I'm really enjoying your
website. It's helping to keep me motivated as I work through my Corvette
restoration. Here's some photos for your showcase and a bit about the
cars...
At the age of 20 years old I
bought a brand new 1980 Corvette. It's the only automobile that I've ever
owned that actually made driving a car a fun thing to do. It was white
with a burgundy cloth interior. In the attached photo is my '80 Vette
flanked by Rick's red '80 and Jeff's blue '78. This photo was taken back
in July of 1980.
When I was engaged to be married,
my future bride told me that I had to get rid of my Corvette because 'A
married man doesn't drive a car like that.' Sadly, to impress her I sold
my car when I really didn't want to give it up. Hindsight has taught me
that I should have gotten rid of her and kept the car.
Even in divorce she swore that
I'd never realize my dream of ever owning another Corvette.
The next two photos are of my
dream come true. In July of 2009 I found what I was looking for; a 1980
Corvette with a 4-speed manual transmission that was in desperate need of
a lot of TLC. Before buying the car I purchased its vehicle history
report. It had been broken into three times and in November of 2008 it
hit a deer. It was obvious to me that the previous owner didn't
appreciate what it meant to own a Corvette. The car was a wreck inside.
The body was damaged and the drive train and power steering bled all over
the place. I wasn't sad though because under my care that car will be
reborn.
At this moment I'm ready to
perform the body lift. I live on the West Coast of British Columbia so
once I have a few days of dry weather I'll roll the car out of the garage
and lift the body unto its wooden dolly. Then I can finish stripping the
car down to the bare frame. This will of course be a complete frame-off
restoration.
The car is presently yellow and
it had a white leather interior. Once rebuilt it will be black on red
leather. I'm not rebuilding the stock L48 engine. I'm opting to install
a GM 350HO crate engine rated at 330 hp. I'm still considering replacing
the 4 speed with a 5 speed.
Along with stripping the car down
to prepare it for the body lift, I've already rebuilt the entire steering
column, both headlight assemblies, the heater box including dampers and
ducting and the brake/clutch pedal unit. There have been no surprises and
everything is going better than I hoped.
I love the '80 Vette and of all
the cars I've ever owned, it's the only one that I'd ever devote so much
time, money and effort on.
