Starting in 1968, the “Shark” Corvettes had a healthy fourteen-year run before evolution took hold and the C4 Corvette was introduced; almost still-birthed, but that’s another story for another time.

Dave Cruikshank took a look at this stylish generation, and while the door has closed on ordering one through Chevrolet, there were enough options and upgrades throughout the run of C3s that you’ll be hard pressed to not find something you’ll enjoy.

This buyer’s guide highlights some of the highs, and lows of this generation. But, we’d like to add, that some of the “lows” are simply due to technology moving on and we need to keep in mind that this was cutting-edge stuff when it was introduced. Namely, the Cross-Fire fuel injection system; it was introduced when the world was caving-in on EPA regulations for smog and fuel mileage, all while enthusiasts still demanded that a performance car would, well – perform! While the vacuum-laden system did have its quirks, it can also be a reliable mate to the late-model sharks.

Dave also goes into some of the other issues you might find on the dated technology used in the cars. Of course, mention of the brake system bears noting. And while these systems can get expensive to repair, the Corvette community has also had a couple of decades to figure out solutions to any issues. Unless the car has been restored or recently serviced, it also has several decades of use (or lack of use) and you might want to plan on addressing the brakes at some level.

There is so much history and the automotive world was changing at such a pace during this time that the Shark Corvettes have a broad range of options to woo enthusiasts. If you’ve ever thought about catching your own Shark Corvette the time might never be better. They’ve survived the “old car” phase of their life-cycle and enough were produced to still stock the highways sufficiently for you to hook one for your own garage. And, while they’ll likely never go extinct, a trophy catch might be getting harder to find.

Even though we ran this story a while ago, there is still so much great history and information, that we felt it was worth repeating. If you’ve got your own Shark Corvette story you’d like to share, feel free to share it with us and our readers below. We like fishing stories, especially when there are SHARKS!