1958 Chevrolet Corvette - '58 Redux

ORIGIN Latin, returning, from reducere, to lead back. First known use: 1860.

(Definition courtesy Merriam-Webster online dictionary, www.merriam-webster.com)

The word "redux" describes not only Dave Semel's restomodded '58 Corvette, it also describes the '58 Corvette itself.

In a year when steel-bodied Chevy production was down around 20 percent, Corvette sales jumped to 9,168—up nearly a third from 1957—making it the only one of The General's car lines to show a sales uptick for 1958. It probably helped that the Vette had no domestic sales competition, since Ford had ended two-seater Thunderbird production in December 1957.

Many Corvette builders would have turned away from it, and some would have run away as fast as they could. Not Semel. He saw the potential in it. "I knew that I wanted to do a restomod, but something that was a little bit different than what other people had done." One that would have all the hardware from a fifth-generation Corvette underneath that vintage fiberglass.

Semel had been inspired by a first-gen Vette restomod that he saw at Corvettes at Carlisle, and he found a builder that was willing to work with him on it. Unfortunately, about five months in, Semel and that builder parted ways when Semel realized that the builder couldn't handle the project.

That frame had one big difference from other C1 restomod frames: where the engine would sit in the engine bay. It was built so that an LS-series engine would sit low, a boon to weight distribution and handling, as was the rearward location of the C5's gearbox. "With the transmission in the back, we were able to get this car to have 50/50 weight distribution," Semel adds. Smith's frame design enabled the use of just about every chassis, steering, and suspension piece from the donor C5, though QA1 coilovers did go on at each corner.

The '00 Vette's rear-mounted six-speed presented some challenges when it came to fitting the '58 body over it. The trunk had to be cut out and refashioned, so that it would clear the new transmission, while looking every bit a '58 original. (Same with the transmission/driveshaft tunnel, enlarged to make room for the C5's torque tube.) In all, the 'glass work—by Johnny Cano and Norm Church in Ft. Pierce, and completed by Tony Stanz and Mike Hacker at Back-In-Time in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania—made the '58's body look like it came out of St. Louis configured this way.

Inside, a pair of Wise Guys custom buckets is surrounded by Al Knoch door panels, and a small-diameter Al Knoch leather-wrapped steering wheel fronts a restored OEM gauge cluster. There's also a Vintage Air HVAC system and a '58 "Wonderbar" radio that's had a Pioneer 12-disc CD changer added to it. Al Knoch did the custom dashpad as well, while Phil Martin in Ft. Pierce did the custom trunk panels, the embossed leather C1 emblem and embroidered "58REDUX" trunk logo, and the C1 emblem in the hardtop's leather headliner. Southern Street Rods and Corvettes fabricated the pieces needed to give the power windows, locks, and other non-stock cabin items an OEM look.

By the way, the "58REDUX" name and logo design came from Semel's friend, Natalie Cake, after she heard what he was doing with his '58.

What's it like to drive? "It's just amazing," says Semel. "You have all the handling ability of a brand-new Corvette, and you have the looks of the '58. I describe it as having the best of both worlds."

If you're inspired to add new-tech power and handling to a vintage Vette, Semel says that your project should start with a car that isn't too far gone—but isn't too nice an original. "You don't want to take an all-original car and have to do things we did, like the fiberglass cuts," he says. "You don't want to start with a really good car and then rip it apart, if you're a purist.

"Also, you have to think about what you really want out of it. Are you looking for a show car, a driver, or something in-between?"