Just discovered by 63 Coupe has Racing Blood

[1KULC7]

I bought this 63 Coupe about two months ago, and just started to restore the engine. So this is the first time I had it up on the lift. Well the FRAME has no flaking, no rust, it's in great shape. Bad part, somebody spray painted the entire bottom black.

So the next thing is I start to notice the gas lines, somebody at one time broke the line at behind the front right wheel as it come out of the frame, and replaced it with a rubber hose and clamp to the fuel pump. Then I notice through the crossmembers running along side the frame, on the inside about 5 inches a 3/4 inch hole drilled through the cross members aligned to the rear up to the fuel tank. This is how they use to run fuel lines by NHRA and SCCA standard back then. So the stock fuel lines were snapped off and larger ones run through these holes. They line up perfectly.

Then we look closely at the exhaust system and noticed ALL of the original hardware has been removed and the exhaust was spot wielded to the frame and metal brakets were fabricated to the back to hold the mufflers and pipes in place. So we cut out the entire exhaust system from the manifold all the way back.

Then we find the rear wheel fenders were cut to house large rear tires at one time... Then we notice in the rear wells inside that hold the jack, is a braket used that holds a fire extinguisher.

We take a closer look at the frame and we notice area that a roll cage once was spot wielded the frame.

I don't know who, what, when or where, but I really beleive this car was raced at one time. Like I said the frame has NO rust, so this means to me it was garaged.

Finally we are taking out the engine and the transmission and we find the fly wheel has rust spots all over it. Meaning to me this engine was sitting for a while outside the car.

Nice thing, all the parts are matched, engine, body, transmission (T-10) etc. Boy would I like to know the past history of this car.....:confused :confused :confused

 

[Tom Bryant]

Sounds like you have some detective work ahead of you. It could have a very interesting past.

Tom

 

[HOTMOTORSPORTS]

If you're going all the way which it sounds like you are, when you strip the paint, maybe you'll find some of the hidden secrets.

The problem you'll have is whether to keep going with your intent for originality, or restore the race car that it was.

Driving you crazy already, isn't it??? :J

My guess is that it wasn't a Chevrolet race car, many owners opted to take the original driveline out to race and re-install it after done. It would be nice to see if there was a major sponsor involved. Love to see pics of what your talking about. Some of the tricks of the trade were regional. That could give you an idea where it was raced.

Chuck

 

[richscorvettes]

It's interesting what you find when taking a car apart. When we were building our 62 I noticed white paint on the inside edge of the doors in the window area. Since I knew it was an original red car I couldn't figure out how it got there. Then I ran into someone who knew the previous owner. He remembered the car when it was drag raced. While I knew that I didn't know that he had painted the car red, white and blue in 1976 for the bi-centennial - the white was on the doors!

Depending on where your car came from you might run into someone who remembers it from the races. You never know.

Rich Lagasse

 

[1KULC7]

I will get some photos and show you guys (n' gals) what I am talking about. I don't think it was a Chevy or GM race car, more like a local race car, but whatever it was, it does show a small piece of Corvette history and heritage....