C2Dean

The weekend before the Idyllwild fire that made national news recently, I took her final "after" pics. I was going to post them and during restoration shots to give others a boost who may be mid restoration and thinking "WTF, why did I start this?"

Plus, I always like looking at posts with pics for inspiration, no matter what state the Corvette is in. I wish we all posted with more shots of our cars.

I've restored too many cars to count at this point. Many 66 GT Fastback Mustangs, Porsches etc.

To keep the story short on me getting this C2: It belonged to a friend. He bought a 65 Fastback Mustang and needed this gone before his wife saw both of them in the garage. I hadn't seen this guy in years and the Vette reconnected us. I took it home.

My dad always wanted a C2, never got one. He bought a C3 in 73. I was about 5. He asked if I liked blue or silver. I said silver and home we went. My dad died on New Year's Eve in 2000.

Anyway, about two years ago, I drove off in this red 63 Vette from my friend. I didn't check paint codes, build dates etc. I could tell the engine was so close to all it's original parts and it ran like a bat out of you know where. No smoke, no issues etc.

Weeks later, upon checking the vin, numbers etc. Turns out it was built on New Year's Eve 1962. The original color was Silver Blue. Yep. Reread two paragraphs above if that doesn't click right away.

She had one red repaint in the late 70s. The original engine had been rebuilt and is great. The numbers are mostly decked. all casting codes, date codes on engine parts, trans etc are correct for December 62 build.

I had the car stripped back down to the fiberglass. Then, blocked, primed, blocked. Color, clear coats. Color sand. Then, more clear coats on top of that, then final color sand and buff. Too expensive to put in print!!!!!!

Oh, I should add here that in the past I'd rebuilt Corvettes with "Mr Corvette" and legend Dick Guldstrand. So, I know about doing it right the first time. If you don't know the name, look him up. Amazing man and part of Corvette history back to the early 60s. He's still alive and well by the way.

The interior is all new Al Knock. As is the date coded soft top. I have the original hardtop too. It's wrapped in blankets. I don't use it.

I kept but replaced the AM radio with a 2013 digital that has old style chrome buttons. I also added the smaller steering wheel. I have the original blue steering wheel with correct pattern in the metal.

I got rid of the mags and put back on the hubcaps. I bought 13 hubcaps to make the best of four possible.

All the chrome was done show quality by an in house chrome shop I've known for years and has been in the business since the 70s.

GM restoration parts or NOS as needed. Headlight motors rebuilt, all rubber etc replaced.

I had my restomod years. Now, I like my cars as close to original as possible.

As the economy improves and values start heading back up, I'll probably put her up for sale as, knowing me, I usually keep a classic for about a year after restoring it. Meanwhile, it's top down and fun, fun, fun.

Enjoy the pics.

Bluestripe67

I like happy endings with beautiful Vettes. Dennis

b_pappy

Beautiful, glad she survived the fires. Thanks for sharing the pics and story.
Bruce

Zoomin

I'm glad that rascal made it through. Beautiful car!

69z28&ss396

Gives me hope when I start mine.. Geez Ive got a long way to go..

Hitch

Love the color! So good to hear the car made it thru without any damage.

Hitch

Nowhere Man

Love that blue. so nice to go away from resale red

OldKarz

Sweet! Very nice!

5thvet

Looks great!

C2Dean

Thanks for the compliments everyone.
69z, glad my pics here are giving you a boost to keep on going.

I started restoring cars at about 14 and it was trial and error for the first few years.
The passion for it has never diminished.
HOWEVER, "I am going to finish one other car I'm in the process of restoring, then NO MORE."
And, "I've never said that before!"

VetteRed1965

Looks great, glad she survived the fire. Glad to see a nice looking blue Vette

dahogan

we love happy endings and she is stunning to boot

Vette Daddy

Super nice!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birdman63

My favorite color! Looks beautiful.

bluzrocker

well all I can say is wow...the colour change is vunder baah.....and THE CONTRAST w/ the rag top sets it off beautifully...nice choice on the top...thinking out of the box..

Bluzrocker

sub006

I said a prayer for the just-finished project during the evacuation, maybe there is a God.

The steering wheel is a nice upgrade, gives tall guys needed legroom. Can you see enough of the speedo and tach?

C2Dean

Oh, you mean you are supposed to pay attention to speed when driving a Mid Year?
For me, it works great. I can see the gauges. The only issue was the turn signal lever. It would bump my fingers when turning.
So, I simply bought a GM restoration lever (same as orig) and I snapped off the end that is the plastic tip. I didn't even have to polish the metal end where I broke it off.
The turn signal is no issue now.
Yes, at 6'3" the original steering wheel was just too big.
Easy to switch the wheel out if I want to put orig on to show.

I also added a thumping stereo. the sub woofers went into the tray covering the jack etc.
I then had another piece of as original carpet made up to lay over the sub woofers if I want to show the car etc. The carpet was kind of lifted up in that pic on here and you can see a bit of the speaker on the passenger side. Top down at 70 and you hear it great.

C2Dean

And, thank you everyone for the compliments. So appreciated as many of you well know after battling through a restoration.

While I do love a red car, I wanted her back to what she was.

Out and about so many people comment what a great color that blue and how much of a mirrored reflection the paint job is.

oldsarge

Great job, nice color !!!