I was a shop teacher in Sayreville, New Jersey, for 30 years. It was a great run. When I retired, I decided to do a project car. I looked around and found a real junker Corvette-a '77 "rat" of a car. I should have looked some more. Instead, I spent five grand and soon realized I made a huge error in judgment. It was pure junk. All I could really use were the body and the dashboard. I persevered, though, and the result is outstanding.
The project took a solid two years and hundreds of hours of hard labor to complete. The 0.030-over 350 engine was a gift from a shop-teacher buddy. It has Dart heads, a steel crank, I-beam rods, forged-aluminum pistons, Crane roller rockers, a 750 Holley, and a Comp cam. As a result, it has about 450 horsepower and is tons of fun to drive.
Last year, my Corvette took top honors in six of the ten shows I entered. Was it worth all the work? Well, let me put it this way: There's no way I'd do another!
The first change was the addition of an '82 rear fascia with spoiler. | 
The Vette was then stripped in preparation for body repair. This portion of the car alone took eight hours. | 
While the car was being stripped, much of its original interior was removed. |
The stock L42 was in poor shape and made a woeful 180 hp. | 
A new, performance-built 355 is good for around 450 horses. | 
Partway through the sanding process, the Vette starts to look like a new car. |
Priming and wet-sanding followed. | 
Resplendent in a fresh coat of Corvette Red, the revitalized '77 pauses for a photo in the North Carolina mountains. | |
Do you have a real-life Corvette story for The Vette File? If so, we'd love to hear from you. Just send a detailed Word document and a selection of high-resolution digital photography to us at the address below. All submissions become property of VETTE.
Vette magazine
Attn: The Vette File
9036 Brittany Way
Tampa, FL 33619