1974 was a great year if you were into rock music or the Miami Dolphins, but Chevrolet Corvettes were woefully made to suffer under some of the most stringent and dull government regulations. The oil crisis of 1973, miles-long lines at gas stations, and the growing fear of smog had scared everyone pretty good, and consequently legislation forced Detroit to make its cars achieve fuel economy that didn’t leave a lot of room for high-horsepower fun.
In its top configuration, a ’74 Corvette like the one seen here could muster 270 hp with the 454 cubic-inch LS4, a far cry from the same-displacement, 425 hp LS6 offered just three years earlier. One owner decided even that wasn’t enough for his ride, and went over the top by installing a 522 cubic-inch Merlin V8 under the hood. It’s combined with twin Whipple superchargers, fuel injection, and aluminum heads, among other things, that come together to put out 1,350 horsepower.
But he didn’t stop there; far from it! Per his description in the listing on Hemmings, the seller states that the Vette (AKA “Project Insane Asylum”) has “a reported $260,000 in the build.” To put that in perspective, that’s the kind of money that could get you a decent-sized condo out here in Southern California.
All that cheddar went toward some other hefty changes, as you can imagine. These include a deep gloss paint job, custom end cap, widened fenders, and an interior that puts the velour and shag carpet of the Disco Era to shame. “Subtle it ain’t, but it definitely has an appeal that is hard to resist,” comments the seller.
A C3 like this isn’t something we tend to run across too often, and the seller shrewdly uses this point to justify the $94,995 price tag attached to the car. Buy it? Burn it? Bury it? We’ll leave that to you to decide.