Corvette C3 Side Pipes

What the factory actually offered

The factory system was RPO N14, listed as Side Mount Exhaust. It ran for a single model year on the C3, 1969, having also been offered on the 1965 to 1967 mid-year cars. What you got was a pair of pipes running along the rocker panels, each covered by a perforated shield to keep the heat away from anyone getting in or out. It is a genuinely rare option, and on a numbers-conscious car an original N14 setup is worth a good deal more than a bolt-on kit.

The curious part is that Chevrolet went on drilling every C3 frame for the side pipe mounting brackets long after the option was dropped. So whatever year your car is, the mounting points are almost certainly already there. That is a large part of why the aftermarket took the idea and ran with it, and why side pipes are one of the most common additions you will see on a C3 today.

Living with them

They sound magnificent and they look right on the car, but there are trade-offs worth knowing before you order a set.

The first is heat. The pipe runs a few inches from where your leg goes when you climb out, and the covers get hot enough to burn. Anyone who has owned a car with side pipes has a story about it, and passengers in shorts need warning. Good covers and proper heat wrapping help, but they do not make the problem go away.

The second is noise. Side pipes on a C3 are loud, and they are loud in the cabin as well as outside it, because the pipe is running right alongside you rather than out the back. That is fine for an hour. On a long drive it wears, and some owners fit a quieter internal baffle for exactly that reason.

The third is ground clearance. The pipes hang lower than the rocker panel, so steep driveways, speed bumps and kerbs all become things you think about. On a lowered car the margin gets thin quickly.

None of that stops people fitting them, and the cars below are the reason why.