My name is Dan

I don't own a Vette yet but I'm in the market for a '75-'81. I'm hoping to learn a lot here.

I've been a Ford person most of my life but owned a couple of beater NOVA's 12-13 years ago.

I hit 40 in February and the desire for a toy  to play with hit really hard. I'm hoping to behind the wheel of a Vette by July    

www.corvettetrader.com and www.collectorcartraderonline.com are fairly good web resources to find available Corvettes.  Corvette Central, Mid-America, and Ecklers are good resources for Corvette repro/replacement parts.  Just remember, you cannot legally put sidepipes on a '75+ 'vette, if you were considering such an option, as all post-'75 Corvettes had Catalytic Converters.

A few simple tidbits:
1975: last year for rear deck vents "Astro Ventilation", last year for C3 convertible
1976: First year for aluminum wheels, last year for "Stingray" emblem, "Vega" sport steering wheel
1977: New console introduced, last year notchback rear window
1978: first year glassback window, new interior (dash, doors, etc), first year glass t-tops, 25th anniversary and pace car editions available
1979: largest production volume year, pace car seats from '78 now standard
1980: revised bumper caps, 85mph speedometers mandatory, 305cuin "LG4" V8 in Cali only, final year for L48/L82.  New rear-axle, batwing "Dana36" style.
1981: Final year for C3 manual transmission, L81 only engine available
1982: Final C3 year, all use TH-700R4 automatics, no manual.  All "Cross-Fire Injection" L83 V8. Collector Ed. package available, hatchback only available in Coll Ed.  

I can't remember for sure, but in either '76 or '77 models, the Automatic transmission changed from the TH-400 to the TH-350, and the Manual changed from the Muncie M20/M21 to the Borg Warner T10.

All 1975-1982 'vettes are smallblock V8's.  As I understand, all L48's were 2-bolt blocks, while the L82's were supposedly 4-bolt, but the L-82 information may be incorrect in that regard.