I can't imagine driving my C3, 35 years ago!

[Paranoid]

As a daily driver??? :eek

It's my wife's birthday today so we went out for about an hour and a half drive round trip. Engine ran great. It was about 85-90 deg here today and sunny.

This BB really heats up the interior. We went into part of the city where we had stop & go red light traffic for about 10-15 min. The dual spal's and Dewitt aluminum radiator kept the engine @190 thru-out the drive

I can't imagine using this car as a daily driver 35 years ago. Its just brutal. No PS, No PB and NO AC! But I know people did because not everyone had a "hobby" car and a daily driver. Most people back then had ONE car.

A BB 4sp with NO A/C! :eek Even on short 10-15 min trips I get outa the seat and my t-shirt is drenched in sweat. We also had the roofs off and of course, no rear window.

Yeah, I'm thinking of one day adding A/C only I don't like the way it clutters up the engine compartment. :lol:

Even with AC, I'd say it would really have a task cooling the interior, there was a lot of heat from the tranny tunnel too.

Next time I'll ask my wife if she wants to go into the Vette sauna instead of asking her if she wants to "go for a ride." :L

 

[THORIN]

If you are interested. The magazine "Corvette Fever" is doing a series of articles on how to get the interior of the c-3 cooler. Julys is in regards to the heater door being old and needing new seals. I don't know what the two previous ones were. This is the First time I have gotten this magazine. It did go into great detail on how to, with lots of pictures. I plan on back ordering the other issues and doing something about my c3. Good luck.

 

[JJS]

I was going to take mine out today, but decided against it due to the heat. It was in the high 80's with 70+% humidity here today.
-John

 

[lnirenberg]

This has been one of those springs--wet and cold then hot and humid. I bought my car with a hot rod air aftermarket system and when I got it it was like ****ing in the wind. Over the winter I put a lot into insulation around the tranie tunnel and had the vent doors rebuilt and found a few leaks in the freon system.It was 90+ here today with huimidity off the charts. My son and I went to a Corvette Day at the local auto museum and as much as I hated to do it the ttops stayed on, the windows were up and the AC was on high and it worked great. I personally couldn't live without it on days like today. The modern aftermarket 134A compressors are much smaller than the OEM behomeths. Given the profusion of wires and hoses in my old shark what's a few more in the name of comfort, something the early sharks are short of, one of their many charms.

 

[srs244]

as one who has lived and driven all types of cars including vettes back 35 years ago, (and living in the tropics) i can tell you that heat has always been a problem, but there are many things that can be done to help solve (or at least mitigate) the heat problems. the first thing i noticed, however was the side pipes. unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done with all the heat that just rises over the doors and into the cabin. with non sidepipe vettes, however dynamat (expensive as all get out, but very effective) and many other insulation materials really do make a significant difference in interior heat levels. remember these are not noise insulators, they are designed to help reduce heat levels. i have installed them in several cars and they do make a significant difference.


as far as using these things as daily drivers 35 years ago, we were young and foolish (and a/c wasn't a standard "option" for most of us at the time). it was rather expensive and when you considered that you could buy a loaded 70 impala 2 dr sports cpe for around $3,600.00 with air and the air option was around 10% of the cost, it's easy to see why most of us could only afford to pick and choose the "options list" to make our purchase affordable. i had a pretty good job at the time working with sperry rand in their univac division, was making about $12,000/year lol, and had a young family to support!! didn't stop me from keeping up with my car "habit", but it had to be kept in perspective to say the least. who knew from all the creature comforts we have become accustom to??? my second vette was a 69 convertible, 350/350, 4 speed, power steering and that was just about it. daily driver!! my memory is a bit "old", but i have fond memories of every "old" car i drove daily.

 

[goertz]

about 6 years ago, before we were bitten with the vette bug, we had a 1978 smokey and the bandit trans am. It had a Pontiac 400 and a 4 speed, black in color. we decided it would sure be fun to drive it to Vegas for the weekend from Los Angeles, and I believe it was in August. We started out about 9:00am, and it was beautiful. We took the tops off, and hit the highway. Well, the shifter boot didn't really do a great job of sealing anything, so we ended up in a blast furnace all the way. When we got to Baker, about noon, we took a picture of the car under the big thermometer, which was reading 110 degrees. at this point we decided maybe we'd put the tops back on. Still a blast furnace through the shifter, we were sooooo relieved to arrive in Vegas, and get into our air conditioned hotel room. Never tried that again in a black car with no A/C.

 

[Koop]

I've had to get out of my '69 and take off my right shoe because my foot was burning inside of my shoe! My car has factory AC.

My Dad used my car to drive from the California Coast to Blythe (the middle of the desert) at least three times a week for years. It kept him skinny!

At one point I found a high output blower motor, but when the car was being restored (again) one of the employees of the shop swiped it, I wish I could find another.

 

[bluecoupe]

I used to keep the heater blower running on "cold". The moving air helped a little. You also need to remember there were a lot less cars 35 years ago so less traffic jams. The AC by JC or 4-60 (2 or 3 -60 in the vette) worked pretty well. Most cruising was done at night back then since most of us didn't have AC. During the day you were either at work, the beach or parked in the shade. Most cars of the day had better ventilation than the cars today. Our old station wagon that we used for work had great vent windows that really pulled the air through the car. It also had 3 on the tree shifter, no power brakes, no power steering (just have to make sure you're rolling when you're steering). We'd just turn up the AM radio if we wanted to be cool. (It was boss!)

Rumor back then was that you could ruin the alignment on a BB vette if you turned the steering without moving the car because the motor was so heavy.

 

[wallyknoch]

My L88 Daily Driver

I use to run the 68 L88 every day until the Jews kicked the **** out the Arabs in 1973. Long gas lines, 12.5-1 compression and 7-8 MPG was too much after that event. I have not used it since and it ust sets there with 28,000 miles on it.

 

[Paranoid]

I use to run the 68 L88 every day until the Jews kicked the **** out the Arabs in 1973. Long gas lines, 12.5-1 compression and 7-8 MPG was too much after that event. I have not used it since and it ust sets there with 28,000 miles on it.

Hold onto that one Wally. You'll be able to reitre with it. Unless, of course, you want to WILL-IT to me. :L

 

[SPANISHVETTS]

My only C3 time was in the 82. The AC worked ok then and my son says that it is still working. Of course it was not a Big Block and did not have side pipes. I would not enjoy city driving in a non PS non AC BB unless Bob decides to give me 67 HEAVEN.

 

[red70vette]

If your car is a BB with no PS no PB and no AC the guy who bought it originally was less concerned with it being a daily driver and more concerned with how fast it ran. My 70 Cpe has a small block 350/300 PS, PB, AC, and PW. It a pleasure to drive but is not near as fast as a Big Block.

 

[JJS]

If your car is a BB with no PS no PB and no AC the guy who bought it originally was less concerned with it being a daily driver and more concerned with how fast it ran. My 70 Cpe has a small block 350/300 PS, PB, AC, and PW. It a pleasure to drive but is not near as fast as a Big Block.

My car is pretty fast, but I have no idea how it would match up with a BB.
Last year my neighbor (2003 AE vert) and I were on our way to a show, when this highly modified early '70's camaro quickly came up on us. I could see what was about to happen before it did...my neighbor stomped on it (I was following my neighbor) as soon as the camaro pulled next to him...for about a 1/4-1/2 mile...he was going well over 100, but surprisingly, he really didn't pull away from me as much as I thought...in fact, very little. I was really surprised, as I had been in 4th gear, and I didn't down shift before this thing started, I just put the pedal down in 4th. I guess I should mention that my neighbors car is an auto, and he couldn't stay with the supercharged camaro.

As I said, this thing was highly modified (the camaro), and I was surprised it was even street legal. It was a beautiful car that we checked out at the show.

 

[81 Corvette]

daily driven 81 here. Its not a big block, but its also got no AC. I wouldn't have it any other day. Only time it sucks is when its hot and it rains. Otherwise, the heat only bugs me at stop lights.

I've also learned to fold the seats down when parked to help on seat temps on entry.

I like being a throw back to when people wern't soo spoiled with naviagation systems, dvd's and individual climate control.

 

[SPANISHVETTS]

soo spoiled with naviagation systems, dvd's and individual climate control.

I resemble that remark!

Am I the only old fart that runs his AC on track days and wears a helmet with electrostatic/active noise canceling headphones built in? :confused Isn’t that the way everybody does it?:W




Of course if I had a BB I would listen to the exhaust until my eardrums turned blue.

 

[tomtom72]

I resemble that remark!

Am I the only old fart that runs his AC on track days and wears a helmet with electrostatic/active noise canceling headphones built in? :confused Isn’t that the way everybody does it?:W




Of course if I had a BB I would listen to the exhaust until my eardrums turned blue.

Hey SPANISHVETTS, car #9's stereo is too loud!!

I had a 72 LT-1 A/C coupe 20 yrs ago & the things I remember most about that car is the A/C worked as long as you weren't in a traffic jam...then all bets were off & so was the A/C. It was nice in the late fall in NY you could drive around tops off & glass out and NOT be cold!

Now I have a 90 ZR-1 and as an old fart I really like the reliable creature comforts and the go power, great combo!! It's like having a gorilla in a Tux.