Aaron,
Hey, thanks for the compliments. The truth is, I don't know if this demonstrates tallent and dedication, or stupidity and too much extra time on my hands. No really, I don't have anymore extra time than anybody else, I just don't get much sleep and keep a constant ring of grease around my fingernails.
Quick story on the ride. I bought it from a co-worker. Her dad bought the car in the 80's and the whole family enjoyed it for many years. It broke down in the late 80's with a bad alternator. About that same time Egbert (the prior owner) got sick and did not have much time or engery to fool with it. He bought a big block coupe with no title and took both of them to a local shop. The plan was to put the big block in and repaint the convertible.
Well, he died, and the shop got closed down by the IRS. Since Amy (his daughter/my co-worker) did not have a title to the big block car she was not able to claim it. She did however drag the convertible back home. It was dropped on her uncles property. He got mad that it was there and decided to move it for her with his truck, thus the crushed front clip. Anyway it sat for around 10 years out in the weather. She wanted to keep it because when her father died, he had died alone in the house and was not discovered for weeks. Needless to say the house had to be gutted. The only physical memory left of her dad was this car. So, she was torn between selling, trying to fix it up, etc.
A mutual co-worker put me in touch with Amy to hear the story on the car and see if I could help her. She told me it was a 427 four speed, convertible, etc. I almost wet my pants and offered to go give it a look and see what it would need to fix it up. Well, as soon as I saw the hood I pretty much knew it would be a small block. It took a while to convince her that it was not a small block, and I even showed her pictures of a big vs. small block so she would know I was not trying to fool her.
To make this long story short, I told her that she could buy a new Corvette for what she would end up paying a shop to get it running, painted, etc. At that time I offered $1,500 plus my old riding lawn mower. She thought it over for a few weeks and finally accepted. I did remove the hood, clean it up, and build a cool set of brackets on the back to allow it to hang on a wall. I took a permanent ink marker and signed a very special thank you note to her and her dad thanking them for the opportunity to rebuild this car. I presented the hood to her as a total surprise. It made her cry (happy tears), and now she has the hood hanging on the garage wall. She can still keep a piece of the car without having to deal with the problems of owning the car.
One of the cool parts about this story is the fact that while waiting on the tow truck to arrive and pick up the car I stumbled over something in the tall uncut grass next to the car. It was the ORIGINAL NUMBERS MATCHING BLOCK! I kid you not. Anyway, loaded that up as well and have it under my work bench in the shop. (300 hsp 350)
I traded the motor that was in the car (early four bolt truck block with a SCHWEEET set of bowtie heads) to the race shop for building my roll cage/saftey bars.
Tom, yes, I still have the valve covers. They are in nasty condition, but some day I will polish them up when I get "spare time".
Sorry for the book. I just have not really figured out how to condense this story yet.
. I DID like the color scheme though 
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