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The car started as a basic 1976 Corvette that I had
planned to modify, but keep its stock powertrain. It wasn't until I got tired of
it sitting in the garage that I decided to convert it to electric.
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This was a Michigan car so its frame was in need of extensive rust repair. I
had repaired and restored the frame and all suspension components to
original materials.
The engine was a basic 350.
I rebuilt it and put in a mild camshaft and an Edelbrock performer
carburetor and manifold.
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The windshield frame and floor pans were pretty bad. All
this rust repair was in the early 1990's (before suppliers had new
stampings) so the major repair panels came from donor cars.
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I hadn't planned on removing
the firewall, but the rust went everywhere so started cutting away all the
junk.
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At this point the rust had been
stopped so now it was time for the big decision - massive cutting of the
rear end.
I have never liked the rubber bumper
Corvettes, or how long the car had become, So I decided to fix it. I like
the "flying buttress" so I kept the general shape (I made them wider so they
blended in the shortened tail). This photo shows the initial cutting.
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My initial cutting didn't give
me the aggressiveness that I wanted, so I really went after it and cut about
10" off the back of the car. Cutting that much off the car made the back of
the car wider and very aggressive.
To get an
idea of the shape, I experimented with Paper Mache. As the paste dried, it
contracted which resulted in some really nice contours.
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I liked the ZR-1 taillights so
decided they too needed to be incorporated.
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Fast-forward a bit. I didn't
like the too-long nose of the car, and had grown tired of pop-up headlights
so I chopped about 4" off the front and put some of the lowest profile
rectangular headlights I could find - less than 2" tall.
Here the car is getting ready for it shipment to its new home in Florida.
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Here is the new front end - updated for
low profile
high-intensity headlights.
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