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This 1969 Corvette Stingray 427 - 6 pac was purchased new for $4850, ah the good ole days. The original color was Daytona yellow, a more pastel color than shown here. I repainted it in the early 80's to the 76 Corvette yellow color. The attempt here was to emulate the older "flames" style, but in a more modern rendition. The front end shows as white in many photos, but is actually just a lighter shade of yellow, which gradually shades to a darker yellow to the rear. The paint is lacquer with two coats of clear. The beast has a 4 speed, close ratio transmission and 427 engine with factory standard 6 barrel carburetor. |
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The close ratio transmission was chosen to give a compromise between performance and reasonable fuel consumption. With standard street tires, time for 0 to 60 is 4.8 seconds. Quarter mile takes 12.6 seconds at 98 mph. Top speed??? I have no idea. It accelerates strongly well past the 150 mph range, and at that speed is extremely stable and holds the road like an "Indy" race car. |
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The Vette was ordered with a heavy duty suspension. I have added a fresh air duct for the engine and optional use side exhaust, all removable in about 1/2 hour to be back to factory specs. I understand that this version will go up to 180 mph but of course that would be with special high-speed tires. Other versions of engine, transmission, and rear end ratios were reported to cruise at 220 mph. At 70 mph, it averages 16.5 mph, but it is a mite difficult to get the 102 octane fuel it was designed to use these days. Tests were done at a safe site. |
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Montana has long been known as the state with no speed limit. A limit of 55 was in place for some time. When this limit was removed, the next full year, highway fatalities dropped. Recently, a new limit of 75 was adopted, and the next full year, the fatality rate went up 15%, the highest in the previous 16 years. Of course, statistically, this means little, but you can bet if the numbers were reversed, those who pressed for the limit would be screaming in our ears about how correct they were. |
