When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Most of you probably purchased your car already painted but after looking it over you may have a notion if it's been hit or not. Lets see some pictures of a virgin body.
LOL. Lots of folks say/think they have a no hit body. Some do, some don't. Todays repairers/restorers are so good it's hard to tell. They even duplicate the factory bonding strips and underside finishes.
The best/most authentic pics I have seen of no hit '63 SWCs are those in Nolands book showing them on the assembly line before paint.
I know mine's not no-hit. The original owner described to me when it got tapped in St Louis traffic in the wintertime when the car was just a 2 year old daily driver.
Some were fixed correctly and never had anything after being painted for years come back .I bought mine as a no hit body detailed by the buyer only to fine out it was fixed in a section on front fender only after soda blasting it .
Any way if fixed correctly does it really matter.
Some were fixed correctly and never had anything after being painted for years come back .I bought mine as a no hit body detailed by the buyer only to fine out it was fixed in a section on front fender only after soda blasting it .
Any way if fixed correctly does it really matter.
Your story is fairly typical; especially if the damage was light; e.g. a tap to a quarter panel. There are a lot of 'no hit' cars running about with dark secrets IMO...and pics of stripped cars aren't much help as the best repairers recreate bonding strips and indications of originality.
As discussed in some previous threads two indications of an original front end on a C2 are the slight bulge where parking light panel meets the front quarter and the presence of stamped holes in the surround's metal header brace. (Repros have sharp-edged, drilled holes).
My '61 was a 'no hit' car, but over the years some owner had repaired a typical large stress crack over the DS wheel well on the fender. You could only tell by feeling the rough glass underneath the fender. Not crash damage but a discernible repair nonetheless.
Still a 'no hit' ?
And, I don't really know how much it matters if beautifully done repairs are made to a garden-variety classic Corvette (not talking L-88s or Z06s here)....
I think a lot of the concern if a car has been wrecked goes beyond the pretty cosmetics and is about if the frame has been tweaked or wracked in some manner or other hidden damage is lurking around. So that "unknown" might be why there is a premium on alleged 'no hit' cars (whatever that means).
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; 10-14-2016 at 07:03 AM.
Your story is fairly typical; especially if the damage was light; e.g. a tap to a quarter panel. There are a lot of 'no hit' cars running about with dark secrets IMO...and pics of stripped cars aren't much help as the best repairers recreate bonding strips and indications of originality.
As discussed in some previous threads two indications of an original front end on a C2 are the slight bulge where parking light panel meets the front quarter and the presence of stamped holes in the surround's metal header brace. (Repros have sharp-edged, drilled holes).
My '61 was a 'no hit' car, but over the years some owner had repaired a typical large stress crack over the DS wheel well on the fender. You could only tell by feeling the rough glass underneath the fender. Not crash damage but a discernible repair nonetheless.
Still a 'no hit' ?
And, I don't really know how much it matters if beautifully done repairs are made to a garden-variety classic Corvette (not talking L-88s or Z06s here)....
I think a lot of the concern if a car has been wrecked goes beyond the pretty cosmetics and is about if the frame has been tweaked or wracked in some manner or other hidden damage is lurking around. So that "unknown" might be why there is a premium on alleged 'no hit' cars (whatever that means).
I laid underneath this car for 1 hour closely looking at all areas
you would never know ,i am pretty good at this type inspection The reason i bought this was how nice it was with a frame off in 1994 .
tell ya my last 63 was broken open in rear like a pumpkin and not fixed on bonding strips it would come back every three years no matter what i did.
I figure out what happened when I had the transmission rebuilt the tail shaft dident match the transmission and was replaced it was hard to figure what rebuild kit i needed ,The new gas tank was a tell tail sign also. These cars have been thru hell thru the years.
Bad repairs and 'cheaping out' are what make 'hit' cars worth so much less...
I judged a black, fuelie '63 split window last spring (red interior) a drop dead gorgeous car from 20' but the front had been replaced with really poor skills over both front wheel wells. You could see the spliced repair 'print' through the paint and feel it on the backside.
A shame as it really detracted from an otherwise very nice example!!
Moxie62 it is always lovely to see a "virginal" old Corvette body such as the one shown in your photos! I have felt that way for 45 years. I just finished a sweet "survivor" '62 last spring that was a joy to work on every day and kept me in my time warp. Fortunately, I have another '72 Conv. with an original body to play with to help keep the mood going.
But your SWC is really special!
Last edited by Keith Carlson; 10-14-2016 at 09:01 AM.
I dont know how many no-hits are left, but it seems alot of SWC's lately are getting into wrecks. Maybe they are being driven more due to their popularity?
I wonder if this split can be brought back to beautiful never-been-hit condition again?
I suppose so if same as factory work is done by the right body shop with correct materials.
I dont know how many no-hits are left, but it seems alot of SWC's lately are getting into wrecks. Maybe they are being driven more due to their popularity?
Or possibly there are more distracted, aggressive, unskilled idiots behind the wheels of OTHER cars
I know a guy I worked with jumped to buy this beautiful 67 corvette coupe i was interested in come to find out it had no headlight support he remove it and fixed it with filler.
He bought for 10,000 original 327 corvette.
He put a solid front end on it and stuck bonding strips under the fenders to fool people .
The corvette is still not done after being taken by 3 body shops thru the years.
The last body shop sold all his parts and went of of bussiness.
He had 60,000 in it in 1999 and finally got it painted , He still has to buy a ton of parts to complete .I guess that saying whats goes around comes around is true.
He was the type of guy that likes to sue people at the drop of a hat.
I wonder if this split can be brought back to beautiful never-been-hit condition again?
I suppose so if same as factory work is done by the right body shop with correct materials.
Assuming there is no damage beyond the center of the wheels back, would you just replace the center of the wheels forward or the whole front clip. I've never seen a reproduction clip in person but they have them with all the bonding strips in place. If you put one of those clips on and do a good job, I think you would still have a great car. You be painting the underside black so none of the new glass would show.
Assuming there is no damage beyond the center of the wheels back, would you just replace the center of the wheels forward or the whole front clip. I've never seen a reproduction clip in person but they have them with all the bonding strips in place. If you put one of those clips on and do a good job, I think you would still have a great car. You be painting the underside black so none of the new glass would show.
The correct way would be to install front surround then all stock fenders follow
price it both ways .
If its a numbers matching i would lean to the surround fix.
It's all a wild guessing game. Someone out there owns a ZR-1 that they believe is a no hit car. While the car still belonged to GM I was driving it in the Boston area and got hit.
GM told me later that the repair bill was over $24,000. The body shop did a perfect job and not many folks could tell the difference. in fact the instructions to the body shop were "Make this car perfect and don't worry about what it costs."
After all of this the car was sent to a dealer as a factory demo or a "brass-hat car". The history of the accident was lost.
Back in the 1960's assembly line damage was not all that uncommon. That was one reason the guys in the repair bays always seemed to get a lot of overtime.
Or possibly there are more distracted, aggressive, unskilled idiots behind the wheels of OTHER cars
I think we can all agree that statement is true!
Around here it is texting and red light running, combined with folks who "learned" - or didn't - to "drive" elsewhere that cause a lot of accidents.
No more Drivers Ed here in CA, not even a real road test on highways (just basically a short trip on City streets around a block or two from the DMV office) to issue a new driver's license. I took both my daughters to the Jim Russell street driving course before I let them drive by themselves.
What do you think it is in your area that causes the most accidents?
Last edited by tuxnharley; 10-14-2016 at 12:40 PM.
10-13-2016, 05:30 PM
How many no hit SWC's are there. show pics
I took both my daughters to the Jim Russell street driving course before I let them drive by themselves.