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From Great Grandpa to Us
From Great Grandpa to Us
My Great-Grandfather purchased a 1962 Chevrolet Corvette brand-new from the dealership and drove it over 100,000 miles in the Michigan salty and snowy winters. A little less than 60 years, in Fall of 2019, my Dad and I walked with my Great-Uncle into a storage unit in Denver, CO to find that Corvette under a thick coating of dust.
Over the next 2 years, my Dad and I took the entire car apart and rebuilt it; replacing, rebuilding, or newly fabricating parts until it was totally restored.
These pictures don't do the hundreds of hours justice, but it truly felt like a marathon and helped me appreciate how complex even a car from the 1960s can be!
The C1 Corvette (1954-62) featured a fiberglass body on a steel chassis, which were separated with the help of 10 of our neighbors. The halves rested side-by-side for about a year as we restored the car.
The chassis was heavily rusted, and most of the bolts either sheared or required lubricant to release.
My choice for extending the torque of a wrench was an old lacrosse stick, also note the incredibly thick pad of grease at the intersection of the I-beams, woah!
Lots of hours disassembling the rolling chassis.
We chemically dipped the frame and then painted or powder coated various subassemblies; it's a lot shinier than when it was before!
We worked with a machine shop to rebuild, overbore, and paint the original, numbers-matching engine. The engine and transmission are always moved together.
Installing the exhaust, note the tennis ball covering the top of the shift lever, it stayed on there for well over a year as a safety measure.
Both halves restored and ready to be reunited!
The rolling chassis and frame were sent to a specialty shop for an alignment
It's a tight and busy engine bay!
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