As has been said many times, I really like Corvettes, but I don't ever want to be called a 'Corvette guy'.
That'd be very cool! I know it's not black and all of that, but here's one that was racing a COTA a few years back. It was racing against a sea of Mustangs. That made it more awesome in my mind.
I was 16 in 1976. Any C-1 Corvette should be up in the front, no hood and multiple carbs sticking up in front of the windshield. Wide tires sticking out of radiused rear wheelwells. Skinny tires up front. Any mid-year should have all fender flared. The biggest tires you can fit under all four corners. Metalflake paint and wild stripes! That is how I would have built it then. If my father would have let me own one. lol
You can get reproduction C2 bodies these days, so a person could build one just how they like it without offending the purists.
I say screw the purists…there are two distinct kinds of Vette owners in my book… kinda a street rodder versus hot rodder comparison. Also as to Marks pet peeve… only three kinds of Vettes : solid axle, mid year, or late model.
Yowza !!! Sure I can research .. and one would think that oil coolers on the rear flanks would be just that ... But why wouldn't the team mount them nearer to the engine ?? In the front. So my question is THIS : Are those brake fluid coolers on the rear flanks ??? What road course were these pictures taken ?? I see the Sebring fire truck, but the planes confuse me. More please !!
Those GS Vette were just getting started when the plug was pulled on their programs. Wonder how much faster the Vette program in general would have evolved if not cut short? But let's face it, the Vette is a sports car. So why not hop it up like one... and build it up to be a non-track / rally car, and run some of those Mexican road races?!?!?
Well boss, how about this guy? The car may present as a little "street roddey" but it is black, it was in Texas, and it goes 176mph. Plus he seems like a good guy, working with his teenage sons, I know you can relate to that.
Rad car... but too nice... and not within the confines of my self set boundaries of what constitutes a vintage Corvette and what doesn't... if that makes sense. Basically, the origin story of my Corvette would be something like this... A rich kid in 1963 buys a Corvette Coupe and decides he wants to go racing with the Grand Sport. He can't quite pony up for the GS though, so elects to get his split window as close as he can WITHOUT flaring the fenders. He then races the shit out of it for 5-years and the sticks it in a barn... That's when I find it and do my thing. I think Corvettes need to have some signs of battle... and above all else, I think Corvettes need to be brutally fast. Like, dangerously fast...
Back in the mid-80s, I had an opportunity to buy a '64 similar to the OP car. My next-door neighbor was a Corvette fanatic and at the time was restoring a '67 black on black with black soft top. Anyway, a friend of his brought over his '64 for some minor repair(s). I wasn't a 'Corvette Guy' so I don't remember all the details other than it had a tilt front end, fat Hoosiers all around, and was in flat gray paint/primer. It exuded that certain purposeful look and attitude that only comes from road track chops. He told me that I could have it for $4K. He did some amateur club racing with it but it wouldn't have taken much to make it street legal again. I had the money but I didn't have a place to keep it so it's added to my list of "ones that got away".
A few years ago, my old neighbor was selling his '65 convertible... I helped him sell it here on the HAMB: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1965-corvette.951207/ I can't remember who he sold it to, but it was a REALLY nice car. And before it sold, he offered it to me for $25k as a token of friendship. I declined as I'm not a 'vert guy... and it felt like I was taking advantage of him... but I've always sort of regretted it.
I have an off topic car that is so fast, that I have to plan in advance when I am gonna do a full pull. Like, I'm always a little bit on edge when I drive it. It makes me just a tad nervous sometimes... That's what a really fast car should feel like. And it's really rare to have something that could be considered fast by today's standards while still being somewhat traditional. There just aren't many platforms you could pull that off with... I guess if you are only really looking to go fast in a straight line, it's not that much of a stretch... But a car that hits apexes and... The Vette is really just about the only platform I can think of... until you get into Cobras and... all that silliness....
you probably really need a mid year coupe to do what you want to do. But had you bought that roadster I would have been damned proud of you for modifying the hell out of it and then driving it like you didn't have a nickel in it.....
Yes, that makes perfect sense to me. I'm still building solid lifter 283's just for the sound effects. So I can see your split with a L88 inspired alloy big block thundering thru the gears, maybe with some of the current science blended into the heads, the brakes, the suspension geometry.......
The restored O/T 'vette I mentioned is another "regretted one that got away". It was just like it rolled out the factory door, only with a better warranty because my neighbor would have been like a mother hen, taking care of everything. But I have a hunch it would have taken me down a different fork in the road with a different circle of influence. I don't regret having taken the rod-n-classic fork so there's a happy ending after all.
In terms of the orig Gran Sport concept, done modern, take a good long look at the one Larry Widmer(the Old One) @ Endyn, did for himself. I doubt you'll like the engine, but he does continue the concept. Marcus...
I believe the two pretty tall scoops right over the rear wheels duct cooling air to the brakes. I think the twin "coolers" are for the differential. Along with a circulating pump switched from the cockpit. "Chevy engineers put the differential cooler on the Grand Sports at the 1963 Nassau race because the differentials were overheating." https://www.motortrend.com/features/1811-penske-hall-1963-grand-sport-corvette-005/ The extra holes in the center between the twin oolers look like they are for the single version that lived under a "scoop" that is shown in far more pictures online.
True story,my father in law had a grand sport corvette for many years,it was stored away for many years. It was the "lost" grand sport. It was number 3 i think,3 of 5. 3 coupes and 2 roadsters. His had the oil cooler mounted on the cat walk,or maybe on the roof. Anyway,thanks for the memories.
For me, it would be: A) '56 version of the Autorama "Corvair" B) '59 with the teeth out/set up for road racing, C) 63-66 or 68/9 with side pipes ... all with Torque Thrusts or kidney wheels
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