I'm not sure Bloomingtonites get their bloomers in a jam over such things. On the way to DragWeek I met an older couple driving home from Bloomington in a customized big block vette coupe. It was not restored, not stock and dirty from a 2000 miles each way trip. It sounded like even though it appeared to be a relic from the mid 70's the folks appreciated it. I know I did, and seeing an old woman driving a manual steering, 4 speed, big block with a "rump,rump" cam is pretty cool.
Get on corvetteforum.com , C2 section. Tons of imfo ,links to parts at all range of prices , rebuilt calipers,kits ect.Great tech support also . I bought a 66 Vett. with a rusty frame that needed lots, as a project a few yrs back . did all the work myself and had alot of fun when it was done.Just don't expect to drive it too soon.Good Luck.
Damn, that reminds me of when I was about 16 or so, and coming out of the local grocery store with my Mom (she never drove!). An elderly lady, maybe 70 or so, is coming out of the store behind us, with one of the carryout guys with her stuff. He asks "which car, ma'am?", and she pioints and says "The white car, son.". He starts to go to a '71 Galaxie, when the lady says "No, THAT white car!" and gestures to a '70 454 4-speed white Corvette with chrome sidepipes, parked right next to it! The kid loads her groceries up, she starts the car, raps it a couple of times, then backs out and heads towards the street. She stops, rolls a little, sidesteps the clutch and does the most wicked damn burnout I'd ever seen from anyone remotely old! Barks the tires in Second, then slows for the light! I was pretty impressed!
Tips when working with mid 60's vettes: Take it to an expert. And if you cant afford him to work on it at least have him look it over and tell you what it needs. Theres alot of stuff you havent even thought about yet that could be wrong with it especially if its wrecked. and add 10 grand to whatever cost you thought you might have in it. Fiber glass may be easier to work with than steel (in my opinion) but its a whole different ball game than anything you've ever worked on. It could be worth 50-70 K when your done with it (or more) depending on options. But the difference in making that kind of money is how you restore it. Dont half ass it. Those are the first things that come accross my mind. Unless you straight axle it with some big crazy ass mill, then it will be really cool but not worth as much.
The one I never knew about that costs a fortune to repair on those cars is the bird cage. Unless you're buying it so cheap that it doesn't matter, get under the dash with a flashlight and look around by the windshield. Also check the a pillars for bulgeing or rust coming through. This picture gives you a pretty good idea what's inside all that fiberglass and if it's bad you'll think you're buyin' parts for the space shuttle when ya get the repair bill.
i stand corrected. wasnt meant to be rude, just ansewering his question. what year is the cut off point?
Very true!!! glad you posted this. This is the CORRECT way to restore a vette if its been in Ohio and has any kind of rust on any of the metal. Take it down to the bird cage and every last fricken bolt and nut you can find. We are doing a 64 Vette roadster that has rust around the windshield frame and the fiber glass is starting to bulge. All the glass will come off around it and it will be repaired.
1964 and earlier for the CLASSIFIEDS (with very specific exceptions) You can talk about ALMOST anything here, roughly pre-1972 or so, without a lot of grief. NO VW's and NO Mustangs.
I wouldn't say 72 with not grief, more 65-66 ish. But it needs to be Traditional Hot Rods and Customs. The later stuff ends up being Customs and not grandma'a 4 door Malibu.
This brings up a question and please understand I'm asking to be enlightened, not to start any kind of pissing contest. NO drama please, I'm simply trying to understand what's cool & what's not. Last night there was a thread started about a guy who has a 49 Jeepster with a 57 Vette engine. Cool car, pre 64, made in the good old USA and modified back in the day. Everyone thought it was cool and there were lots of positive comments on it. until ONE guy whined that it wasn't "traditional" and the next thing you know "poof" the whole thread is gone. Now maybe a Jeepster isn't everyones cup-o-tea but WTF.. If he didn't like the car he should have just moved on to the next thread not whined about it and got it pulled. I've seen threads about Gremlins stay on here for days but a 49 American made car that's clearly been hotrodded gets yanked because some old curmudeon cries about it ? Can some of the old timers here please explain this to me ? To get back on topic I rebuilt a 66 Vette convertible a few years ago that was an old drag car. No VIN number and I planned on getting state issued numbers one I finished it. Really rough body, frame badly bent in the front, no running gear, but it was cheap. I used the front half of an 82 frame, built a "correct" looking 427 using a 454 block, 396 crank, correct intake & heads. Ran out of money after completely rebuilding the chassis, engine & trans and sold it to a guy who made a really good offer. Fast forward a couple of years and that same car is being advertised for sale by a well known (but now gone) Corvette dealer here in NH. They are selling it as a matching numbers 67 427 convertible and asking 50k... Story I heard was that they had a 67 body with good VIN from a car that was parted out years ago due to a rotted frame and just dropped it onto the chassis I had restored. I always wondered how they got the 74 Suburban 454 block to become a "matching number" 67 427...
Drove my '64 Coupe to a local 'vette show (as a spectator). A couple of the guys saw my car and asked me to pull it into the show area, so I did... It wasn't long before the "experts" began telling me how my car had the wrong hood, wrong grill, wrong speedometer & tach, and wrong radio. I responded by telling them how I had already sold off the original knock off wheels and was getting ready to remove the front bumper, cut a hole in the hood and install a Hillborn fuel injection unit. They walked away and left me alone.
i don't know if this has anything to do with it,but i remember once seeing ryan post"i don't care what you do to a jeep,i don't think they are cool" or something like that..so..maybe..i dunno..just trying to answer your ???
Honor the mans requests-no pics Do an internet search for Vette parts-there are many suppliers Educate yourself on the car and their characteristics-again internet search Inspect car thoroughly Consider price of project-including parts needed If it is still a "good deal" buy it Build it the way you want-Vette owners are very opinionated (I speak from experience), having owned a few Have fun-enjoy, they are a great car
that's pretty much it...a few may get by if they're quick about it, but the more responses they get from newbies (like myself) then those threads multiply and before you know it this place is another chevytalk or corvette forum. If in doubt, keep it traditional. I don't like the whiners either, but if their point is valid and accepted and the thread gets pulled...move on to another forum
I asked about a custom 65 GTO and got kick and beaten, But yet I see gasser 65 gto's and custom 66 and 67 GP's WTF???? I was going to build a gasser gto and I may, But I just keep my mouth shut here and look around and I won't post any of my pic's of my 29' cuz I may be beaten again. So With that said here's the whip and I'll bend over for you guy's.
I think mid-year Vettes make great gassers. If it's a fairly rough car with major issues such as bird-cage rust or frame rust, a gasser is a good way to go. If it's a solid, fairly complete car I probably wouldn't go that route. But, it's your car and your choice. As you can see, this gasser doesn't have a lot of Vette left except the frame rails and body shell.
There's a difference between giving someone a hardtime over something that doesn't fit vs. someone who is passing on misinformation. Yeah I'm a little tough on people sometimes, but for the most part they deserve it. A '67 vette done right fits fine.
the year cutoff thing depends on who shows up in the thread to whine. I've seen some really cool shit posted that didn't quite fit the mold here. There's an incredible amount of knowledge here, and sometimes it's a shame that there can't be more leeway, but I know for a fact that the place would get over-ran with non-car people asking the basics on how to get their 85 chevy running. So I think the bitching is a necessary evil. Do a google search, see how often the HAMB shows up in the results. As for the vette, in my personal opinion, unless you're looking at the car as an investment or if it's a rare model, i'd restore it. Otherwise, i'd customize it like they did when it was new. From what i've seen in the old magazines, they use to cut the hell out of those things. Have fun with it!
Your post is filled with HAMB buzzwords, vette, gasser, barn find.......blah blah blah.....show me pictures, or it never happened oh, and after the vette is on the trailer, try and sneak some pictures of the "mythical gasser" in the corner.......
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