Beggers

Last week, fellow member; ragtop00, posted a Craig's list add titled "split window mania" where he had found for a split window coupe project car that was asking an exorbitant number. A number of responses took shoots at the car and its legitimacy, and rightly so we thought. I called the number and spoke to the owner whom was selling it to settle his uncles estate after he passed two years ago. After some discussion and feeding him links to driver quality cars that could be bought for his project car number, he said that the price was too high and that it was flexible.
I didn't want to waste my time or his if he was firm, so I drove about 110 miles to his rural Michigan house to look at it Sunday. It was worth the drive and time.
Turns out the car has been sitting in this barn since about 1974:


Until yesterday, the car has not seen the sun in 40 years:



Apparently his bachelor uncle parked it to work on the non original engine and prep it for paint back in the 70's and it never got done. The car has only 41000 original miles on the clock in the ten years it was on the road;



He had taken most the trim off it, put it in boxes, and never got further than that:


He opened up the NOM and left it like this:




Can anyone identify what this is from- FO228HAH ?



The car had a dust filled fitted cover and the interior was filled with mice nests and the stink that comes with it. Although the carpet had long ago deteriorated the leather was in like new condition. It was originally white with a red interior, it appears it was painted twice, once blue and now black, the dash pads were dyed black over the red as were the door panels:




The steering wheel, seats and peddle pads showed only minor wear typical of a car with 41k miles;


The tires were aired up and I noticed that they were brand new, still had the stickers on the tread, who remembers these old "grab and go" Douglas tires back in the 70's? The tires never saw the road.



After a couple of tense hours of negotiation on Sunday, we were able to come to an agreement that was a win-win, I brought the car home yesterday. This is my first SWC, although I did do an NRCS body off type restoration on a 63 convertible, I have always wanted a coupe. The body has never been hit, its straight as an arrow with nice gaps all around. All of the parts that were removed were found in the barn except the original wheels, air cleaner, the outside rear-view mirror, gas cap and rocker panels. Mostly things I would have to replace anyways.
I power washed the car inside and out to get rid of the dust and rodent crap last night before bringing it in my garage, the rain helped with the run off; check out the lines and gaps of the fit here:









Too excited to sleep I went out in the shop before work this morning and started to remove some paint, not really in the order of things but I wanted to see under the paint.



Off it came with ease using a razor blade to reveal just one layer of primer below the black, stripping it will go quick and not be nearly as messy as using the chemicals with this old paint.

So after selling my 56 restomod two weeks ago, I am now off on a new project. Excited, although the the outcome has yet to be defined. Lots of planing. In the mean time I will take it apart and savor the most enjoyable process of bring this car back to life. Thanks again ragtop, its worthwhile to follow up on these leads, no matter how crazy they may seem at first. The seller turned out to be a great gentleman, kind and open, and trustworthy. Although he was shooting for the moon in his original listing on CL, he came down to earth. I finally found a split window! Brian

Bluestripe67

That's a cool story with a great ending. Have fun! Dennis

Texaspilot180

Great find! Looks like an excellent project and in much better shape than my 65 FI car was when I found it. Congrats on finding a SWC to save. Enjoy.

ptjsk

Great beginning!

VeroWing

Great find! Should be a lot of fun bringing back. What are your plans?

Vet65te

Congratulations, always great to see another old Corvette get some attention and put back on the road. By the way, what was the tach redline? As to that engine with the suffix HAH, the closest I was able to find in an old Motors Manual was HA which was used for 327s in full sized Chevrolets from 65-68 that had Manual Trans and also found the HA was used for 69 350 Camaro/Chevelle/Nova's again with Manual Transmissions. As to the final 'H', that some times indicated 'Holley' for the carb used but I don't remember any of those vehicles ever coming with a Holley carb. Good luck with your project and keep the pics coming.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

ChattanoogaJSB

Cool! Very nice photos of the event. I'm excited for you!

Rich Yanulis

Looks like you are off to a Great start!
Congratulations on the find

Are you going to return it to the original White/Red color?

Zoomin

It looks surprisingly cool in it's present state with the white wheels and RWL tires. Don't know why, I just like the vibes it gives without the bumpers and rocker moldings.

Congrats on pursuing it, looking forward to seeing your progress.

bigearl56

Earl

65hihp

Looks like your diligence scored a super car, with a great back story.
Nice!

65silververt

Very cool, Brian! I look forward to seeing the restoration or whatever you have planned for the car.
Quick question, what is up with the steering box? the adjustment nut looks different than most.

emccomas

HAH is a 66 327, 275 hp engine, with a Holley carburetor (that is what the last H represents), manual transmission, installed in a full size passenger car.

There is also a corresponding code HAR, which is the same engine, same year, same application, except a Rochester carb.

The reason for the difference in the engine code is that the carb was not initially installed on the engine, and the different cars would require different intake mounting arrangements.

The HAH code told the engine plant to install studs to mount the Holley carb. The HAR to them to leave the manifold alone because bolts would be used to mount the Rochester carb.

vintagecorvette

It looks like a wheel nut.... Weird


Nice score on the SWC.

SupremeDeluxe

Great find

Personally I find it to be a great opportunity when you see a car you want advertised at a high price. It discourages competition. I bought my 435 car under similar circumstances. It was advertised at an unrealistic price, and after a few phone calls and emails the price went down by $30K. If it had been advertised at the selling price, I probably would not have been able to get to it fast enough.

morly1963

As I said in my first post "someone with talent could make a nice car".
Glad you got it! Thanks for posting the pictures-keep em' coming!

tbarb

I am very happy for you, and to find one as nice that's never been hit with low miles...WOW!!

dahogan

Congrats

capevettes

Congratulations on your new SWC. The car looks very straight. It's always worth exploring these things. It's nice when they work out. You have alot of work ahead of you but it will be worth your effort. What are your plans for a motor?

65silververt

"Too excited to sleep I went out in the shop before work this morning and started to remove some paint, not really in the order of things but I wanted to see under the paint."

That will fade after about the 20th hour of stripping the paint.