Fawndeuce

Hi and welcome.
I also admire your enthusiasm, but just to echo what the others have said, it would be incredibly expensive to go from the rolling chassis that you have to a complete car.
Just as a point of reference; you can buy a decent driver for about $35K~$40K, you can not make this into a complete car for that price, even if you do all the work yourself.
Regardless of what you spend, in the end you will have a NOM car with no trim tag, and I would suspect that the title is a salvage title?
Everybody it seems nowadays is building restomods, the parts that you have are what people are getting rid of, the body parts that you need are the same ones that every restomod guy is trying to find, you're after the exact same body parts as guys building $150K+ cars...
IMHO, sell what you have and start over, you may spend more now, but you'll spend way way less in terms of money and aggravation the long haul.

Best of luck,

Paul

Revfan

Good luck! I am pulling for you. You seem to know what your are getting into. I have found that there is pleasure in the build (actually, a surprise to me as I am a mechanical neophyte) but love the fact that you are bringing this one back from the brink!

What are you plans? "Stock", Modified, Period racer????

chevymonza

I noticed a couple threads where people say its going to cost a fortune, one which actually turned the guy away from the build. This just makes me want to build this car even more to prove it doesn't cost a fortune, My rough estimate of 25k was by just glancing through the reproduction catalog. Ill start working on a parts list and post on here what final price I come up with. And no the title is not salvaged, again I wouldn't buy it if it was, also only purists care about the trim tag. Im not a purest, and I won't ever be selling the car, even if I did a purest would be running away from it after what I do to it. Plus it would be a shame to not rebuild a piece of history that has a clean title.

I want to make it a driver, with decent power and sound, while still getting good mpg. So either a ls1 or ls3, most likely an ls1 with a t56 to keep cost down, especially now that I'm on a mission to prove it doesn't cost a fortune to build one of these. Ill be slightly modifying it to get a little more power but I don't want to sacrifice mpg too much. Vintage air system, power steering, all new suspension bushings of course, but thats about it.

Nowhere Man

once you realize you can't buy everything from a catalog you might find your estimate a little low

65silververt

Are you going to go with a one piece front and rear end?
It's going to be near impossible to find a good firewall section, but I'm sure somebody somewhere has one

Have you ever worked with fitting fiberglass?

In my experience, it's thevlittle things that eat you alive, not the bigger ones

Chicago Pete

You will quickly find $25K is a very optimistic estimate.
Like yourself I had owned and worked on a bunch of muscle cars before my C2.
Those rules do not apply to Corvettes.

My car looked like this when I bought it, still does.
It ate $10K just sorting it out.

Good luck in your build.

67vetteal

The "Hidden" Chassis VIN should be checked against the Reg. as a start. Once cleared as correct, a total Tear Down will be required to determine which way to proceed. The OP is well aware of what he is involved with. It's his Time and Dollar. Seeing that we are still living in a Free Country, (For Now), I offer him support and encouragement!! Al W.

65silververt

I say focus on reconditioning the birdcage first.

Fit the new upper windshield metal first. I would put the glass in place with seal for test fitment before spot welding.
Next I would pull the cage out, sand or have it blasted, then spray some fresh green oxide paint.
Then, I would concentrate on finding and fitting the firewall, tub, pillars, and other interior fiberglass.
If its too overwhelming at that point, I think you will still be able to bail and break even.

I'm looking forward to watching your progress. Please post updates

Nowhere Man

Well at least at this point he can choose if he wants a coupe or convertible.

Scott Marzahl

I think you need to at least double your estimate. My '67 project came pretty complete in boxes and the body looked like this when I bought it. I also did every bit of work except for rebuilding the headlight and wiper motors, horns, gauges and polishing the stainless and chrome work. I am into it more than $25K for parts and paint supplies.



After a lot of body work and $$$$

chevymonza

So i created my parts list and i was pretty spot on with my 25k estimation, with all parts, with the exception of a few small things like nuts and bolts /clips for certain things, it came to $29,746.45 once you add in discounts and researching better prices it should come down to 25k if not cheaper.

appelen

Please keep us up to date of the progress on your project, I bet you will have a great Corvette when it's said and done

Ausbrian

I started with way less than you have, just a couple of doors! Is it a coupe or convertible? Convertible will be cheaper and easier to build with what you have.I'm sure if your not in a hurry to build this and do all the work yourself,and look around for bargains you will have yourself a nice ride.Looking forward to your next post,should be an interesting build.

Beggers

I too love your enthusiasm, however I have to weigh in as well. I think my original parts list and estimate was about a third of what my actual cost is turning out to be. Many warned me that it was going to be expensive, and in the end they were right. I am completing my 6th corvette project now and I can attest these things are not getting any cheaper to build, these cars always have a surprise waiting for you as seek completion. Believe me, I would love to see you make us all wrong, but without any fiberglass, interior, wiring, etcetera you have some heavy lifting ahead of you. In my case the extra costs are worth it as I love the build process. So if you’re in it for the enjoyment and you think you can handle two or three times your projections I am excited to see your progress. In the end it’s all about our passions for these great cars, Brian

seventyls5

I have built several really rough project cars in the past but they were cars that I could find parts cars to build with and that really saved me money on little parts that would dollar you to death. I really admire your vision on this project but parts cars in the 63 to 67 Corvette bring at least 15k. I hope you can get lucky and round up enough parts to build this car!!! I was looking at a post a while back on here where a guy from St Louis was building a roadster from parts. Really amazing build. I have never seen one that far apart. Maybe someone can post a link. I searched for it and couldnt find it.

C2Jeff

Good luck and don't let the naysayers get you down. Since it's a basket case to start with, my suggestion is to make a restomod out of it because a good one can fetch well over $100K (just check out Mecum Auctions - there's a thread here somewhere). You'll never get this chassis mated to anything original to the car so it'll always be a salvage car but if you use it as a basis to build your dream and do it well, you can make money off this endeavor and have frustrating fun in the process. Then, with the money you make you can go out and buy a numbers matching '67 427.

MarkC

Call Dream Restorations in northeastern North Carolina. Greg probably has everything you need. Just google his business for his number.

BTW, JohnZ is your friend.

chevymonza

thanks for all the support, im not in the market for a salvaged c2, the salvage car i plan on buying is a 4th gen camaro or firebird, or a C5 should be able to pick one up for around $500 and ill be using the ls1/t56, seats, seat belts and maybe a few other parts. Also this C2 is not a salvaged title, the title is clean despite the damage.

chevymonza

thank you for the info, only a couple hours from me, ill be looking them up when im ready to purchase my birdcage and floorpan

bluestreak63

Good luck...I applaud your efforts in attempting to bring this one back to life. It's people like you in this hobby that keep it running by not letting another go to the boneyard/crusher.

Please report on your progress and if it turns out half as well as you're visualizing with your budget, you'll give others starting out in this hobby some hope that you can build a beautiful looking C2 on a tight budget...