Hello All,

My name is Alex, I am an American living in Italy and I have just purchased a 1965 Corvette Convertible with a 327 300 Hp engine. It is a good driver but requires some TLC. I purchased it from Germany where it has been since the late 1970s.

The engine block, intake manifold, transmission, rear end all have the correct numbers. The carburetor is a Rochester instead of the Carter.
Other things that are not original are: 396 front hood, slightly flaired fenders and 8 inch rims from a 1968 Corvette, air shocks in the rear, a re-upholstered interior and a horrible steering wheel.

Originally the car was red with a red and white interior (443 BA) Now it is Black with a red interior.

I have decided to "freshen" it up with a new interior kit, gaskets, expansion tank, etc. the total order comes to about $3,750.

My first question is CORVETTE CENTRAL or ECKLER'S? Pricing after discount is pretty close - who carries the best repro parts in your opinion?

I am going to also do a full re-paint - and after allot of thought am going to paint it black with a new red interior - just look so much better in that color combo - yes I will leave the flairs and larger tires.

Comments?

Could not figure out how to attach images.

Alex

 

Are you just ordering interior parts or other parts as well.

http://www.alknochinteriors.com/welcome.htm

makes the best interiors.

But Corvette America interior stuff is pretty nice as well and the prices are cheaper, plus they sell other parts.

http://www.corvetteamerica.com/

I do not purchase from Echlers. I do buy or have bought much from Corvette Central, but they are terrible with having many of the parts on back order.

oWEN

 

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your new purchase.

I agree, definitely Al Knoch for the interior parts, and I also agree that Corvette Central will be difficult to order from due to the terrible stock of parts they have.

All or most of my orders from them over the past year for my 62 and 65 have been delivered incomplete due to back-orders.

I've used Long Island Corvette Supply for my 65 since about March and have only had 1 part on back order - and that is out of probably $6,000 in parts.

 

Also look into Paragon: www.corvette-paragon.com for good repro parts.

 

I would have to suggest LIC (Long Island Corvette) They always have the parts in stock and most of the other vendors get their parts from there.

Congrats on your new purchase as it will be lots of fun! Welcome to the forum!

 

The parts are always in stock and the prices seem good also, although its usually part # and payment only on the phone. Dont expect too much advice from them. Good luck with the 65. I have the L75 motor in mine also. Dont forget to should ya see another vette over there on the road. Enjoy the car.

 

Thanks for the quick replies -

The list is fairly long, besides the full interior kit (deluxe door panels, leather seat covers, carpet set, kick panels, leather arm rest cover),
I also intend to order:

full weather-strip kit for the car, the hard top and the convertible top.

Expansion tank, all the water hoses, wash tank, 4 window cranks handles, sill plates, full power antenna kit (with brackets etc - the only thing I have is the original switch under the dash), side mirror, and miscellaneous other little things.

I will see about following your suggestions regarding Al Knoch for the interior parts.

How can I post pictures???

Alex

 

Everything shall be revealed here
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...429&highlight=

 

welcome to the disease!

as you are hearing, while we might all have our main "go to" source for C2 parts (for me that would be LIC http://www.licorvette.com/
or Paragon http://www.corvette-paragon.com/ or Doc Rebuild), for certain things we turn to certain "expert at that" vendors. Al Knoch for soft interior items (http://www.alknochinteriors.com/welcome.htm), and I would suggest Dewitts for that "expansion tank" - advise with the date (month) and it will look just like the one that came with the car: http://www.dewitts.com/

as for the 65 SB with the BB hood, all the best 65s have those!

 

LICs or Paragon. They carry the Al Knoch parts as well as all the other stuff and with large orders I know at least Paragon will discount. You will save yourself a whole lot of verfluchen on those interior parts buying the Al Knoch stuff.. You can search the forum here and find a whole lot of examples of people who bought the interior parts from non-Al Knoch sources and they didn't fit real well. Took a lot of work and adjustments.

 

If memory serves, Al Knoch gives a discount to forum members.

 

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Hope this works - not a computer expert.....

 

You can see that the previous German owner added an orange blinker back light in order to satisfy code requiorements. When I re-paint I might do away with it and go back to the original two - comments?

Alex

 

I have a comment - that is a GREAT looking car!! I really like the flares. Although I wouldn't add them to mine, I do like the way a nicely done flare looks - not to mention being able to fit some real tires on the car... Good luck with it, and don't spend all your savings at once.

 

I like Paragon, they buy a lot of interior parts from Al knoc.

I just ordered a soft top and frame( and a bunch of other stuff)from Paragon, and the soft top box was a Al Knoc box. They will give you a 15% discount iif you order from them while restoring your nice car. Call them and chec it out.
George

 

Alex,
Welcome to the forum!
Al Knoch is the place for interior.As far as the third tail light,since you are going to leave the flairs you might consider leaving the third light .It goes with the California Custom look.They all don't have to be NCRS restored cars. Yours is a real looker as it is. I like both looks.
As they say " It's your car-Do as you please!"

 

cool car! glad you posted up the pix. Cool paint, and those are nice flares (if there gonna be present, that's how I like 'em - tasteful flares, I would say.

I see a "Motion" tag on the hood - is it a Baldwin Motion car, or just a tag some PO stuck on there? Since it is a 66 hood, maybe it just came with the hood?

 

Thank you all for your replies - very precious info. This is a great forum!

Today I will contact Long Island Corvette by phone - already printed the catalog from their website -

Restoration Project

1. The end of this month will pull out the engine and transmission - new motor and tranny gasket set, cleaning and painting - plan to change all the fluids, plugs, hoses and belts - car runs strong - anything else I should do at this time?

As can be seen in the picture, the expansion tanked is from a European car - I plan to order the original reproduction. New washer bottle too.

2. Next step will be to remove the interior. I plan to order the rugs, seat covers, kick panels, arm rest cover and sun visors from Al Knoch. The dash I will re-cover here - matching the red should not be a problem - the leather options here in Italy are great.

3. I will remove, bumpers, taillights, door handles, front grill, etc. (bumpers, door handles, etc. will be re-plated).

4. Car goes to the body shop for a complete re-spray in black lacquer with a clear coat. Car will be sanded to the fiberglass - right now there are a few bubbles and small cracks - does not seem that it suffered collision damage - the underside is nice and has no rust what-so-ever!

5. New rubber around the windshield, and a complete weather-strip kit for the car, and soft top - maybe the hardtop weather-strip kit too - however, I don't plan to use the hard top very much...

Did I miss anything significant?

Thanks.

Alex

 

The soft top, which is in very good condition is white, here it is with the hard top on. . I apologize for the oversize format - I havn't understood how to scale them down yet. I will order a new set of tires. I have decided to go with a slightly lower profile. Now it has 235/70-15 and I will put on 235/60-15 - this should lower the car about 1 inch - right now with 2 people in the car there is a slight rub in the rear during cornering - I can also raise the rear end by an inch if need with the air shocks.

 

Welcome to the best Corvette forum on the net..... As for replating the door handles, don't bother. Get a set from Long Island Corvette, the use Trim Parts and cost around $70. I just put a set on my 65 Coupe and they look great......