1966 Chevrolet Corvette Long-Term Road Test

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1966 Chevrolet Corvette: Why Carburetors are Obsolete

June 18, 2015

"Wow, this thing really smells like gasoline," my friend remarked.

Normally, I would chalk up this remark to our 1966 Chevrolet Corvette's exhaust sidepipes, which allow the odor of burnt fuel to waft into the cabin and send its occupants on a trip 50 years into the past.

But we weren't in the car. I had just popped the hood and he was inspecting the Vette's 327 small block. It wasn't the exhaust that reeked of gasoline; it was the engine bay.

Gasoline was dripping from the carburetor onto the intake manifold and evaporating. I turned the engine off, but it took 15 minutes for the gas to stop dripping. I was comfortable with the idea of driving it to a local shop, but the prospect of driving 40 miles to a shop near the office was a gamble I preferred not to take. I also had no intention of calling Oldham on a weekend to enlighten him about the combustibility of a classic Corvette.

I drove it back to my house and contacted Schmidt and Oldham. After some deliberation, we decided on C&J Engineering in Santa Fe Springs, about five miles away. We'd taken personal cars there in the past for carburetor work and were pleased with the results. We dropped off the Corvette on a Wednesday morning and Schmidt taxied me back to my house.

Thus continues our early adventure in classic car ownership.

Cameron Rogers, Vehicle Testing Assistant