New Carpeting and Insulation for my C3 Corvette

Even though the all-black interior of my '76 Corvette looked okay, it was—in my opinion—dull, bleak, and boring, and I felt I had to do something about it.

Having the dashboard completely out in order to clean and re-seal all the air ducts, as well as repair the heater box while also deleting the heater, gave me the much-needed impetus to go ahead and replace the carpeting. And since the black carpet had to be removed, I covered the front floors and transmission tunnel with FatMat for both heat and noise abatement.

Needless to say, LED courtesy lights also helped quite a bit as shown in the "after" photo above. Also worth mentioning is how hot regular, incandescent bulbs get, so replacing those with LEDs is the smart thing to do. I also replaced all the dash bulbs, and what a difference that made!

1976 Corvette Rear Bumper Cover Repaint

If color-matching is some kind of a magical process, then, unfortunately, we're out of modern-day alchemists who have mastered the craft.

Charlatans, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen, and the two photos below prove my point.

As one of my Instagram followers commented, they probably didn't even bother to spray a test or spray-out card before painting the whole bumper.

You don't have to be an automotive paint expert to see the color-matching fail depicted above. And the photos are forgiving. In real life, the mismatch was worse.

Fabricating My Own Glovebox Liner

Forty-plus years will wreak havoc on anything made out of cardboard, and my 1976 Corvette's glovebox liner was so exception.

So I had two options:

1. Buy a reproduction liner (about $30 plus shipping)
2. Make my own glovebox liner (about $8)

I chose option number two!

1975-1979 Rear Bumper Detailing

Forty-plus years take their toll on any car, especially in hidden areas, and this was clearly revealed once the bumper skin was off of my Corvette.

But since I don't mind a challenge when it comes to cleaning, detailing, or restoration, I kept removing parts and the end result was a sweet reward for the many hours it took me to remove years of dust and road grime.

Once the bumper cover was removed (click here for that article), I assessed what needed to be cleaned, replaced, or repaired.

1975-1979 C3 Corvette Rear Bumper Cover Removal

Although some of the steps and/or fasteners may differ between model years, the procedure is pretty much the same for rubber-bumper C3s, which may also apply to models all the way up to 1982.



The procedure is not difficult, per se, but it is challenging, and you may end up with a bunch of little cuts thanks to the tight spaces behind the bumper. If nothing else, you'll skin your knuckles. I was going to wear gloves but, again, space is at a premium and in some cases, you have to work by feel, something that's hard, if not impossible to do while wearing gloves.