Great looking rigs all around. I used to daily drive an 03 Z06, until I decided to get married. Now it permanently resides on my wife's left hand.
You said the 73 was a warm up for the 71, what major lessons did you learn with the 73? I've been playing around with the idea of buying one of these and fixing it up.
Have always wanted to try a Z06... ya.. it's funny how life/wife can magically turn our dream into hers.. lol.. I tried the 07 Indy pace car.. which was a funny story.. I went to the dealership in my daily driver Neon at the time.. pulled along side the Vette.. and waited.. and waited... no salesman coming around... so, I went home and went back with the 71... before I even got out of the car.. one of the salesman was literally running out into the lot with the keys in hand... take about perception...
Getting back to the 73... I always knew the Vette had a unique rear suspension set up. By having that car, I got accustom to how it worked & came apart. I had bought most all the special tools to rebuild the rear cause it's near impossible to do properly without them. It was before I bought my lathe or I would of made some of them. Also got to know how important grounds are on them as most electrical issues are mostly ground related.. especially on one that's never been touched or hacked into. I also got to know the headlight setup too. Another important thing to know is where those cars can have major rust issues. 1/ the pocket in the frame where the rear trailing arms go can be a bad spot for rust as a lot of crud can accumulate that blocks the drain hole in there and the "S" bend in the frame behind the engine compartment can also be rotted. Again from road debris building up inside the frame because of a factory hole in the frame that is right behind the front wheel. Always tap the frame in those areas in case someone it trying to hide the fact. I've come across one that the S bend was buttered up. If there's lots of scale inside the frame its a good indicator the frame has issues.. or is going to... Dry rot fibreglass can be a major issue as well... you will want to look at all body panels closely for that.
Good Luck on your hunt, they are pretty easy to work on otherwise. I bought Richard Newton's book "How to restore your 68-82 Vette" Lots of very valuable info.. each chapter covers each area of the car... he also writes it with a lot of humour.... Every vehicle I've had.. I always buy a service manual... it's one of the most valuable tools... imo
