An older guy i work with has a pretty cherry, all OEM, bone-stock 1979 Corvette with an automatic. Its got 50k miles and is well maintained. He thinks its wicked fast. He wants to race my Camaro, but i know that won't even be a race. Im thinking about challenging him with my winter-beater. Its a 92 Z24 cavalier with a pretty strong 3.1 V6 and 5 speed. I just put a clutch in it 5k miles ago and the motor has 100k on it with a tune-up last year. The road im thinking about racing him on is a bit longer than an 1/8 mile from the start point to the shutdown marker. All the info i can find says that his car will do 15.9-16.3 in the 1/4 at a track. I think my cav is a solid 16 second car. Im also willing to take out the seats and go on a diet to shave some weight. I know it will be close, and i can always get the big Z out to shut him up. What do you guys think? Any tips? The race won't go down until the spring, so i have time for some tricks......
If i beat him with my beater, he's gonna freak!

which motor is in it? there were 2 availible that year

L48 was the low output 350. i think that year it had 180 - 190hp, probably a low 16 high 15 sec car

L82 was the high(er) output 350 with 230hp. this should get a C3 Vette into the low 15s with auto if driven right, high 14s with a stick

FWIW, a friend of mine had an 81' Vette with an auto trans. it went low 15s 100% stock. with just an open element filter, a catback, and some minor tweaking it went 14.6

^^^^^^^ Exactly. We had a '74 Vette with an L48 and it couldn't get out of its own way. The L82 Vette were pretty decent performers when they came out.

Im not sure what motor. I thought there was only the 190 HP version. Is that the california smog version? I don't have a chance if its a low 15 second car. What motor was more common? I will milk him for info about the motor. I haven't challenged him yet. I have plenty of time until spring.

I have a '75 L48 with a 4 speed and its a pig. The '79 should be faster but not by much

Didn't CA 'Vettes get a 305? Could have sworn they got crappy engines. Maybe it was just 4spd cars....my memory is fading. Getting old sucks

CA Vettes got the LG4, I think it was the years of 80-82 but I can't remember for sure.

Im thinking i will just race him in my camaro. I will spot him 3 cars and take the bottle out so he can't claim i cheated. His car is alot better maintained than my cav. and has less miles. I'll make sure we race on a road that is longer than the 1/8 mile i talked about before. Im just glad i didn't run my mouth........yet