1974 Corvette Convertible 4 speed 454

[Jmcdonald]

The last year for the GM convertible was 1975... probably because they just couldn't sell them anymore. Ralph Nader had demonized them so bad for being unsafe in a rollover accident that everyone was afraid of them. That's probably why the coupe (t-top) came along late in 1968. I bought a 69 coupe and hated the t-top... so I then ordered a 70 LT-1 convertible... and had a hell of a time getting rid of it, just because it was a convertible... so when I ordered my 73, it was an L48 350 4 speed coupe (still fun to drive and 20+MPG). By 1973, the horsepower era was winding down... partly because leaded gas was about to be outlawed... so in 71 they lowered the compression ratios, so they could run on unleaded gas, and thus the horsepower ratings were less. The insurance companies had decided to gouge everyone that bought anything that even resembled a performance vehicle, so if you bought a 4 speed, your insurance rates went up significantly. I'm convinced the auto manufacturers changed the horsepower ratings from gross to net in 1972, just to make it look like they had less performance... for insurance rating purposes. Like I said above, I was selling Chevrolets during this period, and I ordered many of the fun cars for the dealership I worked for. I remember purposely ordering a bunch of 74 Camaros with a 350 2 barrel and 3 speed transmission (floor mounted)... which avoided the performance rating by the insurance companies... and which most anyone could then modify into whatever they wanted :-)

At the beginning of the 73 model year, the gas crisis hadn't hit yet, so it was still ok to order a 454 or 4 speed in a Corvette. Obviously when the oil embargo started, all we could sell were Vegas... LOL Another unusual thing that happened in 1973, which no one seems to remember today, is that the 73 Corvette had lots of new things that everyone wanted... cowl induction, radial tires, larger rubber body mounts (and yes they really did make them ride and handle a lot better and have way fewer rattles) and we finally got a rubber front bumper like the GTO :-) And actually the 73 454 had 5HP more than that "steel bumper" 72 :-) But this caused a HUGE demand for the 73 Corvette. If you wanted one, you were going to pay MSRP and even a dealer pack on top of that, in many cases. Small dealers that didn't sell many Corvettes were selling them to larger Chevrolet dealers for $500 over invoice. So to make even more profit, dealers were loading them up with every option available. So now if you go look for a used 73 or 74 Corvette, you're going to find mostly 350 automatic coupes loaded with options. Even the 454s are usually automatics. And obviously 74 was the last year for a 454... for all these reasons. From 1976 to the 90s, most of what you'll find in Corvettes are automatic coupes with all the options.