The one that got away

[IH2LOSE]

I may have shaired this with you guys.

Well Corvettes of Carlilse 2003 or 2002 I came across a C1 that all ready had a SR111 tubeular chassis under it, the car a mis match of differant parts and years of car but it had the frame and it was a roller with motor and trans.
Needing complete restoration and assembly every thing was kinda layed in place
I spoke to the owner shortley on the car got a feel for his price and came up with a purchase price I was willing to pay.

Tried to call my brother at his home on my cell to find out if he would run my car trailer down to take it home. Where the guy was I had no phone service,I had to walk up hill a bit and a couple of isle over finally get service, finally talk to my brother he said he can drive it down, call my shop and tell them to get my truck hooked up to the car trailer, talk to our house sitter tell her how to get me some money to give to my brother to send down to me. This all took me about 32 minutes. I walk back down to the seller to negoceate my deal and give him a deposit, only to find the car with a sold sign on the car.

I spoke to the seller and asked what happened he said guy walked by and purchased it on the spot just like that,( I said I wanted it but left no deposit because I wanted to make sure I could get it home with out having to go home my self to get the trailer) As my daughter would say MY BAD

anyways the next days breakfast I was talking with this fellow at our hotel explaining my miss at a car only to find out his freind bought it

I forgot about this whole deal till I get home today and find the newest issue of Vette magazine at the door ( Resto rod vettes issue) with a spead on the car with this guy Mike Colleto as the builder. They car was a disaster but they got it all together and it looks great. I showed the magazine to my wife and she said boy does she ever remember that day and how disapointed I was not getting the car.

Well as you guys know I finally did get my car in 2004 but it took a couple of years to find one.

Just wanted to share my story and suggest anyone building a C1 resto rod this may be an interesting issue for you as they also have a spread on the morrison frame.

 

[firstgear]

if I was going to do this again...IF.....a Morrison frame was what I thought I would use......

 

[IH2LOSE]

So I got to read the magazine a little further, and there a great article on how to build a resto rod authored by Rich and Barb L.

Goes into great detail on planning it. Rich also mentioned the Corvette Action Center.com as a place to gather information, (thanks Rich) I recognized Rich's car building theory long before I could actually find a notation of who the author was.

Great Job Rich. I know me personally would be lost building a car with out the proper planning, Research, budget, or time lines telling me what I should be doing or when it should be done.

Just recently I built a planning book for a fellow Building a resto rod. When building his planner I put in as many pictures of finished cars and articles from magazines on cars simular to his. He explains sometimes he just looks at his project as a hopeless money pit and take a few days off from the build. Starts to read his planner and realizes from the planner time line how much work he actually got done and it gets him re-motivated to get back to work knowing if he just completes this stage he gets to go onto the next. Hard to describe to some one not using a planner or a guideline but once you do it with a planner youll wonder how you ever was able to complete a project in the past. He actually give me updates on his project and I reprint some of his pages showing his acomplishments, He loves getting the re-printed pages with the status as complete.

 

[richscorvettes]

So I got to read the magazine a little further, and there a great article on how to build a resto rod authored by Rich and Barb L.

Goes into great detail on planning it. Rich also mentioned the Corvette Action Center.com as a place to gather information, (thanks Rich) I recognized Rich's car building theory long before I could actually find a notation of who the author was.

Larry,

Thanks for the kind comments on the article in Corvette Fever. I thought that taking a live project, following a logical plan, might be of help to folks considering building something similar. I know that planning and research aren't the most interesting aspects of a project but, as you say, without doing the up-front work, you often end up with time delays, additional costs and disappointments.

The first article was meant to cover the early phases and set the base for future installments. In future articles we'll be covering the chassis and suspension and the engine, drive-train and brakes. I'll also be working on some other areas as we get further along in the project.

Trying to put the articles together, take and edit the pictures while simultaneously building the car sure has been interesting.......:crazy

Well, better get back at it! :L

Rich Lagasse

 

[Sting Ray]

Rich,

If you are on schedule ( and I am sure you are ) The shake down cruise should be in a couple of weeks, good Luck.


Tom McCabe

 

[richscorvettes]

Rich,

If you are on schedule ( and I am sure you are ) The shake down cruise should be in a couple of weeks, good Luck.


Tom McCabe

Tom,

Well, as they say, plans need to be flexible and there are usually those unforeseable events that pop up. You don't know what they will be in advance but you can count on them happening. When the first plan was drawn the body was to be in primer by the end of September which didn't happen. There were some health issues over the past year which brought work to a halt. That has fortunately worked out but it does make it impossible to recover the time lost. Needless to say we're still cranking away at it and hope to have things in better shape in the Spring.

Rich Lagasse