Flaming Orange Crush – Steven Boyd’s 1975 Corvette Roadster

Steven Boyds lead art

What do C3 Corvettes and a 19th century fresco painting have in common? Both are undisputed works of art, both need care and preservation, and both have been recipients of questionable “interventions.”

You may remember a story that pinged around the globe back in 2012. An elderly Spanish woman tried to “touch up” a one-of-a-kind 19th century fresco by the Spanish painter Elias Garcia Martinez and with a few broad brushstrokes, destroyed the work of art forever.

Her handiwork, or lack thereof, was discovered after the painter’s granddaughter donated the work, “Ecce Homo,” to the archive of religious paintings housed at the Centro de Estudios Borjano, in Borja, Spain. When officials from the center went to examine the work at the church a few weeks ago, they found it was not as Martinez had left it,  the U.K.’s Telegraph reported.

The last photo taken of the artwork before any damage was done, in 2010, showed Martinez’s intricate brush strokes around the face of Jesus. A photo taken in July by center officials for a catalog of regional religious art showed the painting splattered by white marks, possibly the work of the woman trying to remove paint.

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Probably best to leave masterpieces alone.

The final photo, taken a month after Martinez’s relative donated the work, showed broad and thick layers of paint now covering important details in the work, such as the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head.

While not a good day for art preservation, local officials said the restoration attempt by the woman, said to be in her 80s, was not malicious, just misguided.

And that brings us to C3 Corvettes. The brainchild of Bill Mitchell and David Holls, 1968-1982 Corvettes are incredible beauties that probably are best appreciated in an unaltered, unmolested state. Like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa, we think Sharks are darn near perfect out of the box and don’t take well to much alteration unless with a very deft, restrained touch.

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Eyes wide shut. C3 pop-up headlights are rare example that look good in the open position.

When Corvette Online flew out to Pennsylvania to attend the 2016 Corvettes at Carlisle, we were smitten with this pristine, mostly original 1975 Corvette Roadster owned by Steven Boyd. The car is as pure and unadulterated as we’ve ever seen and were immediately drawn to it like a moth to it’s “Orange Flame” paint.

We tracked down Steven and he shared with us the backstory of the car and while fairly conventional, it illustrates the blood, sweat and tears necessary to preserve an old C3 and keep automotive versions of the aforementioned amateur “artist” at bay.

Way back in 1997, Mr. Boyd, who resides in a suburb north of Philadelphia, had been looking for a 1973 Corvette roadster. He was especially fond of the one year only combination of rubber and chrome bumpers.

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Slick as a duck’s tail. No luggage rack required.

He was still on the hunt for that elusive C3 when his brother-in-law Ed Schmitt called from Corvettes at Carlisle Car Corral and told him of this original, double rubber bumper ‘Vette.

Ed had a digital camera–which was rare back then–and he recorded some pics and sent them over to Steven for his perusal.

Steven recounts “At first, the seller was more interested in Ed’s new fangled digital camera than he was talking about the car. ” Nonetheless, the pictures Ed sent Steven intrigued him, so he called the seller and made an appointment to see the ‘Vette.

When he saw the car in person, he was impressed. He told Corvette Online “I looked it over thoroughly from top to bottom and the quality and integrity of the car was readily apparent. The car created quite a sensation at Carlisle and attracted multiple offers including some big name Corvette players like Terry Michaelis of ProTeam fame.”

Alas, after some dickering, Steven and the seller came to an agreement and the car was his.

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Cool, Sixties modern, "2001-Space Odyssey" styling carried over for 1975.

Though not technically a high option car, all the right boxes were ticked. It came from St. Louis    dipped in factory “Orange Flame” paint along with the high-end leather interior in Medium Saddle. Under the skin, it rolled off the line with the rare 205hp, L82 V8, close ratio four-speed, PS, PB, and AM-FM radio. The car still had it’s factory original urethane bumpers that had miraculously survived over the decades.

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Rare 205hp L82 V8 was scarce back in ’75. A mere 2,372 were delivered that year.

The body is virtually flawless with a paint job that’s almost 20 years old. The previous owner spent a considerable amount of money on the body work and paint. To the best of Steven’s recollection, Moppert’s Body Shop in either New Jersey or Pennsylvania did the paint work.

GM Design guru Bill Mitchell and stylist David Holls polished every detail to prefection.

The car had roughly 50k miles on it when Steven bought it and was driven regularly during the early days of his ownership. Over time, the rear bumper cracked and failed so he had it replaced and repainted by the same shop that sprayed the car originally. After they matched the bumper, they clear coated the entire car from the doors back to make sure everything was perfect. The front bumper is still original to the car.

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One of the best rear ends in automotive history?

1975 was a big production year for the Corvette and the last year for the roadster until 1986. The rubber bumper styling had transformed the ‘Vette and ignited sales.

Chevy cranked out 33,836 coupes and 4639 roadsters for a total 38, 465. Only 2,372 left the factory with the L82 motor and even fewer–1,057–with the close ratio four-speed manual transmission. This makes Boyd’s Orange Corvette probably one the rarest combinations available in 1975.

It’s been almost 20 years since Steven bought the car and he now accrues only 1000 miles annually on this fibergalss beauty. Over the years he’s fixed a leaky water pump, re-cored the radiator, and shored up a corroded brake caliper, but other than that, he’s just driven and enjoyed the car while keeping aging and degradation at bay.

Since he’s owned the car, Steven estimates it’s won roughly 17 awards including 2016 Celebrity Judge Choice Award from Bill Miller of Carlisle Events.

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Corvette made it through five mph bumper regulations with grace and style.

For you celluloid fans, Boyd’s car is darn near identical to the ‘Vette driven by Dirk Diggler in “Boogie Nights.” Steven had never seen the movie so he was unimpressed when we connected the dots.

To be precise, Diggler drove a Orange Flame ’76 coupe in the movie but this era ‘Vette is perfect for the film as it represents everything good and bad about the Seventies, General Motors and the Corvette.

It also is a snapshot of a simpler time that allows us to savor a moment when bellbottoms, Zeppelin, and Suzanne Sommers ruled the earth.

As such, it’s a rolling artifact now, telling it’s story of a bygone era without saying a word. No updates or revisions necessary.

Photography Ed Schmitt – www.theschmittgroup.com

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This is what a Corvette looks like with eight color coats and 10 coats of clear. Yeah, you could probably call the paint job over-restored, because no production Seventies Corvette ever looked this good, but we don’t care. It makes an already beautiful car an absolute knock out.

About the author

Dave Cruikshank

Dave Cruikshank is a lifelong car enthusiast and an editor at Power Automedia. He digs all flavors of automobiles, from classic cars to modern EVs. Dave loves music, design, tech, current events, and fitness.
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