I’ve always loved the way the C3 Corvette body style looks and when I met Michele my childhood dream was reawakened. I always wanted one, and so did she. Before she passed away in 2000, she made me vow never to give up that dream. In 2003 I had the means and I just wanted a Vette. Any year model Vette would do. So I got the 88 you see elsewhere here. I named her 'Lil Angel' after the nic-name I gave Michele. Well after paying off that loan and after making everything on my 'Lil Angel' either new or refinished I didn’t want to start changing things on her just to be doing something. So I decided to look around the Internet for a C3 of a certain dollar amount. $12 grand was my limit. I knew I was gonna have to do some work on anything I found for so small a budget, but after all, I was looking for a project car, not a show car. I’m the kind of guy who is limited in mechanical abilities such as rebuilding engines and transmissions so I looked for and found one with a recently rebuilt L82 and Muncie 4spd. I know how to do detailing work from building scale models as a hobby and I was ready for a full scale Corvette to refurbish the way I wanted it to be and the way I know Michele would have liked it to be too.
Well I found this black on black 1978 Corvette and the price was right and the engine & tranny had 5,000k on the rebuild. I got her delivered from Virginia and drove Her around a little finding out She is the perfect driver for me. I got Her in September o7 and since then I have completely redone the interior short of replacing the dash board, seats & carpet. I have replaced Shocks, bushings, rear mono spring and installed a rack & pinion steering unit. Over the 07 holiday season from Thanksgiving up until last Feb. 08 I have completely restored/modified the engine compartment adding a few chromed pieces and braded hose covering. I have removed anything bolted down and refinished its paint or stripped its paint and polished and clear coated it to look chromed. Things like the hood hinges, hood latch assembly, alte & bracket, vacuum diaphragm cover, headlight diaphragm containers, fan blades, the main pulley. And I even removed the hood and refinished its under side. I also repainted under the engine compartment fenders, firewall and the water pump and any bracket that could be removed. I just finished refinishing the wiper motor and last but not least, I had a set of 15” chromed Cragar SS wheels. I’m ready to show her off to the world.
                                      She’s far from perfect, but so am I and I love Her.

                        This is how I found Her,rebuilt underneath, but 30 years of cosmetic neglect.

 I replaced the piston rings, honed the cylinders and installed a set of 1.6 rocker roller arms and new pushrods to compliment the mild cam and a new MSD distributer, a new 650 Edlebrock carb on a Air Gap RPM intake manifold and some sweet longtube headers.

A proud moment, from "closed hood" (at last year's show) to "Best Engine"  (at this year's show) :-)

                      Here's a picture before I changed out the original rear bumper cover.

                         Here below is the newer 80 to 82 style rear bumper cover I put on.

             My son gave me a set of stainless steel braided ignition wires as a Father's Day presant and this is how the look with my newly finished 30 year old  'original valve covers'.

 These are the before and after pictures of my 30 year old original valve covers. They were redone by a friend of mine named Leanna. She does the work personally at her company

 "Pheonix Specialty Coatings"

these pictures speak for the excellent caliber of work she is capable of doing. She didn't ask me to say that, I just want everyone to know where this great parts refinishing was done.