Is there any info on the '63 Vette the Beach Boys were leaning on? I don't think a lot of them were Daytona Blue....correct me if wrong!
I think the wheels are right on, hard to beat magnesium American Le Mans'. Just need to ditch the white walls for black walls or maybe some Blue Streaks.
Never understood the removal of the stock Corvette bumper and lower panel being raised... just never looked right.
The top, fender grill and windshield are from a Kellison kit car body which used a Studebaker windshield, made a good looking Vette.
Dick was my Dad. Here's what he involved himself with after the 409. Send some more stuff along, soon.
Hello, That original well built Corvette had plenty of ideas for future Corvette designers to implement. As those GM folks went through their versions of the Corvette, we all stood back in awe. Corvettes were the “Great American Sports Cars” and the design progressed to include some pretty cool models. Anyone that could afford to buy a Corvette had envious looks from their friends. We rode around in a 1961 Corvette and it was very cool versus our big old Chevy sedans. The Corvette had plenty of power. With the thin fiberglass body, it shook and felt like it was going to shred at full speed. That was our first impression of a full throttle 283 dual carb acceleration. Since we were teenagers, those Corvettes were out of our league, but could use parts from the 283 for other purposes. Jnaki As the years rolled on and we were now 30 somethings, a friend of mine met me at the beach parking lot one day checking out the surf. I was amazed that he was driving a bright yellow 1963 split window Corvette. It was looking rather hot and cool at the same time. I was impressed. In looking over the yellow Corvette, it was like a show car or scrutiny in a dealer’s showroom. After I was awed for 30 minutes, we were talking about the Corvette. As our conversation continued, he finally said that he could not afford a real split window 63 Corvette, but just had to have one for his dream drivers. I asked him what he meant and then he proceeded to show me why it was still a dream to own a complete 63 split window Corvette. They were certainly priced out of my pocketbook and I was amazed that my friend had one. But, as I walked around, I was still amazed at what was sitting in front of me. Envy flowed by the bucket full at each walk around and scrutiny. He told me, as I was walking around, that the 63 Corvette was a used 64 standard Corvette that he bought at an auction in Pomona. It was one of those low end auctions in an outdoor parking lot, not those high cost indoor ones that are located all across the country. So, he proceeded to tell me that once the purchase was made at a very good price, he started to contact some friends for custom ideas. He really wanted a 63 split window Corvette and when he found his solution, those body guys went to work and created a custom 64 split window Corvette. But, everyone that knew Corvettes with a split window knew it should be a 63 one time model. My friend’s split window was set up to look like a custom 1963 model. It was very hard to tell between the custom applications and finished product. similar yellow split window They found a wrecked 63 Corvette and cut out the whole rear section, took what they needed and made a custom split window addition to his 64 model. The fit and finish was so good, that it certainly fooled a good old hot rod/custom photo eye like mine. Ha! Then, a couple of years later, the fiberglass copies of the split window versions were advertised and the altered copies started showing up. Based on the story of the “Rose By Any Other Name.” The early designs had great merit and were used down the line in the GM 63 Corvette style until the last usage, the 1966-67 Corvette model. Nice history, Mr. Shea…
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