1961 Chevrolet Corvette C1 Restoration and Restomod

Back

1961 Corvette C1 Restoration and Restomod

After some discussions with the owner, the following brief was given.

"Make it look good and drive Good"

We do like these kind of projects, so the following is underway:

Full Repair and Restoration of the chassis, but with a new front clip. This will allow for easier conversion to Disc Brakes all Round.
Modern Coil over Suspension Conversion
Ford 9" rear suspension setup
The Aforementioned disc brake conversion with power brakes.
Tremec 5 Speed Gearbox conversion with Hydraulic clutch for easier operation.
Power Assisted Steering
Body to be Fully Repaired and Painted.
Engine Fully Reconditioned with conversion to EFI.
Hood Replaced and Interior Tidy.
Totally Rewired.
Wheels to be either reconditioned or replaced TBC.
New exhaust system
Air Conditioning

The work will be quite involved as the chassis is very corroded.

Expected completion is around the Spring 26. (revised due to extensive bodywork repairs that were required)

The Chassis, needing significant Repair.

C1 Body Removal

Load video: Video of Corvette C1 Body Being Removed.

Chassis Repairs Underway

Upgrades

Once the chassis repair work was completed, the focussed then moved to the extensive list of upgrades to turn the C1 into a slightly more modern classic. These upgrades will help ensure its easier to drive and easier to stop.

Below are some of the images on the upgrades that took place.

Upgrades (Disc Brakes, Coil Overs etc.)

Full Disc Brake conversion has taken place with a dual circuit master cylinder to ensure the Corvette stops as well as it goes.

Corvette Fibreglass Body Repairs

One of the biggest challenges on this project was the sheer amount of repair work that was needed on the body. Unfortunately you dont always know what your going to find until the paint is stripped back and what was left caused some concerns (in terms of scope of repairs that were needed).

The body itself had certainly been in at least one accident before and had been badly repaired, with new or probably second hand panels fitted poorly joined and very thin fibreglass.

Unfortautntly we were unable to source replacement panels (back order for over 200 days estimate) which would have sped up the process considerably. Instead and in discussion with the customer, a time consuming process of repairing the fibreglass got underway.