It started like a lot of other Corvette restorations these days. A friend of Jeff Barnett's had bought a rough-looking '68 roadster, and planned on slapping on a new coat of paint and selling it at a profit. While there's nothing new-and nothing wrong-with the idea of making money off of classic cars, the astronomically high prices you see for some vintage Vettes have made it seem like a great way to turn a quick buck. But this isn't a get-rich-quick story, and Barnett, who was told he could buy the car after it had been painted, wasn't interested in being part of one.
After his friend put it in the body shop and "kinda tore it apart," the '68 turned out to need much more than a paintjob. "I don't think anything worked," Barnett told me when we talked about the car. Nonetheless, having fallen in love with a neighbor's yellow, chrome-bumper shark when he was in high school, he had always liked the body style and had always been intrigued by custom cars. A deal was struck in the due course of time, and Barnett bought the car in mid-project stage.
And "project" is just the word: There were no door panels, none of the gauges worked, and half the interior was out. An L88 hood covered the 350 that had replaced the blown original engine, several body panels needed replacement, and underneath it all was a frame that was rusted and broken. Not a job for the faint of heart, but also not a task beyond the abilities of Walt Hutcheson, a Corvette guru Barnett met while buying parts out of the newspaper.
Hutcheson, who is well into his 70s, started his career working on boats and moved into Corvettes in the 1960s. He's stayed a Corvette fanatic since then, and the early Vettes are still where his heart lies. "I knew I wanted it done right," Barnett says of the project. "I got lucky when I met him." Barnett, a carpenter by trade, traded out labor with Hutcheson, who did the lion's share of the work on the '68. Like most full-house restorations, it was a long-term project, taking about eight years to complete.
In addition to the substantial bodywork, there was the matter of finding a new frame to replace the original one, which was broken on the passenger side at the rear kickup. Instead of going with a '68 or '69 frame, though, Barnett began looking for one of the later frames that had the diagonal reinforcements that were added to the kickup area in mid-1970. After "a lot of phone calling," Barnett found two: one in St. Louis from a car that had burned, and one in California. After contemplating the temperatures at which fiberglass burns, Barnett opted for the other frame, and had it shipped in from the West Coast.
The frame got an upgrade in the form of an F41-style Gymkhana suspension, with 550-pound front coils and heavier sway bars. In addition to holding the road better, the stiffer front springs also helped carry the added weight of the new engine, a ZZ454 from GM Performance Parts. Making somewhere in the neighborhood of 440 net horses and 500 lb-ft of torque with a fairly mild 9.6:1 compression ratio, the big-block ZZ lays down more power than most of the factory big-blocks that came in sharks originally (remember, they were rated by gross horsepower, not net), with all of the grunt and snarl that made those engines icons of their time.
In the case of this particular shark, the 454's hammering thunder comes to you through Jet-Hot-coated Hooker side-pipe headers, and the power gets to the rear tires through a Tremec five-speed that took the place of the factory four-speed. The differential houses a highway-friendly 3.36 gear, and the stock 15-inch steel wheels were replaced by 17-inch aluminum rims from Billet Specialties. The front 8-inch-wide wheels are covered with BFGoodrich g-Force 245s, while 285/40s wrap around the 91/2-inch-wide rears-a much-appreciated improvement over the high sidewalls and narrow tread of the factory 215s. Go-fast cars need stop-fast brakes as well, so the factory iron four-piston calipers were replaced with polished calipers from Stainless Steel Brakes and paired with new slotted rotors.
So far, though, we're still in fairly familiar territory for modified C3s. No doubt, the powertrain and running gear are impressive, but the truly impressive part of this Corvette isn't what's under its skin, but what's on its skin, and inside its passenger compartment. The L88 hood that came with the car was replaced with an aftermarket C2-style Stinger unit, which had to be raised 11/2 inches or so to clear the Billet Specialties air cleaner on the 454. Hutcheson took a circular saw to the hood to raise the center panel, but you'd never know it. The fiberglass is blended seamlessly back together, and both the Stinger and the raised panel are painted an even black that contrasts nicely with both the orange line that borders it and the metallic silver on the rest of the car. While Hutcheson did the prep work, the paint itself (a factory silver for the GMC Denali) was laid on by Mooney's Collision Repair.
 Custom-painted aluminum interior...  Custom-painted aluminum interior panels were added to the doors; the orange accents are part of a paint scheme that helps tie the car together. |  In a departure from restoration...  In a departure from restoration orthodoxy, all of the logos were "shaved" from the car's body, and are painted on instead. |  Factory-style white-faced...  Factory-style white-faced gauges came from Corvette Instruments. Other than the color, they're identical to the factory black-faced units. Also notice the polished Flaming River steering wheel and column. |
 Even with the considerable...  Even with the considerable bulge, the '68's C2-style Stinger hood needed additional room to clear the big-block ZZ 454. Walt Hutcheson, who built the car, raised it by 11/2 inches. |  The custom center console...  The custom center console contains the controls for the Vintage Air A/C, as well as the shifter. The painted-on shift map is correct for the Tremec five-speed that backs up the 440-horse ZZ454. |  From the C5-style lettering...  From the C5-style lettering to the orange accent stripe, it doesn't take much to realize this isn't a stock '68. The 285s in the back and the vanity plate also hint at the big-block power on tap. |