Hi again everybody,

This is the photoshop rendition of my completed C5

I'm new here but after I caught the Vette bug and fulfilled my dream of buying a C5 last summer. After looking everywhere for the right body kit, I realized no one was offering exactly what I was looking for. SO I decided to design my own. Fortunately I have a good friend who is a master fabricator and custom car builder. My design is simple and so is the intent.
Take the already beautiful lines of the C5 and give them even more character without sacrificing the look of the car. This is where I feel many body kits fail. There was always something about them I didn't like. The body on my car is going to be built using existing panels and have the fiberglass laid on top of those and blended in. All of the panels retain the original design but with lower extensions and some beef. The front adds somewhat of a splitter but is really just an extension of the original bumper design. It's a little higher in the middle for clearance.

The rear bumper will be based on the SP-R design by Extreme dimensions and have the lower extensions hand laid and blended onto the existing piece. The hood will be a raised cowl for clearance of a magnacharger. Likely a hood that is already commercially available.

The rear quarter panel lights will be filled in and flush.
I am trying to make sure we can have these molded. I wanted the tires to be followed as close as possible around more than 3/4ths of the tires for a road race appearance and less gap on the bottom 1/3 of the tire. If we can get molds of the completed design I will see if we can make more. The ultimate goal is to make the kit look as factory as possible with perfectly smooth lines. I want the car to look equally good from all angles and STILL look like a C5 Corvette
So far we are into this about 3K without paint. I estimate this will double before it is all said and done.


The wheels will be CF5's from Forgestar or C6 OEM. (Possibly Mil Yellow as shown, still thinking on that)
likely 20's in the rear and 19's up front. That could change as we really get into the meat of the project. We may end up with 19's in the rear and 18's in the front.

The intent wasn't to make a body kit for sale but if it turns out good enough I may talk to my buddy about making more but I know ahead of time these will not be cheap to make.

Short nosed, wide at the butt and lower all around. For me this is the ultimate body kit and still ALL C5!

Wish me luck

 

Good luck. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

I like a lot of your ideas and look forward to seeing your completed project as well, if I'm throwing in my 2 cents I would stay away from the yellow wheels but it's your car, good luck and please post pictures of your progress.

 

 

Like how the panels look lower without having to actually lower it. Which can cause handling issues if done improperly. Hope you are losing the BSM's though. A nice gunmetal wheel will look sick with that setup

 

I think itll look GOOD in real life. I say paint them!

 

I am starting to agree more and more as I look at the overall look of the car with the body kit installed. We are at about 50/50 on opinions of the wheels color. I think I will have two sets, This way, things can be changed up if I get bored. Maybe the yellow wheels for shows. Like everyone who mods a car, I'm really looking for something quite a bit different than whats been done before. Thanks Johnny, Cheers

 

Thanks for the reply Tom
At the moment the moldings are staying on. The car will be lowered on Eibach bolts but only about 1". Then she will ride on Bilstein Sport shocks. Everything I've read here states the stock shocks are more prone to bottoming out internally. I would like the car to have a nice balance between ride and handling. I think we will balance the sport setup with a slightly meatier sidewall on the tire. This will also help the car hook up off the line as the sidewall will have slightly more flex. Since the car will never be tracked, I'm not super concerned at this point. The Johnny O' Connell sway bars will also be added but mostly for looks. We are polishing the rear cradle and the aluminum control arms as well so she looks nice from underneath. Owning a C5 is the best decision I've ever made. This is fun, A LOT of fun.
Have a great night

 

Pretty !

 

Front and rear sidemarker lights are required by law, This is from Wikipedia summarizing many individual state laws --

In the US, amber front and red rear side marker lamps and retroreflectors are required. The law initially required lights or retroreflectors on vehicles made after 1 January 1968. This was amended to require lights and retroreflectors on vehicles made after 1 January 1970.[39] These side-facing devices make the vehicle's presence, position and direction of travel clearly visible from oblique angles.[39] The lights are wired so as to illuminate whenever the vehicles' parking and taillamps are on, including when the headlamps are being used.[7] Front amber side markers in the United States may be wired so as to flash in synchronous phase or opposite-phase with the turn signals, but are not required to flash at all.[40] Side markers are permitted but not required on cars and light passenger vehicles outside the US and Canada. If installed, they are required to be brighter and visible through a larger horizontal angle than US side markers, may flash only in synchronous phase with the turn signals (but are not required to flash), and they must be amber at the front and rear, except rear side markers may be red if they are grouped, combined, or reciprocally incorporated with another rear lighting function that is required to be red.[18]

So, altho it may look nice, you have to rethink eliminating the sidelights if you want to legally drive on the streets and not get ticketed.

 

Thanks for the input Sir

Odd thing though is none of my other cars have side markers. Maybe a portion of the tail lights wrap around? After reading your post I was out and about looking for side marker lights. I did not see one car that had them. I'm in good with most of the cops in my area, I should be ok. Where I live the police aren't that petty. Thanks for the reply

 

N for progress.

 

? I have no idea what this means.

 

Sorry. It just means I'm subscribing to the thread to watch the progress.

 

Oh, Ok Thanks

 

.....

 

Good luck with the build.

 

Not a fan of yellow wheels. I've eliminated some of the yellow touches in my interior. The yellow body is loud enough. You don't need to scream yellow everywhere. You need some contrast. Black or chrome would look better.

 

I love them . Had them on my 99 Saleen. I will use the yellow at the shows. I will probably go with Polished or chrome as my second set. This way I can change them up when I get bored (which is often)

I agree with you on the interior. Im going to use both silver and yellow accents in moderation on my interior. I will work out a line so to speak where the yellow will start to keep the overall look "uniform" and factory in appearance.

 

Ditch the yellow Wheels and the BSM's