1966 C2 Corvette Pulled From Iowa Farm
Daily Slideshow: Not everybody has the knowledge or the patience to refurbish an old car. David Engler found his dream car and decided to learn as he went when he refurbished his 1966 Corvette to basically new condition. It is an absolutely amazing achievement.
Barn find
This amazing story starts out with a true barn find in 2014. David Engler heard from a co-worker about the car that was then owned by the co-worker's uncle. The car was a 1966 Corvette convertible that had been stored in an aluminum truck box since 1974. After some persuasion of the co-worker's uncle by the co-worker, David and three other men were allowed to go pick the car up. It was obvious that the car had really been stored away for a long time. He and his helpers had to tromp through weeds higher than their heads to get to the car.
Chassis and engine
David is not a professional car restorer, but he decided to refurbish the Corvette himself with the help from some friends. First, he lifted the body off the frame to be able to refurbish both the frame and the body.
The frame was first sandblasted clean from paint and rust and then primed and painted. Also other parts of the chassis apart from the frame, for example, parts for the suspension were sandblasted, primed and painted.
The engine was completely torn down and rebuilt to basically new condition. The engine was also primed and painted to make sure that the engine compartment looked like new.
>>Join the conversation about this C2 Corvette barn find right here in Corvette Forum.
The body
To have a place to store the body when the chassis was removed David built a wooden cart on wheels. The first painstaking task with the body was to remove all the old paint. It was a three-month long project taking place in a small unheated shop in the middle of an Iowa winter, scraping the entire body with a single-edge razor. After the body had been stripped it was primed, sanded and finally painted with the top coat.
>>Join the conversation about this C2 Corvette barn find right here in Corvette Forum.
The interior
The seats were upholstered by David and his wife. According to him, there are a few tiny wrinkles in the seats, but he really enjoyed doing the work himself instead of just paying somebody else to do the work. He and his wife didn't have any prior experience in upholstery, but they learned as they went and take pride in that all imperfections are done by themselves.
>>Join the conversation about this C2 Corvette barn find right here in Corvette Forum.
The result
Now David has a car that he intends to keep forever since it is his ultimate dream car and something that, in his own words, his three kids will fight over some day. He has spent less than $40,000 for the car and the refurbishing and he is convinced that the car is worth more than that today.
>>Join the conversation about this C2 Corvette barn find right here in Corvette Forum.
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