Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

1973 was the year America briefly lost track of what it wanted. The oil price rocketed, Washington started tinkering with bumper regulations, and the good honest citizen suddenly began asking awkward questions about his thirsty V8. And it was precisely in that year, right in the middle of the storm, that this Corvette Stingray rolled off the line. A car that stood squarely against the spirit of the age: eight cylinders, a block so big you could brew your coffee on it, and an attitude that treated the crisis as something for people with smaller engines.

And let's be honest: for the Corvette enthusiast, 1973 is no random year. It's the transitional year. Up front, the Stingray gained that plastic nose for the first time, the modern face that replaced the chrome trim. But round the back everything still gleamed the old-fashioned way, with chrome bumpers just as they ought to be.

A single model year in which old and new shook hands. Whoever owns a 1973 owns a car that exists in no other build year. Just try mentioning that at a club meet; within two minutes you'll be the most popular chap at the coffee table.

I've always had a soft spot for this generation. Where the Europeans spent the seventies making their sports cars ever more refined and civilised, America reached for the blunt instrument. No fiddling about with tiny power units and clever little gear ratios. No, just a colossal block up front and be done with it. In the Corvette's case that meant a 454 Big Block, matching numbers, entirely original and untampered with.

This car has never been rebuilt, never faked, never cobbled together from other people's parts. What went in when it left the factory is still in there today.

Right, back to the Corvette on offer here. It's blue, it's a coupé, and it has that long, sensual front end that makes the Stingray one of the most beautiful shapes ever to come out of America. Beneath the bonnet, then, that 454, mated to a TH 400 automatic. No bother with shifting while you cruise, just your hand on the lever, your foot on the throttle, and your ears tuned to that deep, growling note only an American Big Block can produce. A sound like a distant thunderstorm that never quite breaks.

And then the comfort, because make no mistake, this is no bare-bones brute without the trimmings. For 1973 this Corvette came fitted with things the average European sports car could only dream of. Electric windows, power steering, an adjustable steering column and even air conditioning. While the enthusiast in his Alfa was still wrestling with misted-up windows and trembling arms, the Corvette driver sat there perfectly relaxed, cool air on, one finger on the wheel, like a sultan on four wheels.

Originality is the real story here. Matching numbers, original paint, everything still as it was meant to be. In a world where most Corvettes from this period have long since been imported, rebuilt, resprayed and fitted with a more modern block, an example that is still simply itself has become a rarity. The mechanicals haven't been neglected of late either: the brake calipers have been fitted with stainless steel bushes and new brake discs have been installed.

Because with a block like that up front, you'll want to come to a stop again at some point too.

I can picture this car perfectly on a summer's Sunday, somewhere on a long coastal road. Windows down, arm out of the window, that V8 rumble as your soundtrack. No frantic schedules, no rushing about, just you and that long blue nose swallowing the horizon. This is America as it was before it started to worry. A slice of rolling history, and in the most characterful specification the Stingray ever wore.

Who's brave enough to park a piece of seventies Detroit pride like this in their garage and actually go out and drive it?

Special features

• Built in 1973, the only year with a plastic front end and chrome rear bumpers
• Corvette 454 Big Block, LS4 454 engine
• Matching numbers, entirely original and untampered with
• TH 400 automatic
• Original paint
• Electric windows
• Power steering
• Air conditioning
• Adjustable steering column
• Brake calipers with stainless steel bushes
• New brake discs
• Blue coupé, two seats

With a Coors in hand and Big Block rumble in my ears

Nick Slinger

Copywriter · HooG Selections