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.
As I page through the latest issue of one of my Corvette rags I see, again, a major portion of the articles about an older Corvette, usually a C1, C2 or C3 that the owner hacked up, rebuilt and dropped in some sort of monster motor. Most of the time the work is done by a body shop or speed shop. The finished result is no more a "Corvette" than those silly bodies you can drop on a new chassis or maybe one of those suburban golf carts that looks like a Vette. Really, its all about who can do the most radical thing using old parts. Most of the time the body has been widened or lengthened and only vaguely resembles the original car. The new owner typically was responsible for locating a body and writing the check. And its a big, big check I'm sure. I question how this feeds our passion. The real restoration guys at least maintain the marque. The restomods are just big, expensive versions of the old plastic car kits we bought as kids and cut them up, modified them and let our friends ooh and ahh our hobby. Taking an old, run down automobile and painstakingly returning it to its original glory is a thing to be admired. At least the model cars were something we did ourselves, not just write the check! Rant complete.
I have seen those same cubic money cars in the mags. Some have interesting little touches that could be applied to lesser cars, like mine, if the little touches didn't involve tons of shop time and a dollar amount that would cause conversation around my place, probably for some time. .
I would never build a restomod, but think a 57 T bird is a better place to start than a 57 vette. I once saw a tube frame t bird like that around town, it was a fiberglass shell, lowered, with a peach fade over white pearl paint.