Conspicuous 1976 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

HARWINTON, CT – Don Truskauskas of Harwinton is like most classic car owners in that he understands the commitment that’s required. He owns a conspicuous 1976 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray that he’s upgraded substantially since acquiring it seven years ago.

“Having one of these cars, or anything that’s older, you have to enjoy the tinkering with the little stuff. There’s always things you can fix or improve,” he said recently, talking in the parking lot outside of Harwinton Town Hall.

Truskauskas recalled being on vacation when he bought the Corvette. “I was down in Florida in 2017 and my brother had called because he knew I was semi-looking for a ’76 Corvette. He had a fella that had this one for sale, so I called and made the deal from poolside in Florida.”

Upon his return, Truskauskas went to Southbury, CT and retrieved the Corvette with a trailer. “It was in fairly decent shape,” he said, disclosing that it did have an issue with overheating. “It was white back then with a four-speed and we did some upgrades, but it’s been a great little car and tons of fun.”

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A 355-cubic-inch V8 engine got dropped in to replace the existing 350-cubic-inch V8 power plant, the transmission was switched to a five-speed, and a Borgeson front end was added to improve steering.

“We started with the five-speed upgrade ’cause I wanted to drive it back to Florida, so we put the five-speed in it and actually did take a trip to Florida back in 2019. It’s great to have that extra gear on the highway; fuel mileage and just the sound and convenience,” Truskauskas said.

That trip included stops at Daytona International Speedway and New Smyrna Speedway for photo opportunities. But the adventure wasn’t a particularly comfortable experience.  

“A funny thing, on the way down the heat got stuck on, so we were in Florida and it was about 85 degrees with the heat on, so we went to Home Depot and bought a ball valve and were able to shut the heat off. It was a Sunday and there weren’t too many parts stores that had ’76 Corvette parts,” Truskauskas said

The most noticeable changes that Truskauskas made to the Corvette was going to a flashy bright orange exterior color and adding side exhaust pipes. “Had six or seven layers of paint on it, so we took it back to fiberglass and then put the Crush Orange that’s on there now,” he said.

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Truskauskas explained how the color choice occurred.  “About the same time we were doing the car – maybe ’20 or ’21 – we were down at Terryville Chevrolet and they had the Hot Wheels Crush Camaro there that I really liked but I didn’t want to buy the car. I just wanted to steal the color, so we ended up putting that color on this car.”

The 1976 Corvette is an example of the third generation or C3 version of the sports car. The body style lasted from the 1968 through the 1982 model year. More than 46,000 were built during the 1976 model year. A memorable feature are the pop-up headlights.

The Corvette still needs a little work done on it. The car window regulators and motors need to be replaced. Truskauskas also wants to add air conditioning. 

“It’s a little bit front heavy. It handles pretty well,” he said. “It’s a good little car for something that’s rapidly approaching 50 years old.”

He does drive it regularly. “I drive it sometimes up to town meetings. I drove it to go get some parts. We drive it probably more than most classic cars.”

And he would like to get a second Corvette. “I do have in mind picking up a ’56 or ’57 C1 Corvette ’cause I like the single headlights as opposed to some of the other ones. That may be next on the shopping list,” he said.

One element of ownership that Truskauskas enjoys is the fact he’s preserving history. 

“It’s pretty neat to be having something that’s coming up on 50 years old,” he said. “As I get older maybe that doesn’t seem so old but I know when I was younger to have a car that was 50 years old, there weren’t too many of ’em still around, so preserving that history is pretty wild for me, too.”

See the 1976 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray out on the road in this YouTube video from RIDE-CT…

(Photos by Bud Wilkinson)