Interesting Car Nonetheless: 1977 Chevrolet Corvette Caballista
The Spanish word Caballista translates to horseman/horsewoman. But not like caballero, which is a knight or cowboy or someone who rides horses, but the caballista is an expert on horses. It is someone who knows different breeds and understands that a Corvette is not built by Mercedes. And slapping some garish body kit on a Corvette does not increase the value of the Vette, but it does make for an interesting conversation piece at your next Cars and Cocaine event. Find this 1977 Chevrolet Corvette Caballista offered for $20,000 somewhere near Chicago, IL via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
From the seller:
1977 Chevrolet Corvette
condition: like new
cylinders: 8 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 33000
paint color: white
size: full-size
title status: clean
transmission: automatic
type: convertible
more ads by this userAn interesting car, nonetheless! I was inspired back in the day by an artist known as Les Dunham who had fabricated his own series of Corvette to stand out. With the inspiration of his style, I created my own and this is the result.
The Caballista has a stock chassis, motor, interior, and much more. Almost everything on this car has been left stock except for the body which I fabricated out of fiberglass. It has 33,000 miles on it, most of which were highway/expressway driven.
Everything works splendidly and as it should. Due to its age, I had a certified Chevrolet mechanic replace a handful of parts with OEM/Genuine parts such as the following: (upgraded) 9 leaf spring, all universal joints, brand new brake calipers with pads and rotors, wheel bearings, alternator, battery, and other small odds and ends. The mechanic also took the liberty of replacing the clutch pack and bearings inside of the rear differential (this year of Corvette had a lot of power which ate through those plates with age.) All four tires are new Goodyear’s with the original aluminum wheels.
See a better way to drive something old and fun? tips@dailyturismo.com
A 1977 Corvette had 180HP. This one has an automatic. It’s possible all that power could eat through those diff plates if they were made of patè.
The only thing funnier than the price is the seller’s statement “ this year of Corvette had a lot of power”. A full 180 horsepower!
I take issue with your choice of words in the title. “Interesting..?” Subjective at best. LOL
And so is chlamydial for that matter.
“ artist known as Les Dunham”
Les Dunham had previously built the car that the producer of Superfly saw and rented from its owner, which launched the whole pimpmobile craze. Probably much to the chagrin of the owner of the car but Les Dunham had a booming business as a result. He also did stretch limos and the like before the superfly era. I stumbled across him looking up David Bowie’s personal car which was used in the man who fell to earth that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
There is an interesting short documentary about him. Seems like an fun guy. Anyway he’s the guy that you can blame for chrome grill caps and oversized headlight covers.
His attitude seemed to be that if people wanted really ugly cars as a Veblen good, well he could do that.
Oh, I see this is *inspired* by Les Dunham.
Well that’s sort of like saying that you were inspired by Evel Knievel when you hit a bus riding a motorcycle.
You made me look up “Veblen Good” and now I’m the wiser for it. Having just visited the Design District in Miami I can confirm that Veblen Goods walk among us.
“Thorstein” was on my list of baby names for my son. I did not win that particular negotiation.
“Thorstein” would have been a fine name other than having to deal with people who thought it was a made up name.
I made a play for Zebulon, about as old a name as you can get, and it was rejected out of hand.
http://dunhamcoach.com/home.htm
Gaaaahhhhhhh! My eyes!!!!!
Corvettes had leaf springs in their 70s incarnations?
Well, yeah.
It was the OG lowered 2-seat truckster.
Seriously. Drives like a truck.
Only no visibility.
And if somebody bumps into your rear end at a stop light, the back of your car falls off.
Please don’t ask me how I know all of this…
-Stan (…the ever indefatigable Stan…)
The C2 through the C7 used a single transverse leaf spring which worked pretty well as opposed to the Hotchkiss system with a pair of leaf springs that not only hold the car up but resist the torque of braking and acceleration and locate the axle.
That’s from 1963 to 2019 so the 1970s are in there.
The Hotchkiss is one of those things that intuitively seems broken but it works if you make it big and heavy enough. It’s also what most people think of when they hear “leaf spring”.
In 9th grade the “hot chick” with big boobs would be dropped off by her dad in one of these.