on the vett 56-62 would be the way to go for me. but i really like the nova idea. can am white and orange and black sbc & 6sp and tuned to go. one low back, bucket full cage, steelies. i can see it
I had a "Corvette Summer" once. Oh, I guess that was a movie. I did see it from the front row though. I have to say I always liked the chicks van better.
the early nova's your talking about ....bill thomas built the fast back to road race originally....with all sorts of tricks done to it.....i have a picture somewhere of one with the vette irs and a 427 mystery motor ..... brandon
Funny coincidence....I got my latest issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines last night. Daniel Strohl (Foul on here) wrote a killer article about a guy in Mass. with a late '60s Vette driver done up as a period roadracer: minilite wheels,bias-plys,cage,clear headlight covers,blue and white with numbers and just enough decals. But, a 500hp modern smallblock under the hood. I'm with ya on the Chevy II, but make mine a snotty 302 with a cross-ram and side exit exhaust .
Damn, Ryan, I wish you woulda said something at Cinematic---I have two lifetime memberships at the museum. I coulda got you guys in for free... (yea, I'm a closet Corvette guy. Owned 30-40, repaired hundreds Figured it wasn't "hamb-like"" )
Back in 1960 my dad was a corporate pilot for a guy that owned many Chevy dealerships around the country. When my dad took the job he was offered any car Chevy made as a company car. So he got a new '60 Corvette which pissed my mom off since she was left to drive our "old" '55 wagon on family errands. Funny, at the time the coolest thing to me was the little slide "ball" door latches and the fact that I could stand up in the passenger seat and hold onto the windshield at high speeds. Safety first! Now about that Nova. I don't have any pics (anybody?) but several teams ran Falcons and LeMans (GTO) sedans in the TransAm series. I think it was Herb Adams? and some GM engineers that campaigned a bad ass '64 LeMans for few years. They also looked so cool with fat fender flares and super low (for the times) stance. No offence, but anyone can make a Camaro or Vette look mean, but the unexpected shock of a muscled-up "box" is hard to beat. And, '60's NASCAR and TransAm ARE definately American tradition
Okay so I may get blasted, but here it is. My project before I joined this board and started my model A. I bought this car as a complete wreck, it was a stock car and pretty well destroyed. Too far gone to go back original and I really wanted something I could drive the piss out of so I went modern. I am VERY happy I did, the performance of this car is unbelievable, and since I did it all in my Garage it is still a home built "traditional" hot rod. (let the bashing begin) It is parked happily next to my A and I get to have the best of both worlds.
hmmmmmm corvettes.......... The sad stories i could re-tell about how much I paid for a 59 and then a 69 back in the early 70s. I'm still trying to re-create a C1 but as usual the pieces seem too far out of reach. If anyone has a line on a C1 body in any shape pm me. The Nova's are cool but handle like turds, you would have to throw a TON of suspension on one. But a 64-64 Chevelle could be the ticket, lots of available suspension mods available, think "Smokey Yunich" style.
Ryan reports that the GM legal dept decided that it couldn't use an American flag on its emblem? Thats beyond crappy. Crappy that GM would chicken out on what would have been a cool emlem. What a bunch of legal beagle chicken shits. So, who would sue GM? Betsy Ross?
I *believe* it's against Federal law to use the flag as a logo or within a logo for commercial products
I have a 1966 roadster with both tops and a 327. My dad bought it in 76 and it was the last thing he gave me before he died in 2002. I plan on having it back on the road next spring it just needs some mechanical work and some money thrown at it.
My dad is a covette guy, always has been. The first I can remember is his 1980 (not my favorite body style) but I can remember him making my brother and I sit in the back while he drove around... comfy! That was our family car. I have pictures of it with a deer he shot tied down to the back of it. Classic. So I guess Vettes are kinda in my DNA. I way prefer big slow and low kustoms but I still house a closet love for vettes. My buddy just got a Ford Falcon that when he tied the frame together I thought it would be a cool trans am type car.... Great idea. Actaully I think I have a Hot Rod magazine from a few years ago about doing this to cars. Great idea.
Corvettes, who hasn't lusted after them. A couple good stories though... My little 'car club' has had some interesting members, all artists, and motor heads. But a great one was Bob Grossman, yeah the one who drove to 8th finish in 61 or 62 at LeMans. What a fantastic guy. Had tons of great racing stories, he and John Fitch had to pack dry ice around the engine of their car because the radiator sprung a leak and the rules said they couldn't put any fluids into the car at that point. So they used the dry ice from the cooler (cooling the cokes and beers) and limped it around. I think that they are still the highest placing Vette at LeMans. Also I was lucky enough to 'pit crew' for a friends Vintage racing team Black Tie Racing at Elkhart Lake a couple years back. What a blast! Though their definition of crewing mostly involved drinking beer and watching the races, it was great to get his '57 on the track and the other cars a '58 and '59. And I still haven't had better ribs than after that race.
This is about the meanest looking Vette I've ever seen in action. As for the Nova Idea... I have some pics off the Allan Mann prepped Rally of Monte Carlo Falcons. ( Factory lightweight Racers that later ended up on the Road Race Tracks in England... With many Mods like Gurney Westlake Heads, GT40 Wheels & Brakes , etc...) Being a Ford Product they wouldn't fit on this Thread but I could start a new one, if y'all are interested.... Edit. New Thread started... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=193273
I've never shared this story before, but its pretty good; Around 1959 my Dad bought a white/ white cove 56 Corvette off a used car lot in Long Beach when he was in the Navy- Basically a 265 3 speed stocker. He would drive girls home from the Lido ballroom at the Pike late at night-- rumor was he could fit up to 4 girls in the car, all stacked up!!! After the Navy he moved to Poplar Bluff, Mo (Originally from KC, but his Mom/ my Grandma had moved South as an Avon manager) He changed the wheels to chrome reverse and by now was running 6 x 2's on the motor and got into drag racing at SEMO (South Eastern Missouri) dragstrip where he held his class record for a long time. Most guys in that area were running 57 Chevys, etc and couldn't touch the lil' light Corvette. I've got one of his old trophies in my garage-- 13.2 at 108 mph (I think)-- Not bad for 1962!! My mom was a high school senior and a car hop at the local A & W, and remembers her first ride in that car-- he took her up a mountain road and hit 100 mph to impress her-- It did. They married a few years later. She later learned to drive a stick in that car as well. (Her family was so poor that they didn't own a car at all.) She remembers the clutch being hard to engage, and the steering being very manual! My dad continued to drag the car on weekends as the NHRA began to enforce more safety rules-- One time he showed up to race and was informed the car would now need a scattershield installed. My dad went home, cut a piece of cardboard in the right shape, painted it with aluminum paint and jammed it against the firewall, returning to the track in an hour-- They took a look under the hood and passed him through tech on the spot! Of course he ran that fake scattershield for many months until one weekend it was so bent and warped from getting wet that the techs caught on, and sent him home-- man, they were ticked at him!! By this time he was good friends with the local GM dealer from buying parts and looking at the new Corvettes every year- When the Stingrays hit in 1963 they were all the rage. The dealer told Dad about a local guy who bought a brand new 327/ 4 speed Vette and wrecked it with hardly any miles on it. He went around to the dealer's repair facility and checked out the car, took measurements, and went home. Sure enough-- the 63 Chassis would fit under his 56 body perfectly! He bought it. Pops did the surgery, thus making the ultimate sleeper Corvette- 1963 Chassis, 1956 Body. He said the exhaust placement was the only external give away that something was fishy! By 1964 the early Hemis were getting real poular for dragging in his area, but my dad said he could still take them off the line- He would get about half way down the strip and then here they would come full bore, taking him right before the finish. After so many losses, he gave up in frustration, and the Corvette was sold... Dad moved onto draging an Anglia (another amazing story) then buying Ferraris, Maseratis, anything fast and exotic. I still wonder where his old Vette is today-- Anybody seen a 1956 Corvette with a 63' chassis, sporting a 327??
My first and only corvette so far has been a lot of fun. I begged and pleaded to borrow money to buy this 1970 LT-1 I found and in the end haven't regretted it one bit. Not that I would sell it, but it has almost tripled what I paid for it in the 13 years I have had it. It is a lot of fun, even in Texas heat with no A/C, and no P/S (not available on '70 LT-1s). I missed a chance to get a '65 roadster with 350hp 327 and 4spd for 14k... still kick myself for that.
Ryan, I have the shell of a 68 Camaro (with title) sitting on a trailer in my back yard that I cut apart to do a tube frame on and ran out of time, money and a place to do it. My plan was multi link rear, late model Vette front clip. Late model Vette brakes all around, coil over suspension front and rear. I was planning a ride height of about 3 to 4 inches. I have most of the parts and the skills to complete the project, just not the place to do it. Any ideas?
My dad still has his 76 vette that he bought as a clapped out bank repo in 79. We stsrted autocrossing that car in about 84 and went through it end to end in 85-86 to make it a competetive B stock car. We had a blast with that thing. My dad would let ANYBODY autocross it. Sometimes we would have 7 or 8 drivers at the same event, the car would run all day and then he would drive it back to Houston. We just couldnt kill that car.
Here's a road race 66 Nova. http://www.bowdensown.com/cars/nova.html Or how about a Tempest? http://www.glenphotos.com/memories/graygoast.JPG
I grew up around corvettes also.....literally. My dad has had a corvette business for over thirtie years ( I'm 22 ). Still, when I go to shows, if it doesn't have chrome bumpers, I usually walk by. Unless it has a supercharger. My pick would be the '62 and older.
I can remember going to the Chimney Rock hillclimb and watching vettes take the hill. The run was 1.3 miles long with 13 hairpin turns in the later days and I sit on the hill in turn 6a, about 1/3-1/2 mile from the start [When the vettes would make their runs they would take off with a thunderous roar and you could feel the ground shake as they went by. They were not the fastest cars up the hill but everyone had a lot of respect for the guys driving them. Chimney Rock got closed down by the specter of insurance liability but this had to be my favorite motorsport event ever I should still have photos and video of these cars; I'll try to find it.< I think if you were trying to recreate the look of these cars cheaply, a foreign car (Italian) would be the thing to start with.
I never did have a big thing for Vette's. Dunno whyAnyone has to like Groucho's though. The first one I had any experience with was a mid 70's the family up the street had. Obviously O.K. for the time but not that impressive. There is one I would like to have but I'll keep that to myself as it isn't one of the most impressive ones made either. LOL As a teen we did get to pick bits of skull out of one when it was towed into the junkyard my neighbor worked in after the owner shot himself in the head in it. Maybe that worked to lead me to believe they weren't that impressive if a guy was willing to kill himself in it.
man you guys are lucky! your parents actually owned corvettes. my only experience with a corvett is in i would say a 84 gold beat up one my boss drove me home in one day. I really dig those race vettes shown. I would love a dark green C4 LT1 vette. or even a LT5!
My favorite Corvettes are 56-60, but too expensive for me. In 79', a friend of mine blew the engine in his 68' Vette. He couldn't afford to fix it and needed a car for work. I traded him a 75' Chevy Monza. I had a 454 in the garage. Rebuilt the motor, ported the heads, big cam, rebuilt the suspension, painted the car and redid the interior. That became my street race car. Rear was 4:88's. Some of you from the valley may remember the car as Bottle Bob's Vette.
Ryans description of the "Vette" in the museum is spot on! Except...If I remember correctly it was a 56 or 57.
Was it a 56 or 57? For some reason I thought it had quad headlights... pain killers are bad for the memory.
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