4LT GS Roadster
They say that in America, you can be anything you want to be. True enough. And from where we sit, that even extends to Corvettes. Svelte sports car, big-block superpower, pedigreed road racer, street profiler, sparkling showstopper, vintage classic, dragstrip terror, world-class supercar, top-end speedster, kitschy street machine-Corvette does 'em all. For that matter, Corvette can beautifully blend any of the two.
Take this '61 that we're calling "Z Whiz." Have you ever seen vintage styling and modern technology so perfectly blended? Richard Carlson had the original vision and commissioned Time Machines in Hudson, Florida, to build the car. Corvette rodding being a personal thing and all, it's easy to color outside the lines, so to speak, and lean a bit too far one way or the other, causing the car to be off-balance. But we don't have that problem here. In fact, if there's an award for the best Corvette rod (we should start one if there isn't), this '61 should be a finalist.
Maybe we shouldn't be that surprised, given that Time Machines is a veteran builder of vintage cars with modern chassis and drivetrains. This shop specializes in this sort of thing. For this project, the crew started with an SRIII Motorsports' round-tube chassis made specifically for C4 components. SRIII specializes in custom frames for just such occasions.
Next came the 375hp LT5 engine and driveline out of a '92 ZR1 Corvette. In case you've been backpacking in Botswana for the last decade, the LT5 is the DOHC four-valve 5.7L V-8 out of the exotic, limited-production ZR1. It was renowned for its wide powerband and the way it would pull way up into the high revs. Chevrolet has marched relentlessly forward in the quest for ever-greater horsepower, but those relative few who've had the pleasure of piloting a ZR1 know it was something special. Stainless Works headers feed into a Flowmaster exhaust with rear dumps.
LT5-Powered C1 Roadster Restomod - Corvette Fever Magazine
