Back in the mid 60's I saw this creature sitting on a used car lot in Belmont, Calif. Always loved it, but didn't even ask the price.... At that tome in my life, I couldn't pay attention!!
Interesting to note is that Bob Moreira bought the wrecked '57 to drag race. Even after the mods, he still raced it. The factory fuely wasn't as fast as he thought it should be, so he installed factory 2X4 setup...Still wasn't up to his liking, so he went with an aftermarket intake and 3 97's. That is how it ran the best. Garnered many trophies..... Go figure !!!
Must have missed it but how on God's green earth did striper Mike (I assume!) lay all those dash lines down? He must be a double-jointed, stand-on-his-head, upside-down flexible wizard-with-a-brush to pull that off. Incredible.
thinking this fits the spirit of the thread...took the pics last year at a local cruise near Weirton W.Va and talked to the 70 something owner for awhile. according to him he bought it as a wreck not long after it was new,then customized it sometime mid 70's..drove it awhile then put it away. first time out in over 40 years! Jag seats,wild paint and yes you are seeing it correct..that is a tunnel rammed small block Mopar! lol talk about something to make the stuck up stock 'vette owners sick! wow ps..can't believe my log in still works.! thx
Hello, My wife and I liked the power of early Corvettes, but the feel just was not there for her when we took a test drive at a local So Cal Chevy dealer. It was very nice, had the power and looked cool. But, it was a tight feel sitting in those bucket seats. So, we just left that portion of car buying alone, until we could save enough and the model was the right one. 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. My wife and I tried the 63 Corvette as it was a new body style and looked a little larger. As Goldilocks said… “it was just right.” She liked the seats and I liked the split window and new body style. For her, comfort and style was the thing for any car. She knew the performance was there and we could always make it faster if needed. So, it had to ring the bells as first sight. It did…the only thing was we were a little older and still lacking in the larger bank account files. Ha! Such is life as a young couple in So Cal or anywhere… Jnaki Jump up many years and I accidently met an old friend in a beach parking lot to check out the surf below. He had just gotten out of a bright yellow 63 Corvette. Now, I was impressed. The color red 65 El Camino and the bright yellow Corvette was looking pretty good in a parking lot of greys, whites and blacks... 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 1964 model was set up to look like a custom 1963 model. It was very hard to tell between the custom applications, the original look and the 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! A real custom Corvette, that was one of the first all fiberglass versions. Although not the original 63 split window version. Then, a couple of years later, the fiberglass copies of the split window add ons, were advertised and the altered copies started showing up...YRMV
Hey S, Sorry, I was typing fast, thinking of the next storyline on another topic and somehow, the old brain tried to do two things at once. Gee, it was hard enough to get one story straight with facts for the old brain, let alone two or three in a row for the day's typing array. Fiberglass…fiberglass… Jnaki I need to re-read my typing over twice... Even if I do, it may still have some odd ball stuff in the sentences or two. Ha! At least, someone is reading my stories... how nice!!! Awww... nuts!
This vette definitely screams seventies to me. I remember cars like it when I was a kid and was the sort of car I would have been drawn to in a sea of original cars somewhere like Bloomington. I don't know that I have ever seen one with a small block Ford in it though. Oh, and this is the kind of car I keep hoping I will trip across in someone's garage that they need rid of for a price I can actually afford. I would love to have a custom mid-year to put a NCRS decal on and show up at an all corvette show like one of my co-workers was telling me about happened last weekend locally, or cars and coffee events, etc.
@jnaki I used to see the big wall of bold big text and go, "here he goes again", but I read and enjoy almost every story. I've come to understand you were right in the heart of it back then and your valuable insight along with the history you share is invaluable. I hope you have written down more of your adventures for posterity.
lol..that shows how much of a Chevy guy I am! it was a year ago but I thought that was what he said..sorry I'll blame it on old age.
This one belonged to my friends dad. He bought it new in early 57 and had it customized and wrecked it in November of 58. It had one of the first Joe Bailon candy apple red paint jobs. He believes that the paint job costed $225-$250. Then they did an extended nose on it kind of like a Ferarri GTO. The fiberglass guy worked at the local Chevy dealership (Rodman Chevrolet) in Fresno, California and worked on it after hours in his garage at home. There were also scoops added to the end of the coves and a Ferrari style hood scoop and a 58 Impala style roof scoop added to the hard top. Look how they modified the hood blisters with a little slit to match the GTO Scoop.
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