They were beautiful looking cars. It's just that the emission and fuel economy standards hit hard in the height of the 3rd gen production and there wasn't the technology we have today to make them both efficient, low emission, AND keep the legendary performance a Corvette has to have.
150 hp 350 V8 had to be insulting to the 2nd gen owners at the time. I mean, in 1982 a 1967 427 4 speed Stingray is 15 years old. And it's blowing the doors off any brand new Corvette in the showroom at the time. Serious Corvette collectors pass over anything 1973-82, and they're typically priced according to the standard used car market. Meaning you can get one in mint condition with low mileage for $6-7k.
1973 still offered the 454 motor.....I'm not sure about 1974......
And the acceleration of the L 82 350 wasn't far off the pre 1973 motors...
The killer was when the base engine L49 or L48 rating did drop to a low of 180 hp and in California one year or did run a corvette with a 305 v8 that was possibly rated at 150...
California thankfully was but one state so I never remember one tested by the mags ..
Emissions were tough and the industry as a whole was suffering ...
The insanely fast at the time Porsche 911 turbo around 1976 did zero to sixty in 6 flat from the factory...
Also remember stock factory tires were horrible on most cars...
Back then as enthusiasts we were just ripping smog equipment off most cars and modding the hell out of them....it was simple and uncomplicated ..... We all had friends that managed to get our high performance motors inspection stickers..
We all had fast (modded cars) it was cheap and easy to bring them up and buying older muscle cars/ ponys pre emission strangling was plentiful although insurance was becoming tough on factory hot rods. Hence modding or replacing ponys motors etc was often cheaper
For most beating the insurance company was the goal...and we all managed that trick starting out with base v8 ponys and tearing them down...
Not like today it was relatively common place.
Obd and obd2 was the beginning of the end...and eventually government fines were a real deterrent..
All of my post here .... just rumors of course.