Ray Farhner’s Corvette – Part 2

A couple of years ago, we featured Ray Farhner’s ’63 Corvette. Despite the fact that I’m not much of a “show rod” guy, I fell head over heals for the car. I love the asymmetrical front-end, but it’s the overall shape that does it for me. The damn thing just looks like a shark ready to breach, no? The ultimate bachelor car…

In any case, I recently got an email from another former owner of the car – Gary Logan. He was nice enough to include some photos as well as a more detailed history of “Out Limits.” Check it out:

The “Outer Limits” is a radical custom car built from a split window Corvette in 1963 by Ray Farhner. Farhner was a car customizer and car show promoter in Kansas City, Missouri in the sixties and seventies. Farhner also built the Boot Hill Express show car which was made into a Monogram model and later a Johnny Lightning toy. Named “The Outer Limits”, the Corvette was toured, shown and featured in hot rod magazines in the early and middle sixties.

The Outer Limits features radical asymmetrical styling throughout. Customizers were experimenting with asymmetry in their designs in the early sixties. Dean Jeffries “Mantaray”, Ed Roth’s Mysterion, and the Hot Wheels “Python” are prime examples. Farhner’s asymmetrical body design featured a very fluid and rounded form, with barely a straight line present, while still maintaining perfect balance.

The Outer Limits features an offset front that was extended over 6 inches and houses twin round headlights on the left side and a hand formed louvered chrome grill on the right. The rear was also stretched and has a recessed custom horizontal taillight on the right side and a recessed license plate on the driver’s side. The original roof ridge was removed and the gas filler moved off- center to the left side. The wheel wells were radiused and the tops of the fenders were heightened, arched 4 inches and finned outward . Structural work was done using steel rods and wire mesh overlaid with Fiberglas. Door handles were removed and replaced with electric solenoids. The double hump dash was made asymmetrical with the interior done in pearl white ribbed leather and later into a coffin type diamond tuck.

The car bounced from owner to owner over the years and eventually went into complete disrepair and was forgotten. Gary Logan from Independence , Missouri found it in pieces and purchased it in 1979. After researching the car’s history he decided to rebuild the Outer Limits like Farhner had designed and maintain the asymmetrical styling. The car was stripped to a bare shell and rebuilt frame up. Randy Logan, owner of Grain Valley Auto Body www.grainvalleyautobody.com did the restoration of the body and all Fiberglas work. Gary Logan built the engine using a studded 350 4 bolt main Chevy block, 7.5:1 TRW L2441F blower pistons and a single TO4 Air Research turbocharger. Heads were O-ringed and hold 2.02 valves with triple springs. A Muncie M21 4 speed transmission provided the power transfer. The interior was restored to the original spooky coffin look with pearl white diamond tuck, including the headliner. The car was shown at the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals.

Gary Logan sold the car in the eighties to another owner that made further changes to the car. The round headlights were changed to rectangle ones with additional lights added into the grill side. Side pipes were added and a shooting star kind of theme replaced the period diamond tuck. The turbo charger was removed and the hood now opens using a screw gear mechanism. The Outer Limits is currently owned by the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and is in their permanent collection.