brassplyer

You can change out the suspension and steering to something that's engineered completely differently than factory, put in an engine wholly unlike anything that a stock engine could have been modded to back when, a 5 or 6 speed trans, modern rims and tires.

Is it about the exterior looks to you or the driving experience being in the realm of what Chevrolet designed into it?

NONN37

When you re-title your car as a specially constructed vehicle.

Dustyfloor

Me personally, I no longer consider it a Corvette, any year C3 or not, when going the "pro street" route. The solid axle, ridiculously huge rear tires and a suspension designed for nothing more than going in a straight line, took the Corvette right out of it.

But yes, technically it will always be considered what it's titled as.

terrys6t8roadster

The 6t8s first major upgrade was the VP&B dual mount suspension. Then 10 years later the engine hp was uped to 411 rwhp and 5-speed. After driving the car with the upgrades I told my friends this is the way a C-3 Corvette is supposed to be. T

SteveG75

My '75 has a 496 big block, custom Tripower EFI, T-56 Magnum, 12 bolt rear. Still running stock suspension design (changed springs, fiberglass rear), 15" wheels, Wilwood calipers. Still a C-3.

My intent was to build a car that looks like Chevrolet would build it if they had all this technology in 1975.

scrappy76

Does not matter what you do to it or what you change on it, it will always be a C3.

It's like this woman, we will call her Betty. That is what she was named at birth. Later in life she got a boob job to please her man, she is still Betty. Then a few years later, she got a face lift, she is still Betty. Then one night her and her husband was making love and he accidently called her Sally. She is now doing life in prison for killing her husband. And all he did wrong was call her a different name. . True story.

Rescue Rogers

That’s a loaded question, if you ask any person off the street, a vettes a vette. If your asking me, As long as the body lines are there and it’s still In a sports car theme for taking turns at high speed I think it’s a corvette. That was the original intention, you can drag race it but it’s heart is in the winding roads.

If it’s made into a muscle car type dragster with a straight axle and gets made into something like a gasser, I’ll call it a corvette hot rod. Especially if it’s made to look like a gasser but doesn’t spend its life at the track, more cruising the boulevards to look cool or car shows. Even at a show it may be entered in a vette category when it’s more of a hot rod

Most muscle cars that were made at the same time as the Vettes were great for straight lines but not to many could handle a twisting road as well. That’s the biggest deal to me. I’ve upgraded everything in mine except the frame, not counting making the tranny crossmember removable, the only thing that isn’t a hugely different is the dash, I did add gauge pods to the A pillar for things I want to know for troubleshooting like, vacuum , fuel pressure and AFR. If I had a turbo I wiould want to know boost as well. Everything is for more power, better handling and better fuel mileage, and anyone looking at it would say , ya it’s a corvette.



Fast in the turns and a respectable 6 second 0-60 and 13’s in the 1/4





Kick my *** in the 1/4 but it ain’t gonna make a turn to save it’s life......hot rod vette!! Looks very cool though

jim-81

Not sure if this really answers the question but for me, this is probably the only hot rod/toy/fun car I will ever have so I just keep doing stuff to it. My dad was just asking me the other day, haven't you done everything there is to do on that thing? Well, no. I haven't upgraded the suspension yet. So it's more of a continual hobby although at this point it's at a pretty good place. I've done too much to it already to even consider selling it. Which might be good or bad who knows. I still love the car though. And every time I walk out to the garage I like seeing it.

Richard454

I still consider my car a C3...

Zora Arkus-Duntov- "Father of the Corvette" was his nickname- he was ALL about modifying the Corvette....

“Zora Arkus-Duntov was born in Belgium, raised in Leningrad, and educated in Berlin.”
“He brought his European automotive high-performance experience to bear on the just-introduced Corvette”


I just carried it one step further- Personally- I’d think he’d really dig my swap with a German engine… but doesn't matter- I do and did it because I can!!!

Rescue Rogers

I bet he would be all over it. It really is hot rodding at its core, taking something and making either better at what it’s designed for or making it better for what we want it to do.....

I also love my garage and my car. I had a weak case of the covid and was quarantined, the whole time I was out in the garage with the car, she’s my baby!!

brassplyer

Looks dangerous - does it go down the track like that? Isn't that begging to have the wind flip it at high speed? Or is the nose elevated for some kind of maintenance?

Rescue Rogers

That ones not mine, its photo I found, but the gassers where set up like that, usually the rear was higher. They raced like that all the time, they lightended the front end by getting rid of the A arms, front brakes, front suspension and all the extra body work including hood and inner fenders. Then they added a straight front axle and skinny light tires, all in the name of increasiing the HP to weight ratio.

the hood being removed wont trap the air and flip it

BarryB72

I'm just reading this as I sit in the dark waiting for a 3 year old to give up and just go to sleep thinking my answer would be I would always call it a corvette but then I thought about the NASCAR Camaro and I would not call that a Camaro even if the body was the same exact shape. Soooo for me - if it has a standard body size, shape and composition (flares, headlight conversions included) and it has an interior I can identify as corvette I'm calling it a corvette.

7T1vette

Richard...

I see that you'v finished your side vents. They look like they belong on your car. Nice design...good color coordination.....

vettebuyer6369

It’s all semantics, but IMO when I see a car that has become a real-deal restomod... the crazy money full blown chassis, etc changes -not the mildly modified cars that are incorrectly called restomods by their owners- I don’t consider them C1/2/3 Corvettes any longer. I think of them as pro built street rods with a Corvette body choice rather than a ‘34 Chevy or whatever other body you decided to bolt on the tube chassis.

I went in this direction after a guy I know who used to churn out bucks-up street rods routinely, decided to get on the early Corvette restomod bandwagon and sell them. All they were, were street rods with a C2 body stuck on it, usually forced into being a split window with a stinger hood because that’s what everyone wants. I don’t consider this guy as building Corvettes. They aren’t Corvettes any more than funny cars used to be whatever car body they stuck on them.

Richard454

THANK you SIR!

Scott-
Hope you are feeling better- I'm sure just walking out in the garage will help!! It is GREAT with what you have done- I can just see the kids flocking to your car wherever you are!!! Hats off to you on that bold move.

Thank you!!! OK - one side is done...the other I am still working on!!!

brassplyer

Not familiar with the term "bucks up". Is that some reference to cost, maybe bucks for forming auto bodies?

vettebuyer6369

Sorry, that’s an old 70s term meaning “money was no object” in a build, usually a custom build.

Sometime my dinosaur is showing.

69427

The nose is elevated to raise the center of gravity so that at initial acceleration during drag racing there is more weight transferred to the rear tires for increased traction.

Rescue Rogers

There was a story in hotrod or motortrend where they are now referencing restomods as just upgrades and calling what your referring to as protouring cars. Ones that are either big dollar or nearly race ready show cars. Like the cars that celebrities have built and then show up on Jay Lenos garage with. But most of those celebs actually drive the crap out of those cars.

Wish I had the time and moolah for that. I would love a tubed chassis for my baby. No more squishy frame, it's a 68