Kokomo
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Race Director
Joined: Feb 2003
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From: Kingman AZ
Cruise-In VII Veteran
Cruise-In VIII
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
Kokomo
OUT OF KOKOMO
As a raving Corvette enthusiast I enjoy attending Corvette shows and meeting the owners of exceptional examples of America’s sports car.
I found this 1985 coupe in my motel parking lot in Effingham, Illinois while attending the 2009 Mid America Funfest. I wedged my business card into the driver’s side mirror with a note for the owner to call me during the show as I wanted to learn more about the car and its owner. I had just attended Corvettes at Carlisle the previous month where they displayed several of the Corvette Challenge cars and I thought this to be one of them.
Take a gander at the pictures before reading this piece and write down what you think the owner might have invested in this car. I will divulge the answer in the last paragraph.
Phil Whicker lives and works in Kokomo, Indiana where he was born into a Corvette family. His father currently owns a straight axle, a mid year and a C5 and passed his love of the fiberglass beauties down to his son.
Phil bought this one from a seller in Wisconsin who had it listed for sale on the Corvette Forum. Phil knows how to paint and wrench and used to own a graphic design company. The car was originally Medium Blue Metallic with a blue interior. Phil has owned this C4 for 3 years and repainted it using GM black, BMW gray and Honda red. He designed the graphics to match and compliment these colors with the overall design being a tribute to Mike Yager’s number 42 Corvette Challenge Corvette.
Not only does Phil have “car guy” skills but he has also proved to be frugal. The majority of the aftermarket parts to modify this Z51 car were used items he purchased from Corvette Forum members at pennies on the dollar.
In the engine bay the AC system and air pump were removed, the heads replaced with port matched Dart Iron Eagles and a Lingenfelter Superram was substituted for the stock Tuned Port intake. The valves are opened and closed by a Lingenfelter “219” cam. The block and lower end are stock and numbers-matching.
The 700R4 automatic transmission is the one that came with the car but has been rebuilt and now sports a 2,800 stall torque converter.
The original exhaust was replaced with Headman long tube headers into 3” catless pipes along with matching Magaflow race mufflers. An H pipe was installed to balance the system.
The car is driven to local autocross events and takes to the local twisty back roads and car shows on nice days. Poly bushings and Bilstein shocks keep the ZR1 style wheels and 17” tires planted in the turns. Both the front and rear have been lowered with kits supplied by Mid America Motorsports.
The interior was modified with a roll bar, harness and Corbeau seats. A Pioneer audio system was put in place along with hidden speakers and a hidden amp. The custom Grant steering wheel is easily removed by flipping a lever. This allows easier entry and exit along with discouraging opportunistic thieves.
This coming winter a later (1990 to 1996) style interior will be installed and the engine will increase in size to 383 cubic inches. As an alternative project, a scrap yard LS2 may replace the original block.
When I first saw this Corvette I was thinking that it was a $30,000+ ride.
I was amazed to find that Phil has around $8,000 invested in this beautiful machine!
Now, anyone out there want to sell him a used set of Dymag wheels to complete the transition?
As a raving Corvette enthusiast I enjoy attending Corvette shows and meeting the owners of exceptional examples of America’s sports car.
I found this 1985 coupe in my motel parking lot in Effingham, Illinois while attending the 2009 Mid America Funfest. I wedged my business card into the driver’s side mirror with a note for the owner to call me during the show as I wanted to learn more about the car and its owner. I had just attended Corvettes at Carlisle the previous month where they displayed several of the Corvette Challenge cars and I thought this to be one of them.
Take a gander at the pictures before reading this piece and write down what you think the owner might have invested in this car. I will divulge the answer in the last paragraph.
Phil Whicker lives and works in Kokomo, Indiana where he was born into a Corvette family. His father currently owns a straight axle, a mid year and a C5 and passed his love of the fiberglass beauties down to his son.
Phil bought this one from a seller in Wisconsin who had it listed for sale on the Corvette Forum. Phil knows how to paint and wrench and used to own a graphic design company. The car was originally Medium Blue Metallic with a blue interior. Phil has owned this C4 for 3 years and repainted it using GM black, BMW gray and Honda red. He designed the graphics to match and compliment these colors with the overall design being a tribute to Mike Yager’s number 42 Corvette Challenge Corvette.
Not only does Phil have “car guy” skills but he has also proved to be frugal. The majority of the aftermarket parts to modify this Z51 car were used items he purchased from Corvette Forum members at pennies on the dollar.
In the engine bay the AC system and air pump were removed, the heads replaced with port matched Dart Iron Eagles and a Lingenfelter Superram was substituted for the stock Tuned Port intake. The valves are opened and closed by a Lingenfelter “219” cam. The block and lower end are stock and numbers-matching.
The 700R4 automatic transmission is the one that came with the car but has been rebuilt and now sports a 2,800 stall torque converter.
The original exhaust was replaced with Headman long tube headers into 3” catless pipes along with matching Magaflow race mufflers. An H pipe was installed to balance the system.
The car is driven to local autocross events and takes to the local twisty back roads and car shows on nice days. Poly bushings and Bilstein shocks keep the ZR1 style wheels and 17” tires planted in the turns. Both the front and rear have been lowered with kits supplied by Mid America Motorsports.
The interior was modified with a roll bar, harness and Corbeau seats. A Pioneer audio system was put in place along with hidden speakers and a hidden amp. The custom Grant steering wheel is easily removed by flipping a lever. This allows easier entry and exit along with discouraging opportunistic thieves.
This coming winter a later (1990 to 1996) style interior will be installed and the engine will increase in size to 383 cubic inches. As an alternative project, a scrap yard LS2 may replace the original block.
When I first saw this Corvette I was thinking that it was a $30,000+ ride.
I was amazed to find that Phil has around $8,000 invested in this beautiful machine!
Now, anyone out there want to sell him a used set of Dymag wheels to complete the transition?
