Watch This 1600-Mile C3 Corvette Get Its First Wash in 45 Years

This 1978 Chevy Corvette was barely driven before being parked and left in a garage to collect dust. Now it's finally getting love.

By: Brian Silvestro

Apr 20, 2024 at 12:00pm ET

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With the internet saturated with barn-find discoveries, you'd think there weren't any old, abandoned classics left in the world. Yet every day, a new video of a car being pulled out of a garage makes its way to YouTube. This latest find, a C3 Corvette with just 1599 miles on the clock, has been dormant for 45 years. Now, it's finally getting the love it deserves.

The crew from the WD Detailing YouTube channel had their work cut out for them with this extraction. In exchange for having access to the car, the team had to help replace the garage doors keeping it hidden—an all-day task, seeing as how they were covered in overgrowth and vines.

Once the team finally gets back to their warehouse, the cleaning can begin. While most of the dirt comes off with some soap and a pressure washer, the bumpers are more difficult to scrub clean. Hardcore Corvette people will know these pieces were made from plastic rather than metal or fiberglass, and the WD Detailing folks suspect they absorbed more dirt through heat cycling than the rest of the panels. Nothing a stiff brush and some elbow grease can't fix.

What do you think?

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Whomever put this Corvette into storage smartly decided to leave the doors and windows closed, sealing the cabin from outside air. The result is a bright red leather interior that looks nearly as good as new. That didn't stop mice from getting inside, making nests and leaving droppings in their wake. A thorough vacuum and scrub-down were all the cabin needed to shine like it did nearly 50 years ago.

Thanks to WD Detailing's hard work, this '78 Corvette looks as good as it did when it left the showroom floor. Hopefully the owner will take steps to get it mechanically sorted and back on the road.