I get a kick out of some of the latest offerings on C1s. Now with any bastardized parts they throw on them, some less than savy sellers are referring to as resto-mods. I've seen some nicely done upgraded C1s but these are just old Corvettes with available parts thrown on them. What are the thoughts on these types of cars?

If I had a C1 that wasn't a museum piece, I'd certainly want to drive it, and while driving on half-century-old technology might be fun once in a great while, I don't know if I'd want to do it on a regular basis. I like the philosophy of the resto-mods that don't alter the car in such a way that you couldn't turn it back to stock if you wanted to.

I'm not a purist. I love a nicely done restomod. Post up some pics.

Matthew

We started in the hobby twenty years ago with a literally all original 66 big block coupe. We loved the car and restored only what was needed such as the engine which was in need of a complete rebuild. After doing several NCRS events we began to better understand what we had and began to drive it less than we had planned. At that point we started to buy other C2's to restore and felt more comfortable about driving those cars.

After nine years though we began looking for a way to broaden our interest in the hobby and decided to build a car the way we wanted. That was our first "Vette-Rod" or "Resto-Mod". We look for cars that are not good candidates for a stock restoration and would never modify a real numbers matching car as we feel those are best restored as they left the factory.

Candidly, we are now having more fun in the hobby than ever and have built three cars of this type. Each one has been different in the approach we've taken which is the most interesting aspect for us in these projects. Everyone has their own perspective of their ideal Corvette whether it's completely stock, modified somewhat or the full-blown Vette-Rod. Whatever your point of view there's always something interesting to see in how folks have gone about building their cars.

For us the key is having a specific theme for the car along with set objectives. Ours is to retain the integrity of the original styling, as that is what initially attracted us to them, but upgrade everything under the skin to improve the performance, ride, handling, braking and comfort. We only make subtle changes to the body and interior and, with any change, we try to blend them with the original styling.

Frankly, it's a bit more involved as you could be undertaking both a restoration as well as incorporating the custom components. We try to use as many current Corvette components as possible to end up with a classic styled car combined with more current components.

We appreciate all Corvettes. Everyone has their own view of what they like and enjoy the most but this has kept our interest in the hobby going.

Rich

#s matching ones are nice to see once in awhile but not my cup o tea.

Would love to have almost any year C1 and rat it out a la 60s gasser or track rat style.

Old slot wheels, 60s era speed parts, not real nice paint, etc. Something you can beat up and not feel guilty about.

Unfortunately a project or roller is still 15-25k min.