Image via Horsepower Depot/YouTube
In the wake of Hurricane Milton is a deluge of flood damaged cars, including this 1972 Chevy Corvette Stingray. We’ve shown you videos of salvage yards full of vehicles found in the floodwaters or buried in landslides, totaled out by insurance carriers and later sold at a fraction of their previous value. But the big question is can any of these cars be successfully restored?
Watch a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado drive through some deep floodwaters.
These guys purchased the ’72 Corvette at auction and decided to see if they could get it running again. The classic American sports car sat in salt water for a time, and while it didn’t reach everything, it got to enough places to cause some big issues.
While this might not be a venerable ’63 or ’67, this C3 Corvette is still worthy of being rescued. As the guy points out in the video, the paint is in good condition (it’s just dirty), there’s a 350 V8 under the hood, plus the car comes with a 4-speed manual transmission.
A quick inspection reveals even though the back window glass is missing, someone stashed it in the cabin. No components seem to be missing, but that doesn’t mean the ‘Vette can just be fired right up.
Pulling the dipstick, the guy sees it’s reading incredibly high, a clear indication the engine has been filled with saltwater. After they put the car on a lift, you get to see the chassis with rust spots all over. But the guy and his buddies remark how it looks “better than any Indiana car.”
After draining the water and oil from the engine, plus water from the transmission, then put in fresh fluids they had to replace the starter and a few other components which had failed. After a little tinkering, they get the Chevy fired up and it seems to run just fine.
Just like the guy points out while he’s under the car, it looks like the floodwaters only reached the bottom of the engine block, entering the oil pan, never reaching the cylinders. That means the engine was just fine, at least enough to get it running with fresh oil.
This guy says he’s been rescuing flood vehicles for a “very long time.” He laughs at comments about chassis and frame corrosion, electrical damage, etc. on flood cars, saying he’s never had those kinds of problems before. What do you think of that?
Check out the video of this C3 Corvette coming back from its watery grave.
Image via Horsepower Depot/YouTube
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