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I want to thank everyone that was constructive on my search for a split window coupe. There were several people that visited with me offline that really helped educate me on the cars and steer me in the right direction. Nick -- thanks alot. Although some of the postings criticized the fact that I was looking at cars on the internet, asking lots of stupid questions, and flying myself around in my own Lear Jet means that I must be the village idiot nobody probably knew that I spent 5 years as a line mechanic before I went to college so I have some decent ability to sort pigs from elephants.
As it turns out Ebay is not always bad because this car showed up on Ebay with a bad ad that said nothing more than "fully restored Corvette". The Seller who was nearly 80 only had 3 transactions. It was a true one owner car with the original (not a reprint) window sticker, all of the sale documents, the promissory note, every inspection sticker, several of the license plates and oil change receipts for the car every 3000 miles from 1963 to 2015. The car had 62,300 original miles at the restoration and was in remarkably good shape. The car was mostly original paint but had been damaged in the left front area around the turn signal and had a lot of problems in the paint. The owner thought that he would get better money for the car if he had it restored.
The car was redone by a shop where he lived in Grand Island, NE (the Seller had moved there from Denver where he bought the car) and despite not being a real Corvette shop they did an excellent job. The paint was done by one of the painters from Kindig for those of you who really know cars so perfection in the paint is without question. The NCRS guys would poopoo the powder coated frame and the fact that the paint that is way too perfect and shiny but I was ok with that since the NCRS stuff is not really in my radar. I wanted just a real solid car that I could drive and show at the various show and shines around Houston. I thought it would be fun to put my own patina on a frame off and this was my chance. The guys from Sloggetts who led the restoration also prepared a book of photos that was bound and gives you a good idea of everything that was done.
I will say that the Sloggetts guys had the NCRS Judging book with them as they reassembled the car so they tried at every instance to follow the "book". The replaced all the glass with correct date coded stuff that Paragon provided but I would have been fine with the original yellowed windows (which I still have). I know that there are some details that are wrong like it has Kelsey Hayes knockoff wheels but they had them stamped for July 1963 when the car was produced and I got the steel wheels and the hubcaps. Also they bought every sticker they could from Paragon so it has a sticker on the front coil spring which simply does not belong on a 1963. Finally the car has an Optima battery with a tar top cover -- not right by ok with me.
The car, despite a lot of reproduction parts, had a Top Flight NCRS Award last year which proves to me that those awards when given at the local shows might be location based -- this car is clearly not a Top Flight as it is too over the top. With that said I had the car inspected by an NCRS Judge who gave me a list of small issues but most of them are to tone down the jewelry of the restoration. One thing that really makes this car unique is that every part that was removed from the original is in a box that is now located in my garage right down to the original seat covers and foam -- the boxes also include every piece of original glass because it had a yellow tint. The Owner wanted to recover his restoration expense and he got close by selling it to me but did not quite make it.
Here are some pics:
pre restoration pre restoration -- aftermarket wheels car had the door painted but the rear and front fender were original This is an original interior in 2015. Looks ok but needed replacement Carpet was original and faded in 2015. Exhaust had been changed
Restored Engine Compartment with Disc Brake Upgrade -- car came with the original master cylinder and the drums to put it back
Those are real Kelsey Hayes wheels from Renu a Vette with a stamped date code -- wrong but cool.
Coming Off the Trailer
The car came without a scratch
Here is a pallet of some of the old parts The original headliner is in this box
Here are a few of the stable mates for my new Vette. Most of my cars are Shelby's and I have never jumped into the Corvette collector world but decided to go ahead and do it because I ain't getting any younger. Although this is my sixth Vette it is my first C2 and every other Vette was a daily driver. Believe it or not I put about 75,000 miles on 1991 ZR1 and now drive a 2017 ZR2 Colorado. I have been lucky in life financially but I am the guy that still pulls a motor once in a while just to repaint the block -- I am that type. Here are a few pics:
2005 Ford Gt Car 157 -- last car with the antenna sideways in the windshield
2005 Ferrari 355 Fiorano, 100 produced but only 11 with a 6 speed -- this is one of those
2005 NSX. 93 imported to US in 2005 -- this is car 93
1967 Shelby GT500 4 speed with factory air. 46,000 miles -- documented. 13 red cars equipped that way.
Last edited by eric lipper; 10-16-2018 at 11:14 PM.
Congrats on following your own best instincts and getting what you wanted. Just goes to show that some of the internet experts on this Forum do not always know best for everyone else.
No "internet expert" here - whatever that means....
But you'll want to carefully go through the boxes of parts and sort out "the good, the bad and the ugly" -- label items and decide on their disposition. For instance - if those rocker panels are original they deserve to be stored with some better protection -- or even restored and put on the car.... There are some small parts that one might pass over that are just impossible to find now.....the heater box diverter, an original power brake booster rear boot, etc, etc..
No "internet expert" here - whatever that means....
But you'll want to carefully go through the boxes of parts and sort out "the good, the bad and the ugly" -- label items and decide on their disposition. For instance - if those rocker panels are original they deserve to be stored with some better protection -- or even restored and put on the car.... There are some small parts that one might pass over that are just impossible to find now.....the heater box diverter, an original power brake booster rear boot, etc, etc..
Agreed. I am saving everything although I suspect a lot of it is probably junk. The good news is that I have plenty of storage. The original rocker panels are in excellent shape in terms of no dents or damage -- the paint was just peeling in a few spots. They frankly saved everything on this car right down to the original seat foam. One of the most interesting things on this car is that the inside of the glove compartment is covered with those self adhesive blue tape labels for each oil change from one of those old school label makers. The interior was in good enough condition pre restoration that the original glove box door was reused.
Thanks for sharing your other cars as well. Very nice collection!
Good to see you were able to navigate through the forum.
As you have experienced, most members will help whenever possible, and treat you like a normal individual. Unfortunately, there will always be a few "knuckleheads" as well.
OK, nice car, and nice collection, but lets see the Lear Jet!!
I always like a little aviation scope creep because I am a dyed in the wool aviator and have been flying over 40 years. The Lear made shooting around the country looking at 63's a little more fun. The Lear Jet is a 31A with turbo fan engines and that is my son's baseball team getting ready to blast off. For those of you NASCAR fans the Lear was originally N2RW and I bought it from the man when he retired from driving. See if you can guess who owned it before me?
The Aerostar is a 700P -- far rarer than a 63 SWC with a big tank, fuel injection and a simulated wood wheel -- they only produced 24 and only 17 are still registered. We think only 13 are still flyable. That plane has been the cover of several aviation magazines such as AOPA, Aviation Consumer and most recently in Piper Flyer. The Aerostar (not my plane itself) was the movie plane in Tom Cruise's recent movie "American Made" which sparked some new interest in the aircraft. If 100LL was not so expensive the Aerostar is really better point to point than the Lear as it will cruise all day long at around 325 MPH. The Aerostar also has a much better panel for heavy IFR work.
The Bonanza is a 1955 F35 that I restored myself last year all the way back to an E-225-8 Continental with an electric Beech Prop. It is very similar, but not identical to, the airplane in which Buddy Holley, Richey Valens and the Big Bopper crashed. I am presently in the middle of the restoration of a T-28 that I bought in boxes and I hope to have the wings back on next summer but I am still looking for some hard to find control surface parts. If any of you are ever at Houston Hobby Airport stop by the hangar as I always have a project going. The hangar says WDC in neon on the top and you can see it if you look South from the Food Court in the Terminal. As you would expect, given my personality, WDC stands for "we don't care".
Unfortunately this panel is about two 63 SWC's and depreciates like a rock.
10-16-2018, 09:22 PM
The 1963 Red SWC is Here
Dennis
Nice garage mate too. 
