Features Corvette hot rods - picture thread

From another thread:

And because I never get tired of it even if we talked about a few weeks ago.



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Oh, yeah!....

 

409 Vette. Yea posted before but not this BIG

 

I believe I told this story before but the owner of that 409 Vette came to one of our club meetings ( I believe it is a semilar car). There were allegedly a few of them that ran Woodward "back in the day". I asked if I could see the car but he declined. I told him I just wanted to look but he was kind of a quiet guy and would not answer me. I figured I wasn't going to buy it anyways so I dropped it. A few years later one of the guys in my club built a 409 powered 57 Vette that he still runs on the street. Ron Reader with Midwest Auto told me of two other 409s that ran Woodward and one W shaped 427s, when he had his 389 Pontiac in his 57. This would have been in the 63/64 timeframe when they were the only big blocks available.

 

I have always been a fan of chrome reversed wheel, not sure about WWs.

 

Jim
I've never owned a Corvette but I do feel slightly connected to your story as my first car in high school was a 61 Impala that had the 409's little brothers' engine, the 348.
I was new in the neighborhood and there was a 409/4speed 63 Impala convertible always parked in the driveway just up the street from our house, one day I inquired about looking at it and he pretty much gave me the same reply, this was before I bought my Impala but at the bus stop I met his son and he arranged a visit right after I got my 61.
I couldn't drive it yet as I only had my learners permit but I was infatuated with that 63 after seeing those chrome rocker covers and air cleaner under the hood and will never forget that skinny 4 speed shifter handle.

 

Jim, I think the Vette in loudbang's post might be the one with the "W"- Shaped 427. The intake manifold looks kinda funny compared to the standard dual quad intake. Looks like a two piece unit, and a little bit taller too. My eye's may be playing tricks on me though.

 

427 sleeper you could be correct. Ron told me that Dan Elkins had a 409 and so did Ken Fournier and Tony Donnigan had the Z-11. The pictures above are out of the book Woodward Avenue-Cruising the Legendary Strip by Robert Genat. The pictures were courtesy of Bob Webster and in the text referring to the pictures it states the engine in Donnigan's Corvette happened to come out of the back door of a Chevrolet engineering facility. According to Ron he told me that the Z-11 was the slowest of the group. Nothing a good tuner could remedy though.

My first wife's mother had a 63 Impala with 327 that she gave me after we got married. I wanted a 409 and ran across a 61 Chevy with a Z-11 that I tried to buy without success. The owner later blew up the Z-11 and then offered it to me but I declined. The cylinder heads alone are probably worth a small fortune. I sold the 63 to a cousin and I believe he still owns it although he hasn't driven it in decades. The first "fast" car I ever drove was a burgundy 63 Impala with a 409 and four speed. One of the best sounding muscle cars I ever heard was Hank Gathers 63 Z-11 (I guess what I may call the Ronnie Sox #2 car). The last time I saw that car was when it was for sale for $300,000. Nice car though-somewhere I have pictures I took of the car at Meadowbrook in 2005 or 2006.

The friend in my car club with the 409 in a 57 Vette is a nice car with aluminum heads and dual quads. Low riser manifold though and he runs a stock hood with no scoop (unlike Donnigan who had a hole in the hood). Car runs and sounds great. He lives around the corner from me and I can hear when he drives through the neighborhood.

 

solid axle vette and a W block is what dreams are made of

 

My buddy Ed's 57 with the dual quad 409.

 

What? No 4speed?


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It has a Muncie four speed-sorry about that.

 

It’s okay, I suppose I should’ve realized it did.


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I like how your friend made the W engine look like it belongs there. Great looking car.


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He did a great job of making it looking like it was built that way IMO. The funny thing is that picture is from a few years ago when we had a club display at Autorama. As you know, you have to sit there for 3 days and you hear a few questionable comments of course from the many attendees. Some of the comments about Ed's car were about how this guy or that guy remembers the 57 with the 409s. Some actually convinced themselves that it was stock. We had four black Vettes from our club in that display, a 67 with a 427, my black 62, a black 61 next to Ed's car with a 355 and Ed's 57. Two of the Vette owners have passed on so it brings back a good memory of sitting around telling lies and having some laughs.

 

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From another thread


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Nice size tire on that 56/57.

 

I love'em!....

 

I saw this one on instagram, said it had a 427 tripower

 

Cragars look great on these cars, I had some on my 60.

 

Scott all the better with the 427. That thing had to have been a blast to drive. I still would like his wheels and tires.

 

Yes the one at the bottom right..

 

Supposedly Dr. Kervorkian

 

Cool info on the Corvette Asteroid


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