The Corvette has always been a style icon. a dream car for Americans for over 70 years now, but the performance certainly didn't match its looks with the first generation. Sure, by 1962, you could get a fuel injected V8 four-speed manual and limited slip diff. But underneath that fiberglass was barely evolved past a covered wagon.

Still, it's hard to not look cool d Having Corvette that is, unless you're this idiot, it's a Corvette You do burnouts. it's a V8 This It's like a collector's car. You don't treat it that way. Welcome to H Garage The dumbest Automotive channel in all of YouTube and this, well it is my latest purchase.

It is a 1962 Chevrolet Corvette and it is an absolutely incredible condition. I Feel like I totally stole the car and so I decided to drive it a bit like I stole it and well, it doesn't drive anymore. hence why Dennis is here at the Farm and it is on the tow truck. Uh, so things are going to be a little bit out of order today.

normally I take you on a tour or show you the car, talk about how it's special and then take it on a drive to go up to the Car Wizard to see everything that's wrong with it. Uh, but this is. uh. well.

obviously I broke it out of sheer stupidity trying to do a burnout in a 60-year-old Corvette Take a look. Yeah, uh, so something bad has broken the transmission, the drive shaft, the diff. I'm not sure, so that's why it's going to go up to the car Wizards and we'll see him first and what he thinks about it. Hopefully maybe an easy fix to where I can do this video properly, but still very very happy with this.

Corvette Skers Towing Always here for the rescue Dennis What do you think of this one? Well, I Found the abandoned vehicle I figured I'd bring it to you see if you wanted to buy it. Well, not really. No, but you have had a few of my Corvettes on the uh ramp before and that's all. Blue 66 I I Think twice.

Yes, yes, yeah. sold that one and replaced it with this beautiful thing. but uh yeah, you have it on there backwards because of my parking situation, right? Yeah? I didn't really want to get pushed backwards very well, but it rolls forward pretty good, but it's still aerodynamic both ways that uh should be just fine and then that hard Top's bolted down so fingers crossed you don't lose a hard top along the way. Yes.

I Trust me. I'll be watching it big time. All right. Well Happy Trails I'll see this car in a bit at the Wizard.

All righty. Thanks for the rescue. You're welcome. Have a good day.

The car Wizard is already on it. Hello! What? What did you do? What do you mean what? I Look, it's spinning but nothing's happening. Wheels are turning so I was doing burnouts. Who does that? It's a Corvette You do burnouts.

It's a V8 But this, it's like a a collector's car. You don't treated that way. Yeah, I mean it is. It is 60 years old huh? So I didn't mess up the transmission or the drive shaft.

huh? No, that's all seems to be fine. All right. Well, should we turn it off and inspect? Yeah, let's see what we can do Tlong it is long. What does the Tes long see right over here on the right hand side to the broken de.

they're just sheared right off. The teeth are broken. Okay, so if we were to drain the fluid, it would be just be pieces of teeth all down in there. So I need a diff? Yes I should be able to do burnouts in this car though, right? It's old though, but it's still a Corvette I stole this thing I bought it I was at auction and I bought it for $45,000 which for any first generation Corvette that is an absolute steal.

The guy was selling his airplane and he took this on trade. He really didn't want it so didn't care what it brought. So I got it for a steel I think I mean cosmetically is beautiful I'll show everybody that in a little bit cuz this video is kind of out of order but mechanically it was fine. It was driving great until it was.

Didn't you do a burnout before in like that E63 AMG and you blew your power steering. Those were donuts donuts like on my old 66. Corvette I Was able to do burnout in it and not hurt anything. But it's not this old school solid rear axle thing and this is this is, uh, horse and buggy era stuff here.

huh? Yeah, They even have a little velcro strap to keep the axles from drooping too much. All right. Well, do you see anything else wrong while we're here? I Guess you don't need the tou long to do that? No. I'll set it aside.

I See a brake wheel cylinder or an axle seal? one of the two leaking here? Probably an axle seal. So no four-wheel discs on this one? No, it's probably probably four-wheel drums. So leaky brakes? Mhm. this one's not as bad, but still.

maybe a little bit. Huh? Yeah, some seepage going on there. All right. Well, you have to take all this off to get the axle apart anyway, right? Yeah, you got your exhaust is it's really starting to rust through? Oh well, that's why it sounds a little extra spicy? Okay, spicy.

Yeah, it didn't sound very good. So leaking up here too? see the black s Yeah, it's making that horrible sound there. Yeah, it doesn't. It didn't sound great, but oh, we got leaks here too.

huh? Yeah, the transmission's leaking right in through here. Could be this shifter seal here. okay, leaking down the sides, so no big deal. No.

I'll have to take these shift arms off and pry the seals out, but probably could do that. Okay and then oil leak. or maybe yeah. Valve cover, gaskets, oil pan.

several different things are all leaking together. Oh, so it's all wet up through here. It's wet up through here. Yep, so it needs a bit of a refreshing huh? It needs an engine reeal.

This looks all like an aftermarket tag or or something like the front license plate. yeah, if that was required. Yeah, the interesting addition. So this shock is blown out.

I See, it's all dripping oil. Interesting. Let's check the other one. Same thing.

Shocks are blown there H Go check the back. Those shops are good. FR Ones are blown. The engine's leaking from two or three different places, the transmission is leaking from one place, the shocks are blown.

Uh, the brakes are leaking in the back and the rear end needs to go to a dentist cuz the teeth are all broken I blew my differential. Oh, this was the cheapest Corvette in the USA Um, so I do have some room for repairs. guess we'll see how much it is. You excited? You don't know? Corvette Parts I Could be in for a cheap one? Huh? You could be.

it's possible. All right. you're shoe shopping which can be dangerous, but they're New Balances so they're not $112,000 for New Balances Yeah, these are the Joe Fresh Goods No emotions or emotions and it's actually the same color as your car. The Roman Red Roman red.

You have no idea what that means though, right? No, Me neither. Youe guys will probably know. but $12,000 There's no way you're getting 12 grand out of a Corvette diff. Well, at least I'll get a portion of it.

You'll get some Jorts or something. maybe some new normal New Balances the full Corvette gar I See what you're doing there? But no, not $112,000 shoes I Think you're right I Had my hopes set on a really nice pair of those. Joe Fresh Goods But after I started looking some of the prices of your parts for this car, uhhuh, you're right. I'm not going to get there.

there's no way. So like the valve cover gaskets 24 bucks. Nice. The distributor cap is 10 bucks.

Okay for like a tuneup. All right. the rotor for the distributor $138 h spark plug wires are 35, the oil pen gaskets 19 bucks. They made these 327s for so long and put it in so many cars that there's still a million of them out there.

This is great. The brakes are leaking. The wheel cylinders are $13 each. Okay, the brakes themselves.

The shoes are only 27 bucks. So shoes for a Corvette are cheaper than like shoes for a person like normal. New Balance Shoes Okay, this is awesome. Yeah, it's amazing how cheap I would have thought since it's an old Corvette everything's going to be so high.

but they made millions of these engines. These seals these gaskets. So I got all the prices together and it's kind of disappointing for me. Anyway, All right.

Well, you didn't mention the differential in there, so it's probably a little expensive, huh? Yeah, the differential is like seven or 800 bucks just for it's a complete kit. You just unbolt the old one, put the new one in. so that's how much it cost me in parts and then labor. Yeah, with the rear disc.

while we'll have it apart, we'll have the brakes and axle seals. We'll do all those while it's apart. 1,600 with the labor and everything. That's an expensive burnout that's more expensive than the donuts in the E63 wagon years ago.

Yeah, that was just a power steering pump and I was able to do the donuts then this one. It just broke and didn't move so it did nothing. Front shocks with labor: 150 bucks? That's more like it. Okay, reeal those transmission shaft seals 150 bucks also.

I'll take it okay. and then while we're there, we'll do the oil pan gasket, the valve cover, gaskets, and a full tuneup with points, condenser, everything and just check everything over with the labor. 750 for everything. Okay, I mean that's gets nice fresh, clean, sealed up motor.

Yeah. 2750 for the whole shebang? Well all right so I bought the car for 45 I paid in fees. another couple of grand and then I'll have another. I'll be under 50 in the car yeah which I think is still an absolute steal for a sorted Corvette that looks as nice as I guess I haven't done the tour yet because it this is all out of order.

so I didn't talk about what makes it cool the Tour all that stuff. Um so I guess I should do that. If you don't mind, you should probably do that. Okay and my phone's ringing.

my office guy I'll catch that. So like I said with the car wizard, there is nothing showing on the top side of this car. Any kind of neglect or anything that I just did. it is so so darn near mint up here.

This is Roman red what this car left the factory with, but it's been beautifully refreshed I Wouldn't call it a full-blown restoration, but the paint is pretty much Flawless let me push it back so you can oh, try, push it back and go all the way around it easier and not put it in the lotus in the Jack Okay, that's that's going to have to be good enough. Uh, but 62 is actually the last year of the first generation. Corvette So it lost a lot of the jewelry a lot of The Bling in the 60s because that was falling out of fashion. but it still has the same shape so it's one tone of paint rather than two ton say on the ' 50s ones where they had the Uh White here in the Gill and I personally really like it.

Of course a 58 with all the jewelry does look absolutely gorgeous, but this looks a lot more like say an old Corvette race car, especially with the dog dish, hub caps and the red rimmed Wheels there. So this is the last year of the first generation Corvette and the ninth year of Corvette production. So going on 10 years, it came out in 53 and uh was a really crude car when it came out inline 6 Terrible. Power By 1955 they put in the V8 the 327.

They also started offering Rochester fuel injection which this one doesn't have otherwise it would be a big big money car but uh, still the same by 62 the 327 which did continue into the Next Generation Corvette So that's why parts are plentiful. They made these engines for so many years, put it in so many cars that uh, parts are all very easy to come by thankfully and super simple. You can see the alover gaskets would be so easy to do on this car. Old Generator thermostats I mean everything looks so simple, so easy to do that even I could probably do it myself if I wasn't such an idiot.

This one also came with both tops, the hard tops in place. it looks really good with it on, uh, fitting in it I'm actually not too bad. Getting in is definitely the challenge because you have the big thick steering wheel and then the low roof. But once you get in, there is sort of a hump in here.

Uh, to where I fit? say better than the count I actually don't hit the ceiling and it gives me like a flat top head. I Have plenty of room in here. There is no power steering, so steering this thing definitely a chore when you're parking it. No power brakes, but that's not that bad.

Clutch feel isn't too bad. The Mty 4 speed is certainly uh, you know, crude, but not too bad. It took a little bit of getting used to honestly. I didn't get to drive it too much before I blew the diff so really didn't get to know the car that well.

Uh now I know I shouldn't probably clutch dump and do burnouts in a 60-year-old Corvette Uh, but beautiful, Beautiful gauges. You can see there's the tachometer there temperature speedometer 160 mph seems impossible on this thing, but that's how far the speedometer goes too. And then you have I believe what they call the rib cracker rearview mirror. it's mounted on the dashboard instead of up high which is different, but it definitely works.

And then, uh, no airbags in 1962. But you do have a grab handle and oh, you know what handle, uh for your passenger? uh. but overall, absolutely beautiful. The quality in here.

everything in such nice condition. Obviously the seats been replaced, the carpet been replaced. I Don't think any of the gauges or any of this has been done. Even the AM radio is coming alive in this thing.

the heater, all that stuff. So everything was in working order. It just looks like it's been sitting for a long time and had a lot of little leaks and neglect. But the one thing you never have to worry about is the fiberglass body rusting on this thing.

so there's absolutely no rust on the body. uh, but also no spiderweb cracking. That's the thing. The paint is just so darn nice on this car just now.

a little smudged up from us pushing it around. Uh, but on these old Corvettes you do have to watch the frame for rust in this one thankfully as we saw really really nice. So even though I did blow up this car in like 5 minutes of driving it, I am very happy with it. Still, the Corvette Market it could be something that's on the decline.

that's why I got this thing for so cheap. Normally this is like a 70 $80,000 car. Uh, but there are less people on this Earth every day that were around to buy these cars. News: So the enthusiasm for these.

the prices. Well they're literally dying out with that generation. So maybe I got a good deal? Maybe not, but one way to check is where actually I'm going I'm going to the Barrett Jackson collector Car auction. uh to do the live TV coverage again in New Orleans This is the first New Orleans auction and they do have a lot of first generation Corvettes there, so we'll kind of find out the market see if $50,000 was actually a steal or what they're going for now.

So I guess we'll jump forward to New Orleans Well obviously this isn't the auction in New Orleans this is the hoopty hanger where all my cars are at and uh, well. I was a little overwhelmed at Barrett Jackson New Orleans because it was my very first time doing live block coverage on live television on the History Channel uh, the entire time before I would just do little field hits every 15 20 minutes they would come to me uh, versus being on the Block for 5 hours straight. every single car I had to talk about something and you know, when it's the 12th chevel. Uh, it gets a little hard when you're not a big muscle car guy like me, but still I had an absolute blast I Loved it but I hated the circumstances as to why I was filling in Steve Manon Uh, he's usually the guy up on the Block Been doing it for 20 years.

He had a brain infection, a terrible one, left him in a coma for a very long time that he's come out of and the road recovery there is very very long. so if you noticed I've also been filling in on his YouTube channel as well doing his junkyard digs his crawls that he would normally do on his YouTube channel. Uh, but since he can't right now he's recovering I've been doing it for him I shot five videos so you can check it out there on his channel. You can also check out the Barrett Jackson live auction on their YouTube channel.

You can see my very first time covering for Steve doing the block coverage and boy oh boy was I wrong when it came to first generation. Corvettes The enthusiasm is stronger than ever and the prices, well, absolutely unreal. The highest selling car of the auction was a 58 Corvette for $600,000 Now it was totally custom with an Art Moris and Chassis LS engine. Beautifully executed car but still a classic first Generation Corvette on the skin.

Now there were several others. The prices were really impressive. Yeah, really nice. 1961 brought $121,000 with fees of 58, $106,000 and a 62 much like mine Roman Red That one brought $88,000 with fees at auction and it was like mine.

It was a really nice body, but clearly an older restoration. Maybe a little bit nicer than mine when it comes to the undercarriage, which would be an easy fix for mine to clean that up a little bit which Speaking of the wizard has been hard at work on my undercarriage um of the Corvette uh replacing the differential. So in this video I thought I wasn't going to be able to drive the Corvette but it is fixed in that sense. All the leaks and the exhaust and all that stuff I Still not done yet but at least I can take you up for a spin and show you what the wizard found when he took out my old differential.

It was a mess so let's head up to the car Wizards again. Oh there's Wizard's gangster truck with a looks like a diesel in it now and the Bushmaster is here. Euro Asian Bob He bought this at bar Jackson New Orleans for a great price I think it was uh, predated the Pathfinder so they took these trucks, converted them, um made them into sort of Forerunner things. but uh yeah, the name.

the Bushmaster name is a little strange, huh? Have you ever mastered any bushes? I no no, you know in the 80s I was a little kid so there there was none of that for me. Probably not. Yeah, how's your week been been pretty good. uh I'm pretty sore trying to get limbered up from getting your Corvette done.

Was it hard like holding up the diff and putting it in weighs like 80 lb? Really? yeah. and unfortunately uh diff uh, weighs more than we want. It also costs more. There were some cheaper used ones, but I wanted to get a nice one.

So your estimate of uh, $700 was, uh, crushed by a lot by the time I got what I wanted py new rebuilt. it was like $2500 for that. So uh, this this is the old one huh? Yes! I have a a friend that does Dentistry named Taran he would be jealous of you pulling so many teeth all in such a short amount of time. So I dropped the clutch with the engine revved up and rather than spinning the tires, it just went with every single.

yep right there. Yep, huh. and now, yeah, you can put these teeth in You' be like a vampire for Halloween you want to? you going to do it I'm not putting him in my mouth. No, you put all kind of things in your mouth.

This could cut my lip. Okay, they're sharp all right, so it moves under its own power. now. yeah, like you mentioned, it has the Py rear end.

The one you ordered is Py Yeah, this one's not even from the factory which just what they call an open diff. So I can do burnouts a lot better in this car. Now is what you're saying. Do both.

Wheels But I don't recommend you do burnouts in this thing. Well, it's a good time to be a Corvette owner, especially the first generation because it was the highest sale car of the auction $600,000 but it had a Modern Art Morrison ch Chassy Like modern Corvette Running gear. Not this. You probably should have bought that one to do burnout.

$600,000 this was $45,000 There was another one just like it that brought 80 80. Yeah, Wow. yeah. so I'm pretty happy, especially if it's driving in.

We're able to do any of the other stuff I Didn't get anything else done but I did get it drivable. It's up back on the road again so we can cruise. We could go take a quick Cruise Yeah, you want to hop in? Sure. Well, getting in is a little bit of a challenge with this low roof line.

but uh, not as bad as your viper with roof on I suppose I don't think I'll ever put its roof back on I Can't get in and out all right. So full throttle and just dump the clutch right? No, no, we don't want to do that all over again. Well, nice and Easy does it on this old car. Yeah, that was about a three grand burnout attempt, but once you're going, you can get on in a little bit.

Yeah, it's a pretty spirited car. For 60 years old, it's just a 327 under there. Yeah, yeah, but uh uh. when you need to take a turn, probably not a good idea to do it one armed because it's a yeah.

there we go. We'll cut the turn here. That makes it better. Wow, that feels like power steering.

It's wizard power steering. There we go. So yeah, a little crude in that sense. As far as the uh, the steering and obviously the brakes being drums I mean they're not bad.

They're not power assisted at all. so uh, definitely definitely a little more challenging than, say, a modern car car. but they're okay, but they're not great. It's not hard to drive this car really no.

and it's pretty comfortable too. Very little wind noise with the hard top on as far as the airflow and stuff. Yeah, yeah. I have to know though.

did Elvis have one of these and no I don't think so. he he like European cars I think when it came to sports cars Mercedes BMW 507 Cadillacs Obviously, but yeah, no Corvette I still feel like I stole this thing. It's a pretty cool car, but I'm not going to drive it like I stole it. So thank you for getting all this work done.

Yeah, I'm still a little sore from working on your rear though. Okay, that is a very, uh, very wholesome way to end this video. This American Icon Such a cool car! Thank you so much for watching.