This gentleman is having his Corvette C3 fully restored and a full restomod conversion is taking place.
The chassis is all new, as the original car was purchased online essentially as a log book purchase. On arrival it was clear that the subframe was totally rusted out and beyond any kind of realistic repair.
Belchers looked into building a new chassis, however one became available to us that was cheaper than building a replacement, so this was acquired as a base for the corvette. The new chassis has been fitted out with new brakes, fuel pipes, suspension parts, radiator etc. This incorporates slight updates from the original C3 design.
The bodywork is ongoing and will take some parts from another donor shell to make one complete shell. This is still involving some repairs to the birdcage, with the end result being a completely restored shell. The final look will be one of an earlier looking Corvette with Chrome Bumpers. Clearly lots of inhouse fibreglass work will need to take place.
The customer wants an engine that will stand out from the crowd and the plan is to fit a 511 CI/ 8.4L Big Block Chevy Engine that will be built up in house. This may end up being fuel injected for more everyday driving.
New Gauges will feature in the Corvette, but these will be in-keeping with it being a classic i.e. no digital gauges. To incorporate the Sat Nav/Apple car play a change to the centre console is planned and our engineering facilities will come into play to ensure this looks inkeeping, whilst creating an adjustable Satnav screen.
Restomod work wise, the plan is to feature quite a few enhancements over the standard corvette, these include:
A Big Block Engine.
5 Speed Tremec Gearbox (from 3 speed automatic)
New Dashboard and Gauges that are in-keeping with the cars looks (i.e. not digital), but modern classic.
Air Conditioning
Side Pipes
Customised centre console to include Sat Nav, Apple Car play, Reversing Camera etc.
