John Greenwood Car Craft Corvette finally finished
02-02-2019, 03:09 PM
#22
Team Owner
The rear fender extensions, ........... the designer liked dually pickups. They don't flow with the rest of the car. Where is Larry Shinoda when you need him ? Glad your happy with it. I'm a little more conservative preferring the original C-3 convertible design but mostly the 3-7 coupe coke bottle edition.
02-02-2019, 11:53 PM
#23
Race Director
"large enough to cover 20-inch-wide slicks" If you do a search on the "Duntov 1974 Corvette widebody" the text says that's what the rear fenders were designed to accommodate.
https://drivetribe.com/p/duntovs-las...QMuBFb1R7kWAIw
https://drivetribe.com/p/duntovs-las...QMuBFb1R7kWAIw
Last edited by 3JsVette; 02-03-2019 at 12:01 AM.
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02-03-2019, 01:48 AM
#24
Team Owner
A little bit of a convoluted history! This is actually about the first wide body street car, non-Greenwood!!!!! Greenwood had nothing to do with it. I would have to pull out my notes, to lay out the timeline on the 1974 season IMSA car, Greenwood’s early work with Zora, and the GM prototype, factory body panels, commission work, Mancuso, etc.
This car was out 1975 and finished November 1975! I remember some drawings that led up to this car, as Los Ángeles had a lot of fiberglass outfits. The Guldstrand stuff used was from the first book catalog offerings, pre-multi link era. They did slalom rated springs, not race units. Adjustable ball joints, HD idler, sway bar links on stock bars.
In a matter of a year, a half dozen outfits had wide body glass, range from Motion to Bruno’s!
This car was out 1975 and finished November 1975! I remember some drawings that led up to this car, as Los Ángeles had a lot of fiberglass outfits. The Guldstrand stuff used was from the first book catalog offerings, pre-multi link era. They did slalom rated springs, not race units. Adjustable ball joints, HD idler, sway bar links on stock bars.
In a matter of a year, a half dozen outfits had wide body glass, range from Motion to Bruno’s!
Last edited by TCracingCA; 05-15-2022 at 05:33 PM.
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F22 (02-03-2019)
02-04-2019, 01:18 PM
#25
Actually, Randy Whitten a GM stylist who was a big part of the Owens Corning Corvette team designed the original gen 1 wide-body panels for/with the John Greenwood's cars. I believe the panels first appeared in 74 on John Greenwood's original wide-body car and the second set of body panels went to Randy's good friend Jerry Thompson and to Bob Fryer's newly re-bodied wide body car.
Last edited by bjm; 02-04-2019 at 01:20 PM.
02-04-2019, 01:22 PM
#26
Enjoy it, it looks like a fun car! BTW, these cars/body look awesome with a hardtop on.
Last edited by bjm; 02-04-2019 at 01:28 PM.
02-04-2019, 01:27 PM
#27
Administrator
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This is one of those cars that those of us who are old enough to remember when that Car Craft issue came out, just appreciate the connection to back then. This car was a rock star in its day, an era-specific custom that everyone knew about.
Im not a widebody fan, but the re-appearance of this old celebrity from back in the day is a great thing.
Thanks for respectfully taking care of it and showiñg it to us.
Im not a widebody fan, but the re-appearance of this old celebrity from back in the day is a great thing.
Thanks for respectfully taking care of it and showiñg it to us.
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KustomJeff (02-06-2019)
02-06-2019, 01:22 AM
#28
Melting Slicks
This is one of those cars that those of us who are old enough to remember when that Car Craft issue came out, just appreciate the connection to back then. This car was a rock star in its day, an era-specific custom that everyone knew about.
Im not a widebody fan, but the re-appearance of this old celebrity from back in the day is a great thing.
Thanks for respectfully taking care of it and showiñg it to us.
Im not a widebody fan, but the re-appearance of this old celebrity from back in the day is a great thing.
Thanks for respectfully taking care of it and showiñg it to us.
01-03-2020, 04:53 PM
#29
Corvette Passion
Hello
I have recently purchased a 74 Twin Turbo Greenwood Widebody originally built by Bob Larson and Carl Holbrook in 1977. If you check my earlier info vie C3 Forum, (if interested LAFFERTY 74 Twin Turbo.) you will see I am seeking any history available on Widebody cars. If you do have any, can you share it or direct me to available sources?
Thank you
David J. Lafferty
I have recently purchased a 74 Twin Turbo Greenwood Widebody originally built by Bob Larson and Carl Holbrook in 1977. If you check my earlier info vie C3 Forum, (if interested LAFFERTY 74 Twin Turbo.) you will see I am seeking any history available on Widebody cars. If you do have any, can you share it or direct me to available sources?
Thank you
David J. Lafferty
01-03-2020, 06:36 PM
#30
Burning Brakes
I remember the banana on the newsstand back in 75, and it blew my mind. Then maybe 25-30 years ago I saw the thing on the road here in middle Tennessee two or three times. Mind blown again! I wondered where it went and what happened to it. Disappearing is the fate of many notable magazine and show cars.....some I still wonder about. Thanks for posting. Glad it's still around.
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CorvetteMike2024 (05-15-2022)
01-04-2020, 11:45 AM
#35
Man, I LOVE the Greenwood (I'll call them that just to make it easy) wide body cars! The Banana is awesome, I remember the magazine from back in the day. I was fortunate enough the visit the Nat'l. Corvette Museum in 2018 and was stunned when I turned a corner and there were 2 Greenwood race cars side by side. That was the Holy Grail for me. I about took root into floor just staring at those cars, they are so awesome looking. Nice job on the Banana and good luck with it! And-I agree, the roadsters look wicked with the hardtop on.
Peter
Peter
05-15-2022, 05:58 PM
#36
Team Owner
I was researching the earliest body wide body panels. A lot of incorrect info out there. I carefully went back thru the articles on the Banana and they were provided directly by Chevrolet.
The Thompson #17 racer also got it's panels directly from GM.
What I have found is that after the GM team headed by Randy Whittine designed these and Diversified Glassed them up, one set went back to Zora's/Greenwood's Wide Body Prototype. The second set went to the first Greenwood Race build.
There is claim of Greenwood ordering molds, which is partially true. The original molds belonged to Chevrolet, and Greenwood asked them to do a mold for him.
In 1975, these were not even in the Ecklers Catalog yet. I have those. Actually i found out they were never offered by Ecklers. Basically these were too wide, they were race tire sized. Ecklers actually retooled the glass into the C A series (Can Am), and they had a variant called the Monza units too.
Greenwood molded flares, went onto the race cars being built or the panels were sold to racers.
The other car in this thread with the custom taillights was built by Korky's Kustom Studios (Van Nuys). It was a 1974 based car. The car was commissioned by a woman named Laurel, who worked on set productions at the big Movie Studio Lots.
The Thompson #17 racer also got it's panels directly from GM.
What I have found is that after the GM team headed by Randy Whittine designed these and Diversified Glassed them up, one set went back to Zora's/Greenwood's Wide Body Prototype. The second set went to the first Greenwood Race build.
There is claim of Greenwood ordering molds, which is partially true. The original molds belonged to Chevrolet, and Greenwood asked them to do a mold for him.
In 1975, these were not even in the Ecklers Catalog yet. I have those. Actually i found out they were never offered by Ecklers. Basically these were too wide, they were race tire sized. Ecklers actually retooled the glass into the C A series (Can Am), and they had a variant called the Monza units too.
Greenwood molded flares, went onto the race cars being built or the panels were sold to racers.
The other car in this thread with the custom taillights was built by Korky's Kustom Studios (Van Nuys). It was a 1974 based car. The car was commissioned by a woman named Laurel, who worked on set productions at the big Movie Studio Lots.
Last edited by TCracingCA; 05-20-2022 at 01:25 AM.
05-18-2022, 03:57 PM
#37
Burning Brakes
Wide body
I built a wide body C-3 back in the 1974-1976 time period. My flares and wing assemblies came from GM not Greenwood. It was going to be a SCCA regional car in A/P but finances back then allowed me to either build the car or race it but not both so I added some things needed for street use. It was a fun car to drive on the street when you are in your late 20's !! Started with a new 1974 automatic frame redone according to the Chevy Power book and good friend Babe Hedley. LS-7 454/465 HP crate motor redone by Bill Jenkins, M-22 close box 3.55 rear for street use also had a 3.70 and 4.11, Rear cooler and J-56 brakes , full cage with no door bars. Custom dash. Lightweight hardtop and FIA headlights. I was ahead of my time back then !! I looked for the car over the past few years with no success. Always wondered what happened to it. ---------- Ken
Last edited by keystonefarm; 05-18-2022 at 04:08 PM.
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TCracingCA (05-20-2022)
05-18-2022, 04:23 PM
#38
KEYSTONEFARM: that car you built was excellent. Just the way one of those should have been built IMO. I too would love to find your old car. Too bad you don't have the VIN!
05-19-2022, 12:25 AM
#39
Burning Brakes
Yeah wish I did !! It was titled as a 69 but only pieces existed from that car !! I brought the old thread back so you guys can see pictures of what I built 46 years ago !!! Amazing what being young can add to energy when planning and building a car from pieces of other cars !! Wish I had that energy today at 73 !! ------- Ken
Last edited by keystonefarm; 05-19-2022 at 12:32 AM.