Need some advice. This is posted in the track forum as well.
i have a 74 C3 that was built in 78 for hillclimbs in PA. Great car, but was partially converted to go back on the road in the 80s. I have had for some time and want to get her back onto road courses for track days.I built a C6 for the track, but was thinking of having someone do the C3 for me instead.I am in Northwest NJ. Any suggestions on a shop that can do this for me? I already built a 383 motor, and the interior and safety mods are no problem. Looking for help with the cage, suspension, trans,and brakes mostly. Would love for it to handle like the C6.Thank you!

 

He’s not near you but contact Chris Springer at Chris Springer Restorations, Los Altos California.
Chis builds many vintage corvettes for road racing and still races several of his own C2’s and C3’s.
His customers are from all over the country.
He does it all!

 

Jim Glass in Kingston NY (an hour up the NY Thruway from Mahwah) builds, sells and maintains vintage Corvette road racers. His personal race car is a 65 roadster with race history going back to the 60's. He currently has a 69 for sale he built for someone else who later decided they didn't have the time to race it, and a 68 he picked up to do some work on and resell. Jim can build a cage, and do any suspension and brake upgrades needed, as well as make recommendations on things like weight balance and alignment settings. I'm good friends with Jim and know his cars well as I often crew for him at vintage races all over the country. If you talk to Jim, feel free to tell him you got his name from me, Glenn Brown.

https://www.jimglasscorvette.com/

You may also want to reach out to Glen Adamanchuk at Hillside Corvettes in Bridgewater. Glen has a small Corvette restoration shop where he primarily works on 63-67 Corvettes, but has plenty of experience with road racing Corvettes. Glen used to vintage race a 78 (?) wide body (Greenwood style "pontoon" fenders) former Trans Am series Corvette race car. He also prepped and maintained a 70 Corvette vintage racer for a racer from Long Island, raced a Street Stock at Flemington and most recently was racing a tube frame Camaro GT1 car. Glen's number is 848-702-0983. He doesn't have a website but if you Google "Hillside Corvettes" you should be able to find his Facebook page. Glen is also a friend and knows me well, tell him "Two N's" gave you his name, he'll understand.

Finally there is Powerslide Motorsports in Jackson owned by Holger Ahl. Holger also builds and maintains vintage race cars. I don't think he has as much experience with C2-C3 Corvettes as Jim or Glen, but I know he's built at least one C3 vintage racer for someone. I've met Holger once or twice, but don't really know him, but he is friends with Jim Glass. Powerslide's number is 732-539-8779, and like Glen he doesn't have a website I'm aware of but he does have a Facebook page.

In vintage racing the rules we have to conform to are based on the 1972 SCCA General Competition Rules, so we're restricted to keeping things like the stock brakes and suspension that's similar to stock. With good pads, some cooling ducts the stock brakes actually work quite well. If you're just doing track days, good pads and some cooling ducts with a set of Wilwood aluminum D8-4 (or D8-6 front) stock replacement calipers (which dissipate quicker than stock cast iron) would probably be all you need for superior stopping power. On the 65 Corvette we've added spacers to the front calipers to widen them for thicker pads and relocated the calipers behind the rotors making it easier to run cooling ducts to the calipers. Besides a full length cage, we use a frame stiffener between the a-arms, tubular a-arms, offset trailing arms, a "Daytona" 5 leaf rear spring, bigger front sway bar and adjustable shocks, but on a track day car you're not "restricted" by the same rules, so you can do more if you want. There are some vintage racers pushing the rules with more modified suspensions, but Jim's 65 is more than competitive with just the simple mods it has.

If you want to get a good look at what is typically done to built C2 and C3 Corvette vintage racers, the annual Historic Festival at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut is Labor Day weekend. Jim will be racing his 70 Camaro there, but there will be 6 or 10 Corvettes racing. Glenn Every from Rhinebeck NY (yes a third Glenn) will be racing his 69 Corvette, Joe Foglia from Hackettstown will be there with his 69 and George Ladyman from around the Princeton/Hopewell area will be racing his 70 Corvette, that Jim built for him. There will also be some C2's, including a beautiful silver 64 fuelie raced by the automotive author Tom Cotter. The following weekend (Sept.4-7) the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) will be racing at Watkins Glen where Jim will be racing his 65 Corvette. There are currently a few other C2's entered and 3 C3's. I won't be at Lime Rock, but I will be at The Glen.

I understand none of these shops are in "Northwest NJ", but they're the three shops/racers I can think of within a not too distant drive that have experience with building C3's for use on a road course.

Do you have any history on your 74? I was autocrossing in the late 70's and crewing for a friend who was autocrossing a 69 in the Jersey/PA area, who also did some hill climbs with it.

 

Thank you for the great write up. I appreciate all of the information. When I started exploring having someone work on the car, Jim Glass was the first person to come up and I hear very good things about him, and have now been in touch with him. I am hoping to get the car to him to look at, and may even look at the 69 he is selling.
I never realized all of the restrictions on the old cars in terms of upgrades.
The first owner purchased in Moscow PA, and i still have the window sticker for it. In 1976, he took it to Jack Deren in Carbondale, and they did the suspension, rollbar, flares, hood, rearend, engine work, and so on. Mr. Deren did the work on the Penske Grand Sports and was a crew chief for him for many years. I actually went to Carbondale last year to look at another vette, and on a whim swung by his shop. He was there, and I spent hours talking about racing history. What a great guy and so much history and knowledge.
Anyway, the car was used then in hill climbs in PA. I have a time sheet from 1977, the Weatherly Hillclimb, and the driver who I am assuming was the owner (Frank DeRosa) ran a 1:04 in the B Production Class. Supposedly it ran at the Glen and somewhere in Canada as well. It was on the rear cover of the December/January issue of Corvette News, and a picture of it staging in the article.
A short time later it was sold and passed through a couple hands until ending up in Reading PA with someone who would become a dear freind, Jor Morroney, who is an amazing Corvette enthusiast. When it came time to be sold in 2012, I had to have it and went with my late father and my son to get it. It will forever be in my family now and will be passed to my son.
I run a C6 and sometimes a C5 Z06 on track days, for the last 20 years and love the hobby. All my time and money went into them, but I always wanted the 74 back on the track. So here I am, and this is the year.
My plans are to have the cage completed, a bunch of electrical and safety work, trans work, and just odds and ends, with the goal to have her out next year.