4LT GS Roadster
Not so with John Smeelen, who teamed with Toronto's Dream Machines to create a mega-power marvel of an open-body Vette. "I wanted to have something different, and I wanted the best of both worlds," says Smeelen of his choice to build a convertible Corvette. "You don't see very many ragtops that are high-performance, because of structural issues and so on."
Making sure the topless Vette wouldn't tie itself into a pretzel was one aspect of the project, one that would consume more than 1,000 hours of work from start to finish. But that wasn't the biggest challenge that they faced. "The hardest part, believe it or not, was the engineering of the engine, blower, and transmission," says Smeelen. "If it was a manual transmission, it would have been much simpler."
Fortunately RPM Transmissions was able to upgrade the GM 6L80E six-speed automatic and provide a pair of 1,000-hp-capable halfshafts to handle the anticipated big power.
Vette
