After the repair. the frame was acid dipped to strip the minor surface rust & all remaining factory paint. neutralized. phosphate coated & then epoxy powder coated. plus the inside of the frame rails were sprayed with bees wax. so the frame will never need to be done again!!

All brake lines & fuel lines were replaced with stainless steel. so these also will never need to be replaced again.

The body was blasted to bare glass using fine crushed walnut shells. which reduces friction. heat & damage to the fiberglass & then there was over 1. 00 hours of body panel fit & alignment. fiberglass body work & paint to make it perfect!! All bondo that had been on the car from prior repairs was removed & all repairs to the fiberglass were done properly & professionally with fiberglass. not bondo!

The interior is also totally restored & perfect. primarily with the original & NOS parts.

It was exactly 30 years from when Bill damaged & parked the car until the 4 year restoration process was complete & the car was ready to be shown.

The car has had its own Frontline Display @ the Autorama World of Wheels Show. winning several awards.  It has also been Concours judged several times since then. scoring a perfect 200 & has won awards for Concours De-Elegance.

This was a no expense spared restoration. and I have receipts for well over $200k.

The car has had very few miles put on it since the restoration process was completed & most are from driving it from its perch on a car stacker in a heated garage to local Corvette / car shows & to the Corvette shop for regular oil changes. It has also been started & moved up & down the driveway on a monthly basis to keep all seals lubricated & functional.

There are two sets of rims & tires that come with the car as can be seen in the various pictures. One is a set of Radial TA's for moving the car & the other set which has been strictly for "Show". is a Reproduction set of Bias Ply. The Show wheels / tires have never turned an inch on the car; just lift. replace & set down for show! The spare is an original Bias Ply tire.

This L-71 with automatic transmission is ultra rare. Only 2. 22 1969 Corvettes were built with the 427 / 435 HP option & less than 120 of these were originally produced with the Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. Only a handful of these Number Matching cars are known to still exist! To add to the rareness of this car. it also has side exhaust. TI ignition & F41 Special Purpose Suspension.

You will not find one better. especially @ this price!