Features Corvette hot rods - picture thread

Hello,

Ever since I rode in a 1960 Corvette as a teenager, I knew I wanted one. Despite the thin wall structure of the whole car and the look of fibergl*** in the inner walls, it was a blast to take the Corvette through the gears. My friend was the driver and he did not spare any movement other than full floor acceleration down the Cherry Avenue Drags location. It felt like a lightweight rocket taking off. And, it was stock. 4 speed, 283 dual quads and Positraction.

So, where did two teenagers get such a prize possession?

It was a close family relation, of my friend who also owned his highly modified 283 powered SBC in his white 57 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop. His friend liked the Corvette. He bought it new and liked it at first. But, the dual quads did not work for him. The motor was too high performance and wanted a simple 4 barrel on his 283 Corvette motor.

Well, we just happened to put on a 4 barrel carb and manifold on the 57 Chevy, when we got his heads back from the porting shop, nearby. The Corvette owner asked if he would like to trade the dual quads for the 4 barrel if we did all of the work. Hot Dang… of course we would do all of the work. So, a swap took place until the wee hours of one Saturday night.

But, first, we took the dual quad Corvette out for a cruise and of course, the long, dark Cherry Avenue Drags for some high speed runs before we started the work. We got right to work and had everything taken apart and separated. Then the exchange took place and now a shiny new dual quad set up was on his 57 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop. After a few cruising runs in Bixby Knolls, we took it to the Cherry Avenue Drags location and it performed quite well.

The power off of the line seemed like it threw us back in our seats and the front end lifted. No, it did not do a wheelie, but it felt like it as we whizzed down the dark street for a quarter of a mile. The newly installed 4 speed was well used that night. We had just replaced the stock rear gears with our 4:11 Positraction rear and it sure felt fast…

Jnaki

So, with a huge smile on his face, my friend was very pleased and what became of the Corvette? The single 4 barrel carb toned it down a little and made it drive normally on the streets to his job and back. So, the Corvette owner was pleased. It still was fast, but, just not as fast as with the dual quads. But, you can’t please all of the people, all of the time… YRMV

So, with our 671 supercharged SBC motor sitting in our backyard garage, ideas floated fast around some teenage heads… What if? The basic color for the Corvette dream started black on black, using the 671 SBC motor that was sitting in our backyard garage.

A memory brought back to life, although at the time, there were too many teenage things going on in our lives as active high school teenagers including a new adventures in surfing… So, how is a longboard going to fit in a Corvette? Yikes!

Note:

The white 57 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop never lost a race to anyone from that point on, to the selling day in a couple of years after high school. It was a great Christmas Tree delivery hot rod sedan during that teenage time period. To paraphrase a popular teenage hot rod song… “…with a 4 speed, dual quad, Positraction Chevy Bel Air…”
Early art design
Talk about a fast tree delivery service…

The 671 SBC motor sat in my garage covered up so our mom would not see it. Then one day, a buyer from the Midwest called, flew out to the Westcoast and bought the motor to ship back East.

But, the Corvette remained in our heads and came to life in a detailed artwork, that would have been nice to cruise around on a Saturday night.

So, for safety sake driving small quick handling Corvettes several changes would be made. The handling around corners and mountain roads, would require a lowered stance and safety roll bar for a feeling of security… YRMV ... let alone running with some new wheels.

 

The Daniel Boone Corvette checks all the boxes for me!

 

The Granny Goose in Bowling Green 2021

 

What Vette?

 

Anyone know the owner and what year the Criscoe's Automotive picture might be? I see a lot of the same mods as my car - in particular the center mount push bar and rear fender exhaust have been filled. I am looking for history prior to 1968 when the car was in MD.

 

I thought Wangers was strictly a Pontiac guy?

 

Dutre Bros So San Francisco

 

Right hand steering or flipped film negative?

 

I believe that is center steering altered car. Notice engine setback
There were a number of cars that ran out of Bills Garage

 

I don't think the USA 1 license plates didn't happen until about '72 or '73.

 

I found a 2003 posting on another Forum searching for Criscoe but the picture was ***ociated with an AMX or C2 Drag car:

"I searched around and found that Buddy Criscoe is from Fern Creek, Ky lol it was dated 1969. here is the link."
http://lakelandraceway.crosswinds.ne...liminators.htm

Probably not my car since I have the history from 68 till current if the USA tag did not begin until 72 or so.

 

Wangers opened a Chevy dealership in Milwaukee, after his time doing Pontiac ads

 

I saved the picture file and zoomed-in on it and he is definitely in a seat that is against the door. I would think that with the engine offset you noted that a center seat would not work (the seat position would be doing battle with the engine position, not to mention the steering and pedals. Offset steering is possible but with the other issues noted it seems unlikely.).

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/HzsUpI_S7wM?si=jbyEOCkuY2rWL0A9

I got out Friday night and had some car trouble. I believe that when we got my car running that we just snugged the distributor down and didn't tighten it all of the way. Over a period of time and lots of heat cycles the distributor worked its more. now it's running again