1979 Corvette + Tornado = Sharknado
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- On June 1, 2011 a terrifying category EF3 tornado pummeled Brimfield, Massachusetts’ One Stop Towing with 165 mph winds and literally threw cars around like playthings. This 1979 Corvette may have been a victim but that doesn’t stop the 1979 Corvette from being the most popular Corvette of all time (in terms of production numbers). Steve explores the 1979 Corvette’s new features PLUS terrifying video from the June 1, 2011 Brimfield Tornado as it was recorded by Chris Mendrek, who survived the harrowing ordeal.
I spent a good portion of my life growing up with my dad scavenging for parts at junk yards. He was a mechanic and a car enthusiast. These videos really hit home for me. Thanks.
The switch on the door was for the electric door locks. Corvette power window switches were all on the center console until the 1990 interior redesign.
Thank you Steve get well soon.
These videos are always very helpful and informative - thank you!
Sorry Steve but 1975 was the first year for the mandatory unleaded gas in GM passenger vehicles and light trucks because of catalytic converters. Heavy trucks were exempt until 1979 ( 1978 in California) when all gasoline powered heavy trucks had to comply as well. The 85 MPH speed in 1979 was another joke out of Washington during the Carter admin. with the idea people would not go any faster if they didn't know how fast they actually were going. I think it had the opposite effect with people seeing if they could bury the needle past 85 in their econoboxes.
How fast would your chevette go vettekid?
This is correct. My brother owned a 1975 Toyota Celica, and it had the filler neck that would only allow unleaded fuel.
That was also the year of the infamous "seat belt interlock" system. The car would not start unless the belts were fastened.
@@kmath50 That's 1974 for the seat belt interlock system. My parents 1974 Charger had it. The requirement was eliminated in October 1974.
Correct. I remember because I was pumping it. At 18 I had a part time job pumpin gas so I could work on my car and use the tools. Nice little perk back then.
A little off on the trucks, can't say for California. 78 chevy 1/2 ton pickups, blazer and suburbans still ran regular gas. 79 4x4 pickups, blazers and suburbans ran regular gas. 2wd got cats and unleaded gas. 1980 4x4 and 2wd 1/2 trucks went to unleaded with cats.
3/4 and 1 ton Chevy and GMC 4x4 trucks still ran regular gas till 87.
Thank you Steve...
Thanks for sharing that tornado don't get to see that very often I shared this with a friend in the country that doesn't experience tornadoes
How many times can this guy say oh my God???
I had to skip that part
you're not from around here, are yah? 😄
1979 Corvette the power windows were on the console they were not in the door panels if you'd look to carefully you would have seen it said lock that means power door locks I happen to know this because I had a 1979 redwin with a red interior.
i was in that garage months before the tornado..dave was my childhood friend,the 63 tempest he had back in the day..
In Oklahoma, we call that Tuesday in May.
That was a good year for Trans am also
Chilling video
You have had some really great videos. Motor Trend needs to give you a call again.BTW as a 65 year old car guy (and lifetime modeler) your channel is very enjoyable. Thanks for everything you do Steve.
If i was steve i would not go back to motor trend id much prefer the be my own boss aspect of youtube and freelancing again
I am also a lifetime modeler ( 43 years old). Steve is a wealth of knowledge and he has the best videos
Get well Steve!!
Tornado in Mass? (!!!!)
2011 was a crazy year for tornados I had one rip through my town in southern Ontario. There had never been one before then in this area. none really since either.
I believe the flap in the gas filler didn’t prevent the larger leaded fuel nozzle from being used, the size of the opening did.
Yeah, I've seen him say that many times. But thinking about it I guess he's kinda correct. Without the flap you technically could still put the larger nozzle to the smaller opening and the gas would still flow through the hole. But with the flap it would splash back and besides making a hazard, would shut the nozzle off. Technically you could still keep a funnel with you.
We could use the VIN for the win which would be something like this: 1 for Chevrolet, Z for Corvette, 87 for two door coupe, 4 for 350 V8 with four barrel, HO, aka RPO code "L82" or 8 for 350 V8 with four barrel, standard engine, aka RPO code "L48", 9 for 1979 model year, S for St. Louis, MO assembly and the rest is the production sequence. The St. Louis, MO assembly plant would assemble Corvettes up to June 1, 1981. Starting on that date, they were assembled at Bowling Green, KY where they still are today. There were 53,807 Corvettes made for the 1979 model year and 6,707 of them (12.46%) were painted code 72 Corvette Red.
Yes Tornados are so destructive. Yes the sky will turn green with a tornado. I've been in the vicinity of a couple. Never knew the Corvette ever had the 85 MPH Speedometer.
Worried about you, Steve.
Crazy footage of the aftermath. Scary AF to go through something like that.
“It took my hood scoop”
Apparently the scooping action goes both ways
79 most sold! Never knew that!
Steve you should corvette summer that car
I was in Carlisle PA when the tornado came through. My kids were at home in south central MA. What a tense bunch of calls and texts... Luckily the storm tracked north of us. A week later we saw the damage from Springfield to the Brookfields & northern CT. Hopefully a once in a lifetime event for NewEngland!
I was at the Holyoke Mall working. I got out at 5 and drove up rt 5 to Agawam where I lived. Then ran over to Springfield where I’d bought a house the day before. Nothing looked the same. It was surreal. House had a lot of damage.
When I think Massachusetts I never think Tornadoes unbelievable.
@@Daniel-fd3wp Happened a few times, I'm afraid. The Worcester Tornado from 1953 was worse. Nearly 100 people lost their life. The Community College in Worcester I attended still had the fourth floor that was damaged that fateful day sealed off. Cape Cod had a nasty Tornado in July 2019. Yarmouth got pummeled.
I’m sorry to hear that I’m sure that was devastating.
Amen, sir.
i cant see a 4 speed stingray in the junk yard. makes me sad
Alot of trees are still show scarring, or stripped away completely still today from Springfield east. Basically along rt 20.
I was living in Worcester on that day. Went down rt 20 some days later to view the damage. Cut a swath through 30” pine trees snapping them like twigs. I never witnessed tornado damage before that. And I never appreciated the power one has until I saw the damage first hand.
Bob - are tornados uncommon in MA? They definitely are in Pittsburgh (but not unheard of, especially north of the city where the terrain flattens out). Though I did live through one in the late 90s when I was in my driveway wrenching on my old '64 Land Rover. That green sky and the roar - terrifying.
@@wes11bravo Large tornados are uncommon in Mass. There was one in Worcester back in 1952 that claimed almost 100 lives, and destroyed some neighborhoods completely. That was an F-4, and said to be over a mile wide. It also traveled a distance of nearly 50 miles. Mass hasn’t seen anything like that since. And hopefully won’t again.
Wow that's some raw footage. Glad there ok and survived. Cars can be fixed and replaced we can't.
Holy crap. How horrible. Where do you begin the clean up from something like that?! Overwhelming
Great video thank's 👍
Steve, you are very wrong. 78 was the first year for everything you have stated.
Wow those boys won the lottery.
My mom lived in brimfield only a couple of miles from the tornado
Another very cool and informative video. However, the switch you point out on the door skin is the door lock/unlock switch. The power windows switches are on the console.
Great SCOTT!!!
Tis but a scratch!
Lol...I've had worse
Oh my god! Why is the owner saving that Corvette? Oh my God!
The 85 mph speedo was put on late 79 vettes,m when they ran out of the 140
The way my brain functions I read it as corvette + olds toronado. I didn't know what I was going to see.
Don't feel bad, I thought the same thing.
I thought the same thing
Great video Steve! Sad to see the damage tornadoes cause! I have a 79 corvette that still registers 140, but it's one of the early build dates. Tornadoes have really been bad in my area this season, alot of Corvette's got damaged by a tornado that were in storage at the racetrack December 10th 2021 at Bowling Green, it even damaged the Corvette factory and caused a fire. Sadly alot of folks lost their lives all across Kentucky that day, I'm still praying for all their families and losses.😪
I have a 79 as well. Most have the 140 speedo, including mine. Apparently some later ones have 2 rear interior doors, instead of 3.
@@vincerencher9128 mine has the 3 interior doors also. I read somewhere that after they ran out of 140 mph speedometers in 79 they started using the 85 mph ones late in the year, probably the same with the interior compartment doors.👍
@@musclecarmitch908 I drove by Bowling Green a couple days after the tornado hit. Lucky the Museum didn't get hit after the sinkhole. I have a 78 Corvette. My 80 Trans Am has the 85 speedo. (My 2019 Hyundai Kona has a 140 mph speedo!!)
I used to love going to junkyards here in San Diego,CA you see some cars and in the back off your mind you think somebody died in here.
🌪The Power of #MotherNature is mind-blowing!! 🤯
wow! that footage was pretty sobering . . . as we go into tornado season here in the mid west. Another great vid, thanks Steve
I miss junkyard gold
You had me at Sharknado!
Oh my god.
Wow 🌬
Is a Stingray really a shark ...?
195 hp. Anemic, especially for a corvette. Amazing that so many were sold.
That’s so o sad
I’ve never understood why so many Vettes have auto transmissions.
1:46 "It's a baby fuck'n whale"
@7:46 - Your crib sheet needs more thumb, Steve. :))
All that damage happened when they put the boat on top lol
Tornadoes......frightening!
Undaneat a setta staihz, ohmygod!
Lived in a yard for 2 year's that my father in law owned for 20 years. My wife had two tow trucks, 85 ford rollback and a 62 Chevy hook. Miss those days..
Wasn't the power window switches on the console? Switch on the door panel was first power locks?
Man the guy’s where lucky to escape unscaved! Sad that they lost so many great cars, but material things can be replaced! Not lives! Great video!
The most incredible tornado aftermath footage I have ever seen......how the fu** did they survive......amazing.
I have know idea. Unbelievable.
I'm glad the 1 stop guys made it through without getting hurt. Too bad about the damage to the shop and vehicles - I hope insurance made them whole.. June 1 2011 was a scary day. My sister's family owned a house in down town Monson, directly in the path of the tornado. Luckily she an her husband were at work and somehow, her house got spared while the Neighbor's house was destroyed. My Niece rode the storm out in a friend's basement a few houses down the road and was safe. I was at work in Stafford, CT a few miles south of the tornado and saw the same green sky you did.
GOOD STUFF!!
Tornadoes are very unusual in New England but there was one sometimes in the late 70's that wrecked the New England Air Museum at Bradley Airport , one of the few C-133's (a giant cargo plane) ever built was picked up and completely wrecked it. And I my wife lived through the Worcester tornado in 1953. We're very lucky in this part of the country not to have more of them. Events like those put the sadness of cars in a junkyard into perspective.
1978
I'm surprised nobody has harvested the drivetrain out of it yet
Unleaded fuel started in 1975, not 1979.
When I bought my 1975 T/A it had the restriction cut out of the filler neck with a tin snips so sombody could still run the higher octane leaded gas in it back in the day (they put early 70s higher compression 400 heads on its 1975 original 455 smog dog block) I still havent got arround to fixing the filler neck, kind of a neat reminder of what kind of "outlaw life" it had lived in the early 80s
A lot of us did that filler neck mod back then, along with replacing the cat with a "test tube." Regular leaded gas was usually 89 octane, while unleaded was 87 octane and a little costlier. Premium was leaded only, except maybe at Amoco? At least gas was still ethanol free and not oxygenated until many years later. I remember the pinging/detonation many heavier cars experienced with the 87 octane since long before computer engine management and knock sensors.
To be honest, I was expecting the filler neck to have been modified. I had a 76 Corvette in the early 2000's and the first time I took off the gas cap, I laughed out loud. I was old enough to know exactly why it had been bashed in with a chisel.
Glad to see those guys survived that absolute destruction. Small point, but 79 was not the low point for Vettes. 75 presented the lowest HP from the factory. By 79, an L82 with a 4 speed was a mid-6 0-60. Mind numbing? No, but darn respectable even up against many of the muscle cars from the mid 60s. And it could certainly out handle, brake, etc most of them as well.
@My Pronoun is WTF Actually, the IRS, stiff suspension, and short wheel base hinder the Corvettes quarter mile times. That’s why, even back in the days of the BB Corvettes, you’ll find them finishing behind Hemi Cudas, LS6 Chevelles, etc. My point stands, a mid-6 puts it on par with many of the mid-sixties muscle cars. Was a 79 as quick? No. But they weren’t that far behind with far more creature comforts, better handling, and better braking. Cool story about your station wagon, must have been a killer car.
I remember that day, I was in Springfield when it happened it destroyed everything! It's pretty crazy what it did to all the trees, they were just all gone from half way up the tree and there's still a lot of them still standing today like that.
Man, that would be scary to go through. Glad the guys are ok.
cool video sir
Keep on crawling!
Mags were you living in worster mass in 1990 my brother and I ended up there at our friend's place the houseburgs bill and Steve bill took me to a garage that used to be a gas station and there was a 69 coronet r/t convertible with darn green and a tan roof was going for 4,000.00 in the back the guy had old 62 dodge darts 1 a 6 1 a v8 a 64 belvedere and some others
I was in Palmer that day. Remember it well.
I'm not sure that's a 79. I bet it's an 80'. I had a 79 Camaro and it did not have an 85 MPH speedo. It had a 130 MPH. I believe a 79 and 80 Corvette look identical except for maybe wheels.
Mother Nature
Makin little Corvette babies ?.
“ It took my hood scoop” 😂😂
Great inclusion of that old video..
"It took my hood scoop"😆
As a Subaru guy I felt that lol
LMFAO...the language and the accent on the tornado video.. Soooo Boston, sounds like the "it's a tuna bro! guys".
say high to dave bell for me.
Awesome history lesson 👍
Back in 1976, a severe storm came through my hometown in Northwest Ohio. It didn't spawn any tornadoes but there was damage like the drive in scene from the movie Twister all over town. My uncle lost two 1969 Corvettes that day. One a big block car and the other a small block, both 4 speeds. They were crushed under a huge oak taken down by the high winds.
I know it doesn’t reflect well on me, but i will admit that every time I hear of a natural disaster, tornado, wild fire, flood, I always pause to think about all the great cars that have been destroyed, after I’ve thought about the people and other living things that is.
Hey James Blair, no negative reflection at all. Sure human loss and tragedy are first and foremost, but its A-OK to shed a tear for "our metal friends" too! THANKS for Watching and Writing, Steve Magnante
Steve, That’s a very handy note pad. Great job as usual.
The tornado scared Steve so much his hair turned black 😜
I had friends living in Monson MA (couple towns over from Brimfield) at the time. Absolutely wild to see the destruction this tornado caused. I never knew at the time that Western MA could even get tornados… they’ve had a few since then.
I think I have seen a video of that other red car from the tornado video, whatever car it was, a '63 Pontiac I think. I remember one like it anyway that was in a hurricane or tornado and now just sits in a garage still damaged as it was. Maybe it was even one of your videos, cannot remember.
Hello Spananator 666 CORRECT YOU ARE! That is the same exact '63 LeMans - with the same exact tornado damage seen on it today! And yes, I featured that car - with iots Tri-Power 421 (owner added) in an earlier video. The bummer is, at the time I shot that video, I wasn't aware of the tornado video or else I would have asked One Stop for permission to couple the two items like was done here. Another funny thing (well maybe ironic, not really funny) is that that smashed red LeMans is IN THE GARAGE YOU CAN SEE IN THE BACKGROUND in the Corvette video to this very day. The owner of all this treasure: "Dave" from One Stop Towing / Classic Heaven says the tornado damage to his beloved LeMans broke his heart and so he parked it and hasn't done anything to it....yet. Thanks for watching, and writing! -Steve Magnante
Tornadoes in Massachusetts are more common than people think, I'm afraid. The Worcester Tornado from 1953 was worse. Nearly 100 people lost their life. The Community College in Worcester I attended still had the fourth floor damaged that fateful day sealed off. Cape Cod had a nasty Tornado in July 2019. Yarmouth got pummeled.
Thanks for all the stat's on 79 corvette. You usually see automatic cars instead of 4 speed manual! Thanks for sharing the 11 year old video. Take care.
I ordered a ‘79 Corvette from the factory and did not order power windows. It was built with crank windows. Imagine my disappointment. As an aside, that car was by far the worst vehicle purchase I ever made. Just a terrible terrible car on so many levels.
Good channel!
As dramatic as that footage is while this man is realizing the world around him is gone, I had to laugh when he said it took his hood scoop. Just didn't expect that..LOL..
But we had a few nasty tornadoes over the last 10-12 years or so here in the Northeast.
My dad had bought a 1978 corvette L-82 limited edition, it was like a chocolate brown metallic color and had brown leather interior, it was the coolest car.
Wow! That was intense! I can't imagine going through that.
Holy mackerel how many coffees did you drink before making this video? Hehehehe you were talking faster then a Shelby cobra on nitro 🤣
my 79 camaro didnt have a 85 mph speedo
bad thing about those corvettes is they were far from light if they made the hood for them out of steel it would have been lighter chevrolet should have taken a look at how europeans made fiberglass bodies rather then casting them in 1/2" thick slabs of fiberglass
It's amazing that I watched you on TV 30 years ago when you were picking good parts out of junk yards to build cars( I may have the time line wrong, but it was awhile back.) Then I saw you on car auctions. Now you are still sharing your vast knowledge. I thought it most be your son because you look exactly the same. I really enjoy listening and watching you on whatever platform and
just wanted to thank you for the years of great content.