Restorer bought a $3,500 Corvette from Craigslist but a surprise under the hood made for an easy fix
- A car restorer bought a $3,500 Corvette on Craigslist
- It didn’t run and so its previous owner left it parked for years
- However, it was a chapter and easier fix than anticipated
Published on Nov 30, 2024 at 3:00 AM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Jan 03, 2025 at 4:03 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
A car enthusiast and restorer bought a $3,500 Chevrolet C3 Corvette on Craigslist that didn’t run – but it was hiding a carburetor surprise under the hood that made it an easy fix.
He labeled it the ‘Craigslist deal of all deals’ after rushing to Beverly Hills to beat other buyers to the deal.
The only information that he had was that the 1971 Corvette ‘wasn’t running right’.
Thankfully, when he took a look under the hood it turned out to be an easy fix.
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The Corvette carburetor problrm
The previous owner simply parked it up after the carburetor ‘messed up’ around seven or eight years ago.
However, its new owner, car restorer and content creator, Shawn Pilot, wasn’t phased.
The self-professed ‘wheeler-dealer’ at Gotham Garage on the Netflix hit series, Car Masters Rust to Riches, dove straight under the hood with the listing stating it ‘needs carburetor work’.
So rebuilding it is the first thing on his to-do list.
A similar Corvette designed as a tribute to Star Wars fetched a small fortune on eBay.
It was a simple fix
“This is a real common aftermarket carburetor,” he says with a sigh of relief.
“So it’s really easy and cheap to get a rebuild kit of it.”
The main problem was that the carburetor was dirty, which was down to the previous owner running the car without a fuel filter.
“All the dirt that was in the gas tank got pumped right into the carburetor,” he informs viewers.
“When you get dirt in the carburetor the valve can’t work properly.”
With the valve unable to stop the flow of fuel coming in, it flooded the float bowls and dumped fuel down the intake, killing the motor.
In other words, the answer is ‘a five-dollar fuel filter’, and the engine fires up.
Other than that, the car is in better condition than expected – unlike this 1968 model that was discovered in a barn after 40 years.
It has a straight body, no rust, and a mostly intact interior with no signs of accidents – rare for a 50-year-old vehicle.
After repairing the brakes, the test drive is a success with Pilot sharing plans to restore its original shade of Ontario Orange Metallic.
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
