Daily Slideshow: Want to Tick Everyone Off? Build Yourself a C5 VetteStang

1. The Why

What makes a person Frankenstein a Mustang body, a Corvette drivetrain, and a homemade tube frame together? In Canadian Kyle Scaife's case, the tipping point was Ken Block's Gymkhana 7. He saw Block tossing around a '65 Mustang, "...and I basically said: 'I wanna build a car.'" His shop had previously put together a chopped and bagged '71 Plymouth 'Cuda powered by a Viper V10, so he'd already dipped his toes in the water. However, that was a customer car, not something he could call his own. The Ford/Chevy mix comes down to Kyle's casual nature and his efforts to get the most car for the buck. Kyle found an entire salvage-titled 1999 C5 Corvette located in California and purchased it for $6000 USD, including delivery to Canada. He stressed that a Coyote motor would have cost him about the same money, but without the computer, transmission, differential, suspension, brakes, or wheels his Vette came equipped with.

>>Join the conversation about the C5 VetteStang right here in Corvette Forum.

2. The Mustang

While Kyle admired Block's Mustang, he was open to options. "I started searching around for old mustangs, old Camaros..." Kyle explained. What he came up with was a '67 Mustang, sans engine and transmission. It was in rough shape—the frame wasn't usable and the rockers were long gone—but Kyle said it had everything he needed, which meant basically just the shell. In the finished product, the Mustang hood is held on solely by hood pins, and a fair amount of the other body parts are repros, including the bumpers.

>>Join the conversation about the C5 VetteStang right here in Corvette Forum.

3. The Corvette

Kyle made the most of that $6000-bucks-worth of Corvette. Of course, the 5.7-liter LS1 V-8 was used, as was the six-speed transaxle, joined by a torque tube Kyle fabricated. So far the LS hasn't been breathed-on, but Kyle mentions a turbo or two as possible options for the future. The Mustang's brakes are now Corvette, and so are the wheels, and most, but not all, of the suspension. Kyle and his father modified the suspension to incorporate unique inboard, cantilevered coil-over shocks, both front, and rear.

>>Join the conversation about the C5 VetteStang right here in Corvette Forum.

4. The Kyle

Kyle's dad helped out with the build, the two of them working mostly nights and weekends. His dad—whose past builds include an aluminum-bodied Corvette and a Suzuki GSXR1000-powered 3-wheeler that Kyle says is “even more wild than this car,” —was an invaluable partner on the project. Kyle sums up his own previous mechanical experience: “I always did my own oil changes.” “I’m a fabricator, not a mechanic," Kyle continued, mentioning that he learned a lot about wiring, fuel, and brake systems over the course of this project. Kyle and his dad mated the Mustang body to a custom tube-chassis with a full cage. Kyle singles out the aluminum doors out as the toughest part of the whole build. He and his father fashioned them from scratch out of .080" thick aluminum, pressing his dad's power hammer and English wheel into service.

>>Join the conversation about the C5 VetteStang right here in Corvette Forum.

5. The Finishing Touches

Like we said, Kyle's a pretty laid-back dude. So when the painters went on holiday halfway through painting the car Kyle's attitude was: "I don’t care.” He likes the rough look of the car and plans to keep the exterior pretty much the way it is now. The car is titled as a 1967 Mustang because it was cheaper to insure it with classic car insurance than as a 1999 Corvette. His future plans don't include drifting it anytime soon, “I don't care to spend that much money on tires, to be honest with you.” He does plan to take it to events in California, and maybe Colorado and Florida, "all through the nice states, basically." So, if you live in one of the "nice" states and you happen across a wild-looking '60's Mustang notchback, it's probably Kyle's, or Ken's... unless we're standing on the edge of a revolution. Is the world ready for more VetteStangs?