SuprJames

The flares are finished! Sorry if this is too many pics, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. Now the body comes back off and back on the rotessire so the firewall can be finished and painted and the rest of the car primed

Pics are kinda dark (no sun) and they'll probably look better when it's all one color.

Billysvette

OH yes, beautiful,makes me want to start on mine excellent dont worry about how many pics there is,keep them coming i need to know what size rims and tires you used and any modifications on the suspension to accomadate those bigger wheels. Bill

panic

Suprjames, it's a real neat job

what wheel sizes you've choosen (with BS) to fill the flares so well?

Billysvette

Also i need to ask about your wheel wells,they are centered up with your tires real good,i have seen others that there is a big space in the back of the wheel well and tire.did you change your rear drive line any or did the flairs line up that way?

SuprJames

The guys who helped me with the flares are really artists. Their names are James and Walt from Classic Car Coating, and they are friends of ours so they spent quite a few Saturdays at my parent's place helping me out. The first thing James did when he fitted my flares was slice it in half, and my jaw about hit the ground. He built up a lip on it to give it a factory appearance and tightened the radius around the wheel. They started off as L88 flares from ACI (baught through Mid America). Here are some of the before and afters:

James building up the lip on the flare:



Rear Flares (Before on bottom)





Front Flares (Before on top)

SuprJames

Wheels are Complete Custom Wheels (CCW) Classic design. Rears are 18x12.5" with 335/35/18 Micheline Pilot Sports. Fronts are 18x10" with 275/30/18's. I'll have to look up my backspacing, so I'll get back to you on that.

No suspension modifications that affected tire and wheel size really. I do have offset trailing arms, but I really didn't need them. Needed new T/A's though so....

mpett1

Those wheels are hot bro..

SHAKERATTLEROLL

Looks GREAT as Tony would say. . And if I remember correctly 69MyWay here on the forum used the factory lip that he cut off of the original flairs and molded them into the ACI ones. And looks great as well.

hwcoop

looks awesome!! I love that second picture from the rear

cardo0

Nice work James. That's a cool looking car even without paint on it. Only bad thind is now i want them on my '74.

cardo0

rexx78

That looks like one mean vette! The flares sure make the car look wide. I also like your choice of rims.

I'm curious to see what the inner wheel wells look like. Are the original fender lips cut off?

SHOWME

Very nice!!! Those are the wheels I was lookin into.I got to ask since I want to go Ls1/T-56 (I Love my side pipes!)What did it take to keep the sides.Are they modded Hookers?

77Vette4S&J

Nice looking project!

CTKperformance

Looks good, I like the flat edges

tmacb

I'm curious too about the wheel sizes and offset. Let us know when you have a chance to check the backspacing and offset numbers. It looks great. I didn't know you could get a supercharger in under the L88 hood. What's your set-up?

69wideglide

The flairs and the wheels/tires look awesome.
It also looks like a wicked engine under the hood!!!

I got this project 1969 coupe a couple weeks ago in a trade deal.
It was built in the early 70's and has been parked in a garage for many, many years. It is supposed to have 30k original miles on the body.
I was told the flairs are original GM parts and the wheels are vintage Fentons.
The rear tires are N50's, the fronts are G60's and the best I can tell the rims are 15x10 on the rear and 15x9 on the front.
The N50's measure just under 27" tall and are just over 12.50" wide.
I could easily go with a bigger tire on the front and I think a 325/50-15 BFG drag radial would fit under the rear with no problem.

I spent the last couple weeks cleaning it up as best as possible and getting it roadworthy.
My 6 year old daughter and I took it to a local cruise in tonight.
There were about 8 or 9 very nice, mostly original older Corvettes there that were in MUCH better condition than my rat rod.
99% of the people walked right past the other Vettes and stood there and just stared at my 69.
They just couldn't get over the flares and big tires under them and how unique the car looked.

Keep up the good work!!

bluegtp

looks great man.....i've been wondering how that wheel design would look on a c3......those are some huge deep dished wheels too.....12.5" out back? dang!


thanks for sharing with us!

ryan

SuprJames

My understanding of factory flares is that they only came in the L88's. They put them in the back of the cars and let the customer or dealer install them, but I'm definitely not an expert. Your car looks awsome though and I've always been a sucker for flares so I would've been right with everyone else oogling at your Vette

SuprJames

They are modded SS Hookers. Used LS1 flange and had Jason at Elite Racing cut up the pipes and weld them back for me. Turned out nicer then I ever would have thought possible.

69wideglide

This is my first Corvette so I'm a total rookie with these cars.
You know how stories seem to grow over the years, for all I know the flares could have been custom built by a local bodyshop back in the day but they definitely have been on the car for quite awhile.
This 69 currently has a 74 350 2 barrel engine in it with 4 speed.
The story on the car I was told was the original engine, whatever size it was, was pulled in the 70's because it was too hard on gas and this 74 350 was installed
It still wasn't good enough on gas so the owner parked it in a barn and there it sat for many moons.
The car sits rather high in the front like it possibly has big block springs and the tach redlines at 6500???
Regardless, the flares and big tires sure make the C3's look ready for battle!