Fan Friday: Ray Leyva's 1968 Blue C3 427 Convertible

Twenty-seven years is a long time for a car to sit still. That's how long Ray Leyva's 1968 427 convertible spent in a storage unit in Stockton, California — long enough for a first-year big-block C3 to disappear from the road entirely, and long enough that bringing it back meant rebuilding almost everything underneath it.

Ray has worked through the car end to end. The 427 has been rebuilt, the transmission with it, and the rear end came together most recently. He rewired the car front to back and went through the gauges one at a time, most of which weren't working when he started. The brakes were manual and are stock power brakes now, and the steering box has been swapped for a modern power steering conversion — his verdict on that one was simply "what a difference." The interior is brand new. The blue is the last thing on the list: the car is headed down for paint. On the bridge deck it sits on redline tires and Rally wheels with chrome trim rings, the way the 1968 order sheet could have had it.

The car reads as a 1968 the moment you know where to look. That domed hood with "427" numerals on each side came only on big-block cars; the 327s got a smooth one. The four vertical gills behind the front wheel sit bare, with no script above them, because 1968 is the only C3 model year Chevrolet never badged as a Stingray — the name had been "Sting Ray" on the C2 and came back in 1969 as a single word, but the first-year car went out the door without it. Convertibles ruled that year in a way they never would again. Of the 28,566 Corvettes built for 1968, 18,630 were convertibles against 9,936 coupes, the highest convertible count of the entire fifteen-year C3 run. By 1969 the coupe had taken over for good, 22,129 to 16,633. Big-blocks stayed the minority choice even so: 7,717 cars got the 390-horse L36, 1,932 the 400-horse L68, 2,898 the 435-horse L71, and just 80 the L88.

Thanks for sending this one in, Ray — twenty-seven years in the dark, and it's going back on the road better than it came off it. 🏎️

Parts for a C3 Rebuild

If you've got a C3 or another chrome-bumper car apart in the garage right now, these three land at three different stages of the job.

C3 1968 Corvette Brake Light Switch W/Bracket — The 1968 switch is its own part with its own bracket, and our 1953–1986 replacement switch specifically excludes 1968, so the year matters more here than on most electrical parts. → Shop the 1968 Brake Light Switch W/Bracket

C3 1968–1975 Corvette Convertible Top Frame Rebuild Hardware Kit — Drivetrain and wiring get a car moving again; the top frame hardware is what shows its age the first time the top goes up after a long sit. → Shop the Convertible Top Frame Rebuild Hardware Kit

1968–1972 Corvette Gas Lid Emblem — GM Licensed — Anything that goes down for paint comes back needing its emblems, and this one is officially licensed and correct for 1968 through 1972. → Shop the Gas Lid Emblem

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