The True Corvette Family Car
The 70's produced some pretty weird stuff, but maybe nothing weirder than this four door Corvette conversion.
1. The Four Door Corvette
If you weren't lucky enough to be around back in the 1970s, you really missed out on some crazy stuff. Things like bell bottom pants, flamboyant hair styles, and disco music. And apparently, four door Corvettes. We're not really sure why anyone would ever want such a thing, but then again, we're not really sure why anyone would wear bell bottom pants, either.
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2. One Unique Piece of Coachwork
The family 'Vette was the creation of California Custom Coach based out of So Cal. CCC built plenty of other stuff like Austin Boattail replicas in a time when fiberglass custom conversions were the hot thing. So it only made sense that they would do some work on America's most famous fiberglass sports car - the Corvette.
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3. So...How do you build it?
It seems crazy that anyone would buy a new Corvette and proceed to cut it in half, but that's exactly what CCC did with their four door conversions. The cars were then stretched 30 inches before they were welded back together. The second set of seats were then installed, and the Corvette's original cargo space was unaffected by the additional passenger area.
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4. As Close to Factory Built as it Gets
The end result is a car that looks like it could have rolled off a Chevy assembly line. That's because CCC retained as many original Corvette components as they could. The stock front doors were modified to make them work, though the rear doors had to be fabricated. The solid steel roof even used modified Corvette T-top sections to give it a more authentic look.
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5. And the World Rejected it
Despite CCC's best efforts, the four door Corvette was an unmitigated failure. Maybe it was the $35,000 price tag - more than double the asking price of a standard "Vette back in 1979. Or maybe it was the extra 500 pounds the conversion added, which along with the mini-limo length probably destroyed any performance the car had to begin with. Whatever the reason, CCC wound up building only six four door Corvettes, way short of their 10 cars per month goal.
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For help with service of our car, check out the how to section of CorvetteForum.com