I had just attended the Woodstock Revival Celebration and was feeling peaceful and jolly in San Francisco.  As I sat on the platform waiting for the train I scrolled through the local cars for sale ads.  The ad for the corvette came up and so did the hair on the back of my neck.  I knew the race was on and I knew this would be a call to arms.  You can't get a cheap '68 vette these days and even though the listing was two hours old I knew this was no laughing matter.  I immediately called, set up an appointment, and raced home.  After showering and counting cash I breathlessly raced over to the location.  The girl who owned the car had had her father list the car for sale.  When I showed up at the residence, dusk had long passed.  I have a real thing against buying cars at night, but this would be the exception.  The girl was very nice and polite.  Her mother had shown me the car as we waited for the girl to return home from her waitressing job.  The dad had held all the car hawks at bay by stating she was unavailable, but I had wormed the address of the corvette out of him and was the first to show up on the scene. 

When I arrived the mom was very kind and let me look over the car for a half hour.  I was very nervous that other potential buyers were going to show. I did my best to mask this fear.  When the daughter arrived she jacked up the price 40%.  I was taken aback.  Turns out the father, who was the mother's ex-husband, had spitefully listed the vette at its ridiculously low price.  What blew me away was that the photos they took still showed the car with its morning coat of dew.  This gave off a look that the vette was half primered/half painted.  When I arrived it actually had a wonderful coat of white paint.  I quickly asked the girl to meet me halfway because of the miscommunication in the advertisement.  She agreed and I took home one of the best purchases in my life. 

The vette had undergone an amazing cosmetic and mechanical restoration.  The motor had been painstakingly rebuilt and broken in.  The exhaust was brand new stainless from front to back with new mufflers to boot.  The chrome had been redone all around the vette. The tires were in excellent shape, as were the brakes.  The vette rolled easily onto the street, onto the back of a flatbed, and into my garage.  I was ecstatic. The chrome shines like a mirror. Speaking of mirrors, there was an extra set of mirrored t-tops that came with the deal.  Now onto the heartbreaker.  

The mom had gotten the vette in '83 and driven it all around town in her youth.  The mom and dad had gotten a divorce and found an amicable agreement to give the vette to the daughter.  The daughter was a beautiful, responsible young lady in a relationship with a handsome, young man.  The dad had been restoring the vette in a symbol of his love for his daughter.  Vette's are made out of fiberglass. Everything electrical in a vette has a ground wire.  Poor old dad had fastidiously and meticulously restored the car inside and out.  He had just broken in the engine when a catastrophic incident occurred.  One of the ground wires had been crossed and slowly melted the interior wiring harness.  Such a downer after being so close to returning the vette to its full glory.  The vette sat dormant for 12 years until I took over ownership.  My heart really goes out to the family to give up on the vette under such awful circumstances.  I placed a picture of the harness for you to examine.  I refer to the harness as, "the culprit." 

The vette will need an experienced mechanic to replace the wiring harness and an experienced interior expert to replace the interior.  I'm not saying that it can't be done by the individual who purchases the vette because this is not rocket science even though the vette looks like a rocket ship. This is a beautiful car that is 80% restored.  Yes, it's going to take some product sourcing and some hair pulling outing.  You will not fix this vette overnight.  Over this winter however, you could complete this task. The previous owners stated it is the original motor.  I have not run the motor.  I will run the motor and update the ad. If this project seems to be over your head, I have placed a picture of a project that I can turn you onto.  Please feel free to ask any questions.  We reserve the right to end the auction early.  This is a very nice project. Thank you for your time in reading and viewing our ad.

Door Tag: Chevy J20 Trim 411 paint 976

Update: CarMark came over today with a hot battery, new set of points and condensor, and some jumper wires.  With a little bit a high octane fuel, the Vette fired right up.  It sounds dynamite with the stainless steel two and half inch exhaust and flowmaster mufflers.  The thing ran rock solid in between the motor mounts, never misfired, smoked, grunted, or groaned.  Fresh rebuild here on the engine folks.  That must have cost a pretty penny and it will save some dough on shipping now that it's a confirmed runner.