When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Very cool thread. I've often thought of fender flares, but never pulled the trigger on it, mostly for budget reasons. I love the look of the CIC 2" flares, I think the highlight the already awesome lines of the C3.
My ultimate C3 would be CIC flares on our '79, 18x9.5 Rallye wheels (what our car came with), Paul Newman chassis, a 2015 LT4 with the 8-speed auto, among other details. Not built for the track or strip, just a comfortable long-range cruiser. It is amazing- when I saw Jimmy Johnson's '71 it had a lot of the features that are in my vision of the ultimate C3.
Bats,
For years and years I always planned to flare my 81 and finally decided not to for several reasons.
1) All the flared cars I have seen look so bad *** from that one sweet view, however when you stand next to one, almost all of them just look out of place on the body, not conforming to any line or curve.
2) How much tire do you need? You can fit a 305/25/22 or smaller in the rear wheel well in my 81 effectively without flares or tub. You can easily do a 10 second 1/4 mile on 10 inch slicks. 295s or 305s look huge on the back of a C3, plenty of tire!
3) Most of the cars I have seen with flares have stock rear ends. All that tire ready to twist a half shaft into a pretzel. How can anyone apply any real torque to any C3 rear, without exploding it? More tire = more broken parts, unless you have big money into your rear end, then this point is moot. Still end result is big tires on 9 out of 10 of these C3's is for looks only and will rip your rear to shreds if you apply any real power to the pavement which greatly diminishes the fun IMO.
My favorite flare? I like the Matte Black #17 C3 with the flares that have the stainless rivets. It has a no bs look. Pretty sure it's another flared stock rear C3 though.
That said, I really love the black fat fender custom Qwank posted up, wow that body guy has talent! Making me want to go get some supplies and sculpt my own body! Wish I could see more of that car from different angles.
The way I would do it, after winning the lottery, is find the nastiest biggest tires and wheels you can, whatever makes you happy. These days you can design your own wheels, have a one off set.
Mock them up and build the body around them like Qwanks black C3. The more natural curves the better.
Measure it all, then have Autofab build you a 4 link Moser solid axle rear to fit. Thousands of hard launches, with no failures!
You found my old flare thread...
I believe the wheels are 15 seems the rear tire is a race item...the car belongs to a member overseas but I always forget his name
You found my old flare thread...
I believe the wheels are 15 seems the rear tire is a race item...the car belongs to a member overseas but I always forget his name
"Panic" is his CF name, and I love the bolt on L-88 flare look also
original Minilites (like these) were made of magnesium, this exact set (pre white paint) were put on my car by the Owens-Corning team in 1970 before it made the trip to Germany, my avatar is the car as raced in Germany 71-72
Bats,
For years and years I always planned to flare my 81 and finally decided not to for several reasons.
1) All the flared cars I have seen look so bad *** from that one sweet view, however when you stand next to one, almost all of them just look out of place on the body, not conforming to any line or curve.
2) How much tire do you need? You can fit a 305/25/22 or smaller in the rear wheel well in my 81 effectively without flares or tub. You can easily do a 10 second 1/4 mile on 10 inch slicks. 295s or 305s look huge on the back of a C3, plenty of tire!
3) Most of the cars I have seen with flares have stock rear ends. All that tire ready to twist a half shaft into a pretzel. How can anyone apply any real torque to any C3 rear, without exploding it? More tire = more broken parts, unless you have big money into your rear end, then this point is moot. Still end result is big tires on 9 out of 10 of these C3's is for looks only and will rip your rear to shreds if you apply any real power to the pavement which greatly diminishes the fun IMO.
My favorite flare? I like the Matte Black #17 C3 with the flares that have the stainless rivets. It has a no bs look. Pretty sure it's another flared stock rear C3 though.
That said, I really love the black fat fender custom Qwank posted up, wow that body guy has talent! Making me want to go get some supplies and sculpt my own body! Wish I could see more of that car from different angles.
The way I would do it, after winning the lottery, is find the nastiest biggest tires and wheels you can, whatever makes you happy. These days you can design your own wheels, have a one off set.
Mock them up and build the body around them like Qwanks black C3. The more natural curves the better.
Measure it all, then have Autofab build you a 4 link Moser solid axle rear to fit. Thousands of hard launches, with no failures!
This one is outright badass in every sense of the word. I would love to know more about it.
This one is outright badass in every sense of the word. I would love to know more about it.
Yep, i always thought so, one of my favs, and what do ya know its not even a sacred chrome bumper car,
It is a members car i always forget his sn, manic i think, real racer, i can find the pic but its just as mean from the front and interior,
Back when she first saw it, My wife fell in love with what she called a bad *** industrial rivethead look and hence the feel i hope for our 69.
His username is panic. If you search the c3 forums for his posts you'll find lots of info he's posted about the car, but unfortunately his pictures have fallen victim to photobucket... He's still around, but doesn't post here all that much. Nice light weight modified track car that sees the street.
His username is panic. If you search the c3 forums for his posts you'll find lots of info he's posted about the car, but unfortunately his pictures have fallen victim to photobucket... He's still around, but doesn't post here all that much. Nice light weight modified track car that sees the street.
Back in the 70's my sister dated a guy with a White American flag Greenwood Corvette, I was blown away. Unfortunately for me only one date.
In the 80's I bought L88 flares from Ecklers for my 69, after a couple months I begged them to take them back, they did.
I like flares but on other peoples cars. I just couldn't get up the courage to cut up my own car.
Ecklers offered their mudflap zl1 flares, by the 80s sadly only in two sizes, in the early days they offered several flare designs but insisted on calling them all zl1, no l88s, weird,
Guess it was just an ecklers thing,
I think my rear pair of the zl1 mudflap flares are listed in the for sale section of the forum,
I love cutting cars up so i try not to buy cars that are super nice stock....
That is cool to see after all these years. Obviously I forgot what they were calling them but I called them rejected at the time. I got the L88 description here. When I want to know about vintage flares, I now know who to ask.
Yep, i always thought so, one of my favs, and what do ya know its not even a sacred chrome bumper car,
It is a members car i always forget his sn, manic i think, real racer, i can find the pic but its just as mean from the front and interior,
Back when she first saw it, My wife fell in love with what she called a bad *** industrial rivethead look and hence the feel i hope for our 69.
Your wife hit the nail on the head " Bass *** industrial rivethead look "
His username is panic. If you search the c3 forums for his posts you'll find lots of info he's posted about the car, but unfortunately his pictures have fallen victim to photobucket... He's still around, but doesn't post here all that much. Nice light weight modified track car that sees the street.
Thanks. I did a search on his name yesterday, even sent him a pm. I have been reading his stuff. I had a path I was going with mine and it didnt include the flares, till now. I actually like the bolt on better than molding them in. Flares make the c3 mean, but being bolted on look even meaner.
That is cool to see after all these years. Obviously I forgot what they were calling them but I called them rejected at the time. I got the L88 description here. When I want to know about vintage flares, I now know who to ask.
Some people know ncrs and at the risk of sounding pompous i know my custom junk,
I wasnt poking at you but rather at eckler and it was just a fun poke, for example the flares on the car at the top of the page i posted are L88 style rear flares, even if ecklers insists to call them ZL1,
Perhaps Ralph ( fun cat, RIP ) thought ZL1 sounded meaner,
And since we are all flaring up at the moment,
Here is a very bad looking flare to me, the angle from body is way too close to 90 degree,
And when you see these mud flaps it becomes unfair to call ZL-1's "mudflap"
Seems it should have a chrome reclining girl hanging off the bottom of the flare
What was Korky thinking...
There are lots of mods on this car that have we custom guys taking a moment, but in 1977 where show car customs and custom vans were king this car was Uber cool and on the cutting edge. Now today what would you keep and what would find its way to the dumpster???
Personally I love the Cyclones and the Mercury tubes, I own a set of NOS moon roofs and the paint with its heavy flake is on the rebound today. The right hand drive is still a great feature to this day, by today's standards .... you wouldn't build this but in the 70's ... "hey man ... why don't we make the flares bigger!" If you're from the day, and there was a buddies garage that was a little cloudy at 1am ... it's possible you would have considered it.
Thanks. I did a search on his name yesterday, even sent him a pm. I have been reading his stuff. I had a path I was going with mine and it didnt include the flares, till now. I actually like the bolt on better than molding them in. Flares make the c3 mean, but being bolted on look even meaner.
No worries, I love his car too! Just wish I'd saved off all his pics before photobucket struck. His car is seriously light too, ~2700lb from memory?
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
). Oops forgot the seats on this one.
