Eckler Industries

C3 headlights. GM came out with the pop-up headlights in 1968 and had them all the way through to 1982. Owners have had issues with these vacuum driven headlights. As their Corvettes age, the headlights develop problems due to rubber hoses that wear out. The main problem is the hose will crack around the attachment points on the headlight actuators, valves, tank or at the engine. 

If your hood is sitting lower than the fender on one side and higher on the other, or higher in the front and lower in the rear, then there is a solution.  First, you must adjust your hood to bring the highest portion level with the fender. This will cause the lower to be even lower, but this can be resolved by simply purchasing several rubber hood alignment bumpers. Place some masking tape on the fender across to the hood at each low spot so you know where to position these bumpers. 

C3 Corvettes are known for their cooling issues. Yes, you could replace the radiator, but this may not resolve your problem. You can inspect your fan shroud, fan blade, fan clutch and even radiator. All these items can cause problems, but they may not be the problem either. Inspect for good sealing around the radiator support to radiator, radiator to fan shroud seals, make sure the fan clutch is working properly and make certain the radiator is clean inside the vanes. The C3 changed the way you need to think about cooling. 

If your outside door handle cover is sagging, then it’s time for a replacement. This involves removing your inner door panel, removing all the rods and then unbolting the handle from the inside. There is a simpler way to resolve this problem if replacing the handle does not appeal to you; just purchase one of the handle springs. These great little inventions will once again put the handle cover into its proper place and the handle look like new without all the work. 

Does the tachometer needle on your 1968-’74 bounce and not give a steady reading? Does your tachometer just not function? The tachometers on these Corvettes are cable driven from the distributor. The cable, like a speedometer cable, will wear and cause the needle to not hold steady because the cable ends are worn. Replacing the inner cable or the complete cable and casing will resolve this problem. For tachometers that do not work at all, it’s most likely because of the tachometer gear inside the distributor.  

The L88 Corvette is a car that, for the most part, hid in the shadows. But it actually cast a big shadow on the American muscle car scene as well. Oh, if you were keeping a close ear to the ground, you knew about it. But if you didn’t pay attention, it came and went in a flash. The reason for its existence was that Zora Arkus-Duntov, the chief Corvette engineer, was chagrined that Ford got all this publicity for winning the 24 Hours of LeMans. Yet he knew that Chevrolet had a durable engine in the 427 and yearned to make it available for racing. But he had one problem - Chevrolet, officially, was not in racing. 

Part 2

Buyer Beware:

Nasty con men have been known to machine off the original RPO non-L88 numbers and re-stamp new ones. Your best bet is to find a reference source that shows if the RPO code matches the casting number. We’d also highly recommend investing in an NCRS Specification Guide covering the model years you’re interested in. The rarest and most valuable item to document a Corvette is the car’s build sheet, which was applied to the gas tank during assembly. It’s not easy to get at, but obviously worth searching for if it means authenticating the car.

My name is David Way. I’m a retired auto shop owner who is Corvette crazy! I've loved Corvettes since I was a young man and saw the movie Corvette Summer. If you’re familiar with that movie, Mark Hamill had a wildly customized Corvette, and it always brings back old Corvette memories for me. I've had so many Corvettes throughout my life that I’ve lost count. I loved them all and had a blast working on them and driving them!

Take a leisurely drive down US Highway 1 on Florida’s east coast and you’ll pass through the small town of Titusville. For dozens of miles, this highway makes its way along the shores of the Indian River. If you look across the river at Titusville you’ll spot the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) – one of the largest structures on the Cape; home of NASA. For years Cape Canaveral was the center for rockets, space travel and astronauts!

Some towns have superstar athletes. In the Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach area, we have superstar astronauts. One of the most famous of those was Neil Armstrong. After all, Neil was the first man to walk on the moon – who could forget, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

This 1997 C5 Corvette sleeps by day and terrorizes by night

A first glance at this C5 gives most people the impression of “Cool, another C5 with wheels and exhaust tips. Another C5 ’Vette.”

Taking a closer look, you notice the Nitto Drag Radials sizing up at a whopping 305/45/R18. That’s over a foot of rubber on the ground. Once the car is started, it sounds like it has a bad alternator– screeching and whining… then roaring to life.