1963 Tore Asunder!

[c5vetter]

Folks,

More of a "lurker", but some of you may remember that I own a pair of "box end Z06's - 1963/2001. Well, I turned the "LADY" (1963) over to Tony's Corvette in Gaithersburg, MD. Tony called this AM and said we need to talk. Well, it seems after around 100 hours of work, the body is off and everything is tore apart!

Well, talk about having your heart drop to the floor, when you walk around a corner and see your Vette that you were just driving, with the body hanging in the air, a completely stripped down frame and all the parts in various bins!

They have pain-stakingly been validating each and every nut, bolt, screw, etc. against the AIM. Everything is tagged and in baggies, etc. and in bins based on what needs to be cadmium plated, what needs to be phosphate plated, etc. etc.

Will be going back on Saturday with a "hefty deposit check" and see if I can't wrangle some pictures out of Tony and post. He said they had filled an entire CD with digital pix of the car as they took it down!

 

['63split]

Hey Rick,

I'm still waiting for an invite to see the frame off.

Regards,
Mike

 

[IMA Z06]

C5,

Best of luck with your "Resto"

 

[IH2LOSE]

Pretty scary stuff.

Good Luck with it.visit the shop often just to check progress

 

[magicv8]

Oh Yeah - Let's view the results at the Bloominton show.

 

[c5vetter]

hopefully, I will be at Bloomington - have not registered as yet as I want to be sure the car is ready for NCRS also!

 

[Tom Bryant]

Build a fire under those guys Rick. The CAC Cruise-Fest is a month before Bloomington. Of course I hope you can be there even if the ZO6 isn't done.

Tom

 

[ShakeRattleRoll]

What fun is it to have someone else do the work? I just do not get it.

 

[IH2LOSE]

What fun is it to have someone else do the work? I just do not get it.

I have to agree with c5d on this one I am all for doing as much work as I can by myself but if there is some one better skilled then me to do the job I would hire them in a heart beat.(Not trying to be boastfull here) and his car is REAL RARE it needs to be done correctly it is a peice of history and should be handled as such for sure
Only 199 1963 Corvettes with the Z06 package were ever produced.

The Z06 package included:

Larger metal linings for the brakes
Larger braking drums
Cooling fans in the drums
Heavy duty front and rear springs
36 gallon fuel tank

 

[c5vetter]

c5d,

You beat me to the punch! I was going to say you need to have the "right tools", the two-bay garage you can afford to do without for several months, etc. to do a proper "body-off" resto.
Personally, I just haven't any of the tools, nor do I have a 4-bay garage. So, I went to one of the experts.

FYI - "LADY" is not a tanker - RATS! She is the "Swiss Z06" that was talked about in some circles. Keeping her in all of her "European glory".

BTW - Noland Adams, M.F. Dobbins, Eric Gill and some of the other Vette/Z06 gurus put the number of "tankers" at 63 of the entire run of 199 Z06's. As a little bit of history, the Z06's were produced in several (think 6?) "runs or batches".

 

[ShakeRattleRoll]

)

Yes I agree that some things need to be done by others as you said. But I would tend to want to do as much as I could on whatever I am working on myself. Unless I have more funds than time and knowledge or lack of time to gain the knowledge to do it myself. I do hope the car comes out great.