Here's my 74 Convertible
After almost a year of searching for either a 73 or 74 convertible, this is the car I found. The first owner only put 18,000 miles on her and traded her in in 1976 for a new Corvette. The second owner had her until 1983 and drove her fairly regularly on a 40-50 mile round trip to work and traded her in on a new 1983 GT Mustang with 103,000 miles on her, he said he still regrets that decesion! The third owner only had her for several months, I think he bought her and tried to fix her up to make money. He had her repainted in 83 along with some other small items including putting stock rally wheels back on her. The fourth owner bought her from a used car dealer with 108,000 miles in late 83 and he kept her in in air conditioned garage at his Mom's house until October 29, 2000 when I bought her. She only had 117,200 miles on her. The last owner loved cars but wasn't a do-it-yourselfer and so the car was fairly well maintained by his mechanic.
The car is a very complete two-top original, L48 Stingray. I've dreamed of building a custom show car, hot rod Corvette since I was in grade school and now I'd found a great car to start with. When I bought her, my wife was 7-1/2 months pregnant with our first baby. I knew money and free time would both be harder to come by, so I wanted a car that was a great driver and all there. With less free time and very little discretionary money, I needed a car I could enjoy while we raised our baby to a more self sufficient toddler and replenished our savings. Also, my experience is with fiberglass work and custom painting. No engine or suspension knowledge other than all of the articles and books I've read. So I needed a car that I could take apart (in order to know how it would go back together). Starting with a project car just wouldn't work for me.
I'm planning on completely rebuilding her from the ground up with new or rebuilt systems. I'm getting ready to replace the front bumper cover with a fiberglass replacement and plan on completing on of the first of many custom treatments she's going to receive. I'm going to remove the fiberglass vertical supports on each side of the licence plate, fabricate a custom tubular style grill and install other headlights into the grill. The future plans include a TPI 383 and I want a ram air setup routed over the radiator and down to the front grill where the licence plate used to be, hence the grill needs opened up and the pop-up headlights removed.
Eventually (when the body is off) I'll glass the nose into the body, glass in a 79 style front spoiler (softer lines than the pace car style) and glass the headlight area smooth, possibly introducing a bulge for the ram air set up that will blend into a custom L88 style hood. I've toyed with the idea of a full tilt front end but I'm not impressed with the kit Ecklers offers and not capable of coming up with my own design. Another full tilt concept is being designed right now by another forum member and will eventually be marketed. I'm extremely interested in what they've come up with. Their design will use the existing front clip/hood and the hinges will rotate when the clip is opened so an 80-90 degree opening angle can be achieved without the nose hitting the ground.
In a nutshelll, my car will be very custom (trim removed, holes, grills and seams filled, C5 mirrors, deck lid humps, waterfall, flares all around and lots more) when she's done. I'm building a model of my plans right now to get an idea how everything will look and after I work out any changes, I'll build another model . . . I'm an Architectural Engineer and tend to plan every detail before I start a project. I have a 12 page spreadsheet with all of my ideas and the current estimate to rebuild this car is over $25k.
One of my quandries . . . I've never built an engine, only worked on them and rebuilt some top ends. I want to build one myself for the first time, but since I want a true show car, I'm not sure if that wmakes the most since. I keep looking at the show quality TPI's that Street and Performance has to offer and I'm not sure if I could do it much cheaper (or as well). The engine will be the final item in the process, so I have a lot of time to decide. With any luck, I'll be pulling the body off in about 2 years . . . unless we are blessed with a second child (yes we're asking for another).
After the preliminary model is complete, I'll post some pics.
Here is the first custom car I ever built. I was in college and didn't have any money, and hardly any tools. The majority of the work was done either in the dining room of the house I was renting, or the gravel driveway.
I made my own molds out of cardboard and fabricated the nose, skirts, flares, whale tail and rear end all from scratch. By the time I got to the whale tail, I was pretty good and make my own fiberglass. I painted the car in the driveway with laquer and sanded, rubbed, and polished the car all by hand. It took over three months to get the paint to shine . . .
I never finished the car, I graduated from college and to a job that involved 80-90% travel and so the car sat and was only driven once-in-a-while. I finally sold her with the interior still gutted. I learned an awful lot on this car! Too bad it was a Ford.
The car is a very complete two-top original, L48 Stingray. I've dreamed of building a custom show car, hot rod Corvette since I was in grade school and now I'd found a great car to start with. When I bought her, my wife was 7-1/2 months pregnant with our first baby. I knew money and free time would both be harder to come by, so I wanted a car that was a great driver and all there. With less free time and very little discretionary money, I needed a car I could enjoy while we raised our baby to a more self sufficient toddler and replenished our savings. Also, my experience is with fiberglass work and custom painting. No engine or suspension knowledge other than all of the articles and books I've read. So I needed a car that I could take apart (in order to know how it would go back together). Starting with a project car just wouldn't work for me.
I'm planning on completely rebuilding her from the ground up with new or rebuilt systems. I'm getting ready to replace the front bumper cover with a fiberglass replacement and plan on completing on of the first of many custom treatments she's going to receive. I'm going to remove the fiberglass vertical supports on each side of the licence plate, fabricate a custom tubular style grill and install other headlights into the grill. The future plans include a TPI 383 and I want a ram air setup routed over the radiator and down to the front grill where the licence plate used to be, hence the grill needs opened up and the pop-up headlights removed.
Eventually (when the body is off) I'll glass the nose into the body, glass in a 79 style front spoiler (softer lines than the pace car style) and glass the headlight area smooth, possibly introducing a bulge for the ram air set up that will blend into a custom L88 style hood. I've toyed with the idea of a full tilt front end but I'm not impressed with the kit Ecklers offers and not capable of coming up with my own design. Another full tilt concept is being designed right now by another forum member and will eventually be marketed. I'm extremely interested in what they've come up with. Their design will use the existing front clip/hood and the hinges will rotate when the clip is opened so an 80-90 degree opening angle can be achieved without the nose hitting the ground.
In a nutshelll, my car will be very custom (trim removed, holes, grills and seams filled, C5 mirrors, deck lid humps, waterfall, flares all around and lots more) when she's done. I'm building a model of my plans right now to get an idea how everything will look and after I work out any changes, I'll build another model . . . I'm an Architectural Engineer and tend to plan every detail before I start a project. I have a 12 page spreadsheet with all of my ideas and the current estimate to rebuild this car is over $25k.
One of my quandries . . . I've never built an engine, only worked on them and rebuilt some top ends. I want to build one myself for the first time, but since I want a true show car, I'm not sure if that wmakes the most since. I keep looking at the show quality TPI's that Street and Performance has to offer and I'm not sure if I could do it much cheaper (or as well). The engine will be the final item in the process, so I have a lot of time to decide. With any luck, I'll be pulling the body off in about 2 years . . . unless we are blessed with a second child (yes we're asking for another).
After the preliminary model is complete, I'll post some pics.
Thanks for stopping by!