Customer Reviews

Corvette Restoration Guide, 1968-1982 (Motorbooks Workshop)

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This is a fantastic book for anyone interested in 1968-82 Corvettes. It covers every year in more depth than I imagined possible. Whether you are contemplating the purchase of a 1968-1982 Corvette or are involved with restoring one the information will prove invaluable. It covers part numbers and date codes for virtually every component in the cars and not only tells you what the correct numbers and dates are, but also explains where to find them and what they mean. Also described in great detail are the appearance of factory original parts. The material the part is made of (cast iron, stamped steel, rigid plastic, pot metal, etc.) is revealed, the correct original finish (painted semi-gloss black, plated cadmium dichromate, grey phosphate dipped, etc.) is described, the method by which the part attaches to the car is discussed, differences between the part and later service replacemnt and reproduction parts is described, and just about every other detail is gone into. Even running changes made during the course of each model year are discussed in great depth. The back of the book has several very useful tables and charts that allow for quick reference of part numbers and the like. And very clear, detailed photographs throughout the text do a wonderful job of illustrating the information presented. This is not a coffee table book or a casual read, but rather a tool for anyone who wants to know more about Corvettes. It is extremely well written and illustrated and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in 1968-82 Corvettes.

This is a book of factual and historical information about 68-82
Corvettes. If you are obsessed about knowing every little detail
about what your classic Corvette was like the day it rolled out
of the factory, then this book is for you. This book has all the
details about what color parts were painted, what they were plated
with, what materials they were made out of, etc., etc., etc. This
book has it all. Want to know exactly what the valve caps on the
valve stems looked like? It's in the book!

Hi,

If You intend to buy a corvette for restoration purposes then You MUST buy this book before You start to look at cars. Its the little details which make a corvette restorable or not. I recently bought a 78 corvette on instinct - I was lucky - it had matching numbers, transmission, original spare tyre/jack, windows, steering wheel etc etc. However if i had bought this book beforehand I would have KNOWN this and the risk would not have been there. The only parts on this car not original was the pain colour, side-exhausts, interior seat covering and air filter cover which of course the seller told me this was stock standard original factory fitted - do not believe any seller but educate yourself beforehand.

Thanks to this book I am already looking for a second covette 76 model and now I KNOW exactly what to look for. After reading the book You will be able even based on photos on the internet to identify how much a car was modified or painted etc.

Shortly put it is absolutely essential. The only detail it did not mention is that the 78 corvette was also issued with a km/h speedometer originally fitted for European custoemers.

From a technical point of view - well written - easy to follow with laymans language - Indexes at theback are worth far more than the price of the book.
Regards
Mungo

This would be a good book if you're buying a vette,to determine it's originality,but a restoration guide it is not.

GREAT HELP EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT RESTORING YOUR VETTE, BUT WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HOW IT'S BUILT.

I've owned two 1980 Corvettes. I'm currently performing a full frame-off restoration on the second Vette. Mr. Prince claims in his book that the seat tracks on the 1980 Corvette were painted Black Phosphate regardless of the interior color. My first '80 had a Claret interior with seats tracks to match. When pulling the seats from my second Vette, the tops of the tracks were white and the bottoms were unpainted. This book states that the front side marker bezels were plastic. The rusted bezels that I pulled off of my front urethane bumper cover attest to the fact that they are indeed metal. Also with the bezels, Mr. Prince falsely records that these bezels were chromed. They were actually painted the same color as the body. There was no V01 heavy-duty cooling option listed for the earlier cars as Mr. Prince notes. It only appeared as the V05 option in '82. The book mistakenly claims that all '78-'82 cars used a horizontal vacuum reservoir tank for the headlights. This was changed in 1980 to a smaller cannister that was clamped to the front air dam support rod. A major faux pax in this book, Mr. Prince mistakenly writes that the transmission cross member was welded to the frame for a manual transmission and bolted in for an automatic. My second Vette has a 4-speed manual with a bolted on transmission cross member. I removed it and bolted to my replacement frame from another 1980 Corvette that was an automatic. Welded cross members harken back to the early '70's so Mr. Prince just assumed that it carried right on through the entire C3 production run. Finally, the FE7 rear suspension option for the '78-'79 Vette used a 7 leaf spring, not a 6 leaf spring as Mr. Prince claims.

My point is, this book is rife with inaccuracies. If a person considers it as the ultimate source for Corvette restoration, I assure you, you will not score very highly at a NCRS meet. When I first book the book I was impressed with it. But once I got into it, my own car as I ripped it apart and other research, I discovered that Mr. Prince really didn't do his homework and he is no expert on Corvettes.

Who the hell wrote this book? Reading the book just makes you crazy, it is defintely for a NCRS corvette restoration, information on any particular year is sparse and to indepth down to what color and numbers should be on your alternator, etc. Good book if you want to restore your vette like the day it rolled off of the assembly line in St.Louis. If you drive your corvette and don't have unlimited funds to restore it, dont waste your money on this book. This book is for old guys who want to spend 5 years (+) restoring there corvette to absolute stock condition.