16 FOREVER!!!!

 

My vette is a 67 BB 427/390 that has a 350 in it. I agree with Nassau66427 - modifications should be bolt ons. The corvette C2 body needs no modifications to look good. Modern brake, steering, etc. bolt ons brings the car to the 21st century. This is not to say that I do not enjoy completely stock to wild C2s.

 

I'm all about moding a car and some take it further than myself but I can always appreciate all the hard work. With that being said all the time it takes to make a car NCRS correct is daunting and I appreciate that too.. Someone else posted about original cars.. Those are the most interesting to me, there are a few here in the Raleigh area and I enjoy looking at them more than correct cars. There is so much character in those cars...Dave.

 

Seecar, looking at your vette is like a trip back in time for me. Mine had a 427 BB hood and side emblems, but except for that and the heartbeat tag, it's what mine looked like back in 1967 when I first bought it. Warms my heart. It's lovely. Glad to see one kept stock...ONCE IN A WHILE, but I still love what people do to them to make them theirs, and not the generals!

 

There was a time when an original numbers matching car was worth more than a car with modifications......those times are a changing. I have seen many modified cars, Vettes included that demand a considerable amount more money than stock cars. So from an investment standpoint you can create whatever value you want. My car was numbers matching, I have not made any mods that cannot be reversed. I have kept all the original parts and should I ever sell the car I will sell it 'with' the original parts (not original). My car (with mods) reflects my personal taste, And believe me when I am finished with it, it while demand a lot more than I paid for it as stock. There is a buyer for every car...........mods and stock alike. So to my fellow Vette owners I say you only live once, put the pedal to the metal and enjoy. If your are torn between stock and mods....then buy one of each!

 

Custom ,motified, Whatever- Cruisin'

 

I can't agree with this. I've had several modified cars and enjoyed the heck out of them, and in a couple cases, sold them for good money. Occasionally, a nicely done modified car can actually bring more than a comparative model stock car when the stocker is not a strong seller anyway (mid 70's coupes, early C4's, other later models). And, there are the rare instances like at Barrett-Jackson where a modified car brings very good money. These cases, unquestionably, are the exception.
There may be "buyers for every car" but the truth is regardless of price, there are less buyers for the modified car than its stock sister.
The fact is in the vast majority of cases, the real cars, unmodified and numbers-matching most often bring the solid money. This is almost universally true the older the car is. And, any argument that "the times are changing" is just not based in reality and sounds more like wishful thinking.

 

There is no NCRS for '67-69 Camaros and look at their resale value.

Same for 55-57 Chevrolets. Have you seen what a '57 Bel Air Convertible goes for now?

If you ask me, the NCRS has constricted the resale value of the average C1/C2 Corvette.

Funny how an NOM Corvette is worth less right now than an NOM Camaro convertible.

I like a "period" restored car. Meaning what we would have typically seen on the street back in the day. Personally I think well executed wheel flares look hot on a C2.

Replacement motors are fine as long as they're well executed. It looks pretty bad to see some ratty engine in a Corvette with spaghetti wires and hoses splayed all about.

My biggest regret is that people seem so stuck on original colors. There are so many beautiful colors to choose from nowadays besides original or red.

 

When I was a young guy, I enjoyed modifying cars with any high tech part that was available. It was all about performance and appearance. There were more parts on my cars made by Holley, Moroso, Accel, etc. than by the origional manufacturer. That was in the days of Chevelles, Camaros, Roadrunners etc. I've been there and done that.
Now that I am a bit older, I get my satisfaction from keeping my car as origional as possible. Preserving it, so to speak. I know its stupid to have a bolt on oil filter. But, when I change my oil, I think about all the other guys that have unthreaded that same stupid bolt over the years and had oil all over their hands. I view the car as a bit of a time machine. My car was made before I was even in grade school, but I feel a part of that era when I am around it. I think some of the members of NCRS get a little carried away with chalk marks on the frame etc, but I do understand where they are coming from. I do feel that my car has a certain historical value, and I feel that I have an obligation to protect that history. Don't get me wrong, I do drive my car. I drive it a lot. I drive the sh*t out of it. Perhaps I drive it too much, but I truly love it.
I agree that we all have the right to modify our own stuff as we see fit, but for me, this is going to be the one thing in my life that I always work to preserve. I keep it clean, I fix it when it is broke, I use it, but do not abuse it.
I would also hope that 40 years from now, when some other dope is changing that same stupid oil filter, he is thinking back about the 80 years of guys that came before him.

 

Nice post radman. I really appreciate a totally original, restored or unrestored, #'s matching unit. At this point I don't want the responsibility of being the custodian of one. My car is no #'s matching and I like it that way. It's been through the mill and I have fixed it up the way I want it. I don't think that anyone has the right to irreversally cut up any kind of good surviving original Corvette, just because it's theirs. Or any other collectable car. If you want to modify a nice original mid-year Corvette you'd better have the common sense to keep ALL the original parts with the car or you aren't a real car lover. If you don't know how to do that you should get out of it and go buy a volvo.
I know I should keep my opinions to myself sometimes but I just can't.

 

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that many of us were either too young to participate in the muscle car era or could not afford the desirable cars at the time. Therefore, it may indeed be more desirable to obtain a "correct" vehicle because it is the closest thing to getting a new one...a clean slate. However, I think that period correct modifications (short of frenching tail lights, body mods, etc.) are completely acceptable and, in fact, desirable so long as the owner retains the original parts.

Speaking of Camaro's...has anyone seen what a nice '67 RS/SS is bringing these days? If I could only go back in a time machine....

 

My earlier post showed my orginal 66 L79. I love modified while retaining the orginal appearance with subtle body modification. During hunting season several of my buddies pay me to haul sweet potatoes to the hunting club in my 55 Pickup. I built this vehicle three years ago. It's appearance is deceiving. It looks orginal with custom billet wheels (18 front & 20's rear) but it's built like a high dollar street rod! All tube chassis, Aluminum Headed BB with all the goodies, all coil over suspension with 4 link rear etc Highly detail and will soon be featured in Truckin Magazine......

 

That's a BEAUTIFUL truck !!

But I have to wonder if you would have been so free if there was an NCRS for Classic Chevy Trucks?

 

What we did on our restore was keep the spirit of the car but not NCRS correct. Has a NOM but dressed up like a low horse 283 but is a 327. We painted our frame black but didn’t worry about runs – the radio was missing when I purchased the car and I didn’t want to pay the price of a wonder bar but didn’t want to cut the dash either so I went with a Auto Sound that didn’t require any cutting - Went with wide whites but they were radials. Just tried to keep the spirit if the car!!!

 

I appreciate both ends of the spectrum, having done both ends and almost everything inbetween myself over the years (race cars, street rods, highboys, Cobras, tube-frame Grand Sport, and seven NCRS-level body-off Corvette restorations). These days I lean toward the stock end, but I enjoy modified cars too, as long as they show a high level of engineering and craftsmanship; as an engineer, "cobbled" cars turn me off.

 

OK, here's the 'dumb' question of the day. What does "NOM" mean? Thanks

 

NOM = Non-original motor

 

It's a common acronym for Not Original Motor

 

A smart person would have never bought my car in it's original shape. Friggin' death trap was headed to the rusty scrap heap but had an original 1970 LT1, good chrome and some nice American Torque Thrusts. Interior was old, dirty and ripped diamond tuck, really weird seat covers, frame held together by mere molecules of steel and exhaust that was apparently bent by a crack smoking monkey.

So, did I modify it? Hell yes. All the high zoot stuff. Will I lose money when I sell it? Absolutely.

Parts? $20-25K
Labor? 1000 hours plus
The smile on my face when I take an offramp at 74 mph? Priceless.

 

Hey Seecar, Here are a couple photos of my neighbors 64 Ford. His dad bought it new, now it's his & he modified the hell out of it. Still has the stock 292 number's matching (not that that matters anymore on this one) motor, trans, rear. Not just us Corvette fanatics are at it!