One of the most exciting things about being involved in the Corvette hobby is having the chance to experience the many ways in which different owners enjoy their cars. Some modify and race their Vettes, while others drive them daily and show them on weekends. There's even a small group whose members enjoy buying Corvettes and putting them on permanent display. Over the years, we at Team VETTE have been privileged to visit many of these Corvette collections.

Recently, we met the Boers, a family of Corvette enthusiasts who are fully committed to preserving the car's proud heritage. Father Andre Boer bought his first Vette-a silver '76 with red interior-in 1979. Three months later, he purchased a '66 convertible, quickly followed by a blue '74 big-block coupe. The difference between Andre Boer and most Corvette owners is that he has kept more cars than he has sold. To date, he has accumulated more than 100! Sixty of them are on permanent display in a beautiful glass-and-brick museum.

Believe it or not, the Boers are not American. In fact, they don't even live in the States. The Boers hail from the small Dutch town of Wezep, located 85 km (around 53 miles) north of Amsterdam. We are able to bring you their story thanks to Corvette Europe Brand Manager Koos Pettinga, who introduced us to them during our recent Dream Car Garage trip.

We were unprepared for what we found. Corvettes were everywhere, neatly parked side-by-side in multiple rows. If you have a favorite model year, Andre Boer probably has one (or more) somewhere. They are displayed by generations, from First to Sixth.

Our tour started with a white '54. It was parked in a row beside six other First-generation Vettes, culminating with a silver '62. The Second-generation row began with a red split-window and ended with a black '67 big-block coupe. Speaking of '67s, Boer is also the proud owner of a black-and-red 427/435 convertible that shows only 34,909 miles and is Bloomington Gold Certified.

Next, we inspected Boer's Third-generation collection, which starts with a yellow '68 small-block coupe and ends with an '82 Collector Edition. His Fourth-generation Vettes include an '84 Greenwood coupe, three ZR-1s, a '95 Indy pace car, and an '89 Callaway twin-turbo coupe.

Our tour ended near a row of C5s and two special C6s. The Fifth-generation cars include a '98 pace car and several Z06s. Boer is especially proud of his silver '05 convertible, which was the first C6 imported into Europe and was used as a factory display car at the '05 Geneva Auto Show and other automotive events. The latest addition to the collection is a C6 Z06 that carries chassis No. 52. It was the first C6 Z06 brought to Europe and was driven by then-Corvette Chief Engineer Dave Hill in the '05 Le Mans Parade des Pilotes. It was also a factory show car at the '05 and '06 Geneva Shows.

Once our tour had concluded, Boer gave everyone rides in his beautiful '67 big-block convertible. The rumble of the side pipes reverberating throughout the Wezep neighborhood was pure music. Later, he took us to three large warehouses near his museum. These were filled with partially restored Corvettes and others that had been badly crashed. The crashed cars are now used for hard-to-find parts, which are catalogued and stored in bins nearby.

Although our tour ended much too quickly, we left Andre Boer and his family with a new appreciation for the considerable impact the Corvette has had on people around the world. If you're ever in the Netherlands, we encourage you to visit this fabulous collection. It's open to the public Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The 56th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring didn't bring new competition to the championship-winning Corvettes, but it did bring a new fuel technology. Namely, the cars adopted E85 cellulosic ethanol made from wood waste as their fuel source.

GM CEO Rick Wagoner fully supports the fuel switch as part of a push to expand ethanol availability to American motorists. At the '08 Detroit Auto Show, Wagoner pointed out that while there are over six million duel-fuel E85 vehicles in the United States, the vast majority of E85 stations are located in the Midwest. GM wants to solve this problem by adding E85 outlets around the country.

High-performance vehicles, and auto racing in general, are often criticized for having a negative impact on the environment. The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) decided recently to take a leadership role in quelling this criticism by introducing green technology to its racing series. Not only does this approach help silence critics, it supports the goal of finding new ways to wean American consumers off of exported oil.

In the off-season, ALMS partnered with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) to serve as its 2008 fuel supplier. For '08, all non-diesel competitors are required to run E10 (10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline). Three teams-including Corvette Racing-were selected to compete with the E85 fuel blend (85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline). But during initial testing, Corvette Racing discovered that the C6.Rs' existing fuel cells weren't compatible with the new E85 fuel. The adhesive holding the cells together began separating, creating a safety hazard. As a result, it was decided that the cars would run the E10 blend at Sebring while new fuel cells were being built. These new cells will be in the Corvettes for the next race at St. Petersburg, where the cars will run on E85.

For the most part, the Corvette's GT1 competitors once again stayed at home. Only one other car-a privately owned Aston Martin entered by Bell Motorsports-showed up at Sebring, and it was more than 2 seconds slower than the C6.Rs in qualifying. The No. 3 Vette-driven by Johnny O'Connell, Ron Fellows, and Jan Magnussen-took the GT1 pole and was thirteenth fastest overall with a time of 1:57.013. The No. 4 car-driven by Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin, and Max Papis-was fourteenth fastest with a 1:57.412. In GT2, Lou Gigliotti's new LG Pro Long Tube Header Corvette qualified twenty-sixth overall and eleventh in class. The LG car looked impressive in its first outing and should prove to be a top class contender in the months ahead. Up front, a Peugeot Sport diesel LMP1 prototype secured the overall pole with a time of 1:43.976.

Once the green flag fell, over 150,000 spectators watched as the front runners swapped places during the early laps. Not surprisingly, the two Corvettes thundered away from the lone Aston. At the end of the first hour, the No. 3 C6.R had moved up two positions to eleventh overall, while the No. 4 car was fourteenth. At the two-hour mark, Beretta brought the car into the pits with an apparent drivetrain problem.

"I came out of Turn Nine, and it went completely loose," he reported. "I thought the race was gone. I was worried that the wheels would lock up, and I bring the car back to the pits. I didn't want to get stuck on the course."

The car was returned to the transporter, where the crew replaced the right halfshaft. The stop took nine minutes. The C6.R then returned to the race in twenty-fifth position overall, a full nine laps behind its class-leading stablemate. "We lost the inner tripod joint on the right side," explained team manager Gary Pratt. "It snapped one of the three drives at the spline. We've never seen this failure before."

The unexpected pit stop put the Aston into second place in class, two laps behind the leading No. 3 C6.R. By the fourth hour, the Aston was four laps down, while the No. 4 Vette was an additional four laps in arrears in twenty-first position overall. Shortly thereafter, the Aston spun due to a rear-brake problem and broke its front splitter. This required a behind-pit-wall repair, pushing the green screamer down to twenty-third overall. Unfortunately, Gigliotti's No. 28 GT2 Corvette also was withdrawn during the fifth hour due to an overheating engine.

By the seventh hour, the GT1-leading No. 3 Corvette was in ninth position, while the No. 4 Vette was thirteenth overall and second in GT1. Up front, the LMP2 Penske Porsches were battling the bigger, heavier LMP1 Audis for the overall lead. In the end, the Porsches pulled off an upset victory, taking First and Second, while the Corvettes finished Eighth and Tenth to capture yet another One-Two win in GT1. The Bell Aston finished Sixteenth overall-29 laps behind the winning Vette.

The win marked Johnny O'Connell's seventh class victory at Sebring-an all-time track record. The Corvettes, meanwhile, performed brilliantly on their new, eco-friendly fuel, stoking early expectations for yet another GT1 manufacturer's championship in '08.

A significant portion of the Corvette's appeal lies in its ability to go around corners way faster than you (or the highway engineers) ever thought possible. C5s and C6s are amazingly adept at this right off the showroom floor, even with hockey-puck rubber, tire-life-maximizing alignment, and God-only-knows crossweights. Huh? Crossweights? What are those?

Glad you asked. One of the keys to a properly handling car is balance, and the way to improve your car's balance is by tuning corner (aka cross) weights. The term crossweights refers to a comparison of the car's weight distribution at the corners. It's determined by comparing the weight of the left front plus right rear corners to that of the right front plus left rear corners. The idea is to jack weight to where it's needed to achieve a 50/50 balance between these corners. Such balance leads to a neutral chassis that exhibits the same behavior, whether turning left or right.

When the chassis isn't balanced in this manner, it will most likely understeer in one direction and oversteer in the other. The good ol' boys in NASCAR refer to this disparity in crossweights as "wedge," and it's something they do intentionally on oval tracks to make the car more stable and easier to turn. While this is great at Bristol or Martinsville, where there are only left turns to contend with, it's definitely not the hot setup for a road course, an autocross, canyon carving, or even daily driving.

Many people assume that balancing crossweights changes the car's weight distribution, but it doesn't. Changing weight distribution (i.e., changing front-to-rear or left-to-right weights) can only be accomplished by physically moving mass-in this case, components or ballast-around the chassis. While this is something you can do, it's more often performed by the hard-core guys running dedicated race cars in T1 or similar classes. For a street-driven car, you'll get the most benefit by simply tuning crossweights.

Last month, the LG Motorsports crew installed a set of its coilover shocks and a pair of GM Performance Parts T1 sway bars on D6C. While simply bolting these parts on and calling it a day would have resulted in a much-improved car in terms of cornering grip, lessened body roll, and quickened transient response, I wanted to maximize the components' potential. The key to doing this was to crossweight the car.

Luckily, GM engineers are well aware of the benefits provided by a properly balanced chassis, and they've given us the means to adjust this balance, even on a car with stock springs. While many (including this author) use the adjusters to lower the car, these parts' real purpose is to enable crossweight adjustments.

Prior to starting the crossweighting project, you'll want to prep the car as you would for its intended use, be that on the road or at the track. If preparing it for track use, you'll want to bolt on the race wheels, remove the floor mats, empty the trunk and glovebox, and remove whatever else you normally take out of the car.

Another weight consideration is the car's fuel load. For general road use, half a tank is a good compromise. Autocrossers may want to go as low as a quarter-tank, minimizing weight. You open-track lap dogs will have to use your best judgment, based on experience. If you're unsure, go with half a tank.

"But wait!" you might say, "Don't our Corvettes have dual fuel tanks?" Indeed they do. However, it's nearly impossible for the average enthusiast to determine how much fuel is in each tank at any one time, and the amounts are constantly changing anyway. So, again, while you can chase your tail worrying about how much of your car's fuel is in the left tank versus the right one, unless you are dealing with a purpose-built race car, this is probably a waste of time. D6C had a third of a tank of fuel when its crossweights were set.

The third consideration is driver weight. If you're having a professional race shop scale your car, the techs will want your butt (and even your helmet, if you really want to be precise) in the driver seat. If you're doing the project yourself, you must add the appropriate amount of ballast to simulate your weight in the driving position. The same goes if you ordinarily have a passenger or an instructor in the co-pilot's seat. Don't underestimate the importance of this, as the additional weight will make a tremendous difference in the car's balance. The weight of the driver or passenger can skew corner weights by up to two percent in some cases.

Disconnect one endlink on each sway bar. The job of a sway bar is to resist dynamic weight transfer when the chassis is loaded. Disconnecting one endlink from each bar will allow the chassis to move freely as you adjust weights. (If you don't disconnect the sway bars prior to adjusting the crossweights, you'll put the bars in a state of tension, where they're pre-loaded. This will do all sorts of wacky things to the way the car handles.) After the crossweights are set, the endlinks should be adjusted so the bolts can be easily re-inserted. Obviously, adjustable endlinks are needed to achieve this.

It's now time to roll the car up onto the scales and determine its current numbers.

To get the true corner weights, the four scales need to be situated on a flat, level surface. One way to check this is by stretching strings, in the form of an X, between the left front and right rear scales, and between the right front and left rear scales. Adjust scale height until the strings just touch in the middle. An easy way to adjust scale height is with square linoleum tiles. LG's scales have levelers built in and had been pre-leveled.

D6C's corner weights were off by a lot. The LF/RR showed 52.8 percent, which is way outside of acceptable. Of course, you're trying to achieve a perfect 50 percent. If you're adjusting a car that still has leaf springs, anything inside 51 percent is considered pretty good. Coilover cars can generally get to 50 percent, as there are no rubber bumpers to contend with.

Set your desired front ride height and then adjust rear ride height to achieve a 3/8- to 3/4-inch rake. Rake is important in order to avoid running into lift at high speeds. The idea is to minimize the amount of air going under the car. Measure rake at the jack points between the wheels. Choosing ride height is a personal preference. Low is good, but if you go too low, you'll run out of suspension travel (assuming stock springs and shocks are used). Again, coilover-equipped cars generally don't have this issue. Be sure the front ride height is equal from left to right prior to setting rake.

Once you have the front ride height and rake where you want them, you can jack weight into (most likely) or out of (fairly unlikely) the right rear corner while the car is on the scales. If using stock springs, reaching the rear adjusters is fairly easy to do. Unless your car happens to be off by an extraordinary amount, you should only need to adjust the right rear corner. Again, in most cases, you'll be adding weight by raising this corner. The right rear is almost always the corner with the lowest weight. As you adjust, you'll notice the opposite corner's weight will decrease.

One area in which coilover-equipped cars are at a disadvantage (however insignificant) is the inconvenience of removing a wheel to make a ride-height adjustment.

The actual adjustment of a coilover is quite easy. Loosen the lockring and spin the spring seat (down to increase ride height or corner weight). The lack of rubber parts means that adjustments with coilovers are far more precise than with the stock springs and adjusters.

Patience is a required tool in setting corner weights. It'll take several rounds of adjustments to get the weights just right. Be sure to bounce the car to resettle the suspension after each adjustment and repeat until you're satisfied. Picky bunch that they are, the LG crew was satisfied only when D6C was at a perfect 50/50.

Adjusting the ride height has little effect on camber on a Corvette. Here, Louis Gigliotti verifies that camber is still in the ballpark. Look for an alignment story in an upcoming issue.

Ride-height changes do impact toe settings significantly. It's a good plan to head straight to the alignment rack after performing so much suspension work. It's the last key in maximizing the effectiveness of all the shiny new parts hanging under the car.

Ever heard the saying, "Water and electricity don't mix?" Though it obviously hints at the dangers faced when using electric appliances near a source of H2O, the learned amongst us know the truth behind this saying is actually a little more complex. (That is, while pure "distilled" water is not a particularly good conductor, adding anything to make a solution increases conductivity dramatically.)

Sneer at this loose analogy all you want, but such a multifaceted truth applies to the use of electric water pumps in automobiles. These items have become a popular upgrade for late-model Corvettes, said to offer some of the same benefits as time-honored bolt-ons such as cold-air intakes and converter-back exhaust systems (namely, increased horsepower along with easy installation). But many readers have probably been thinking, "What exactly does an electric water pump do, and is it right for me?"

We at VETTE are here to shed some light on the benefits and drawbacks of these devices, and we've lined up Meziere Enterprises, one of the largest manufacturers of water pumps of all kinds in the U.S., to lend us a hand.

Theory
From a physics and engineering standpoint, let's look at the differences between an electric and a mechanical water pump, as used on an internal-combustion engine. Just to dispel any possible confusion, electric pumps don't ionize, "electrify," or change the properties of the coolant they pump. Rather, it is their flow rates-and the amount of energy it takes to achieve these flow rates-that makes the difference between them and the conventional mechanical pumps fitted to nearly all cars and trucks on the road.

Mechanical Pumps
Think of a mechanical water pump as a slave to the engine: The speed at which its impeller turns is always proportional to engine rpm. The Meziere brothers (Dave, Mike, and Don), owners of Meziere Enterprises, know all too well that the design of any mechanical water pump is a series of compromises.

"It is difficult to design a mechanical pump that works well at both the high- and low-rpm ends of the spectrum," says Don Meziere. "A larger impeller with tighter clearances is going to move a lot of water down low, but once you start to turn fast, it's going to take a lot of horsepower to turn, and it's also going to begin to cavitate."

Though the term sounds like what happens to your teeth when you eat too many sweets, cavitation is a phenomenon in fluid mechanics. In a nutshell, it occurs when a flowing liquid subjected to certain types of motion transforms to its vapor state (in other words, boils-not because of high temperature, but because of low pressure). This gives rise to vapor bubbles within the coolant, which subsequently collapse. This is bad news. In addition to reducing the efficiency of the pump, the pressure waves created when the vapor bubbles change back to liquid can also cause pump-parts breakage.

According to Meziere, "Simply put, this separates the coolant and stalls out the flow in the system, greatly diminishing its capacity to cool the engine. The impeller turns so fast that the water can't get down the high-pressure passages and starts to swirl inside the impeller chamber. It creates 'air' in the system, so to speak, though this gas is actually coolant vapor."

Even the best-designed impeller will create cavitation when spun at sufficient speed, especially when that impeller must also be able to move coolant at the slower speeds experienced when an engine is idling or during a low-rpm cruise. For obvious reasons, OEM water pumps generally are designed to perform better at this lower end of the spectrum, meaning their flow capability at higher rpm levels is not optimal. This is very much a concern on a modified vehicle that will be used for road racing, as it can easily spell overheating problems.

"On such applications, underdrive pulleys are a good option, since by spinning the water-pump impeller more slowly in relation to engine rpm, they are just moving the mechanical pump into the range where it is reasonable for it to work and not cavitate," says Meziere.

But before getting ahead of ourselves, let's touch on the other part of the equation: horsepower. Cavitation or no, spinning a given pump's impeller faster requires more energy per unit time. The desire to increase horsepower-as opposed to cooling-system efficiency-is why underdrive pulleys are used not only on road-race cars, but on street/strip cars as well. After all, overheating is generally not as much of an issue in a drag-race situation.

Think of it this way: It takes less energy to impart slower movement to the coolant, and the energy saved gets sent to the tires to provide acceleration for the vehicle. But, as Don Meziere says, "The problem is, on a street/strip car equipped with underdrive pulleys, what used to be marginal flow at low rpm is now insufficient flow. So while they may be great for a cooling system on an engine operating at high rpm, that same engine may have a cooling-system problem while being driven around town or during other low-rpm situations."

Electric Pumps
An electric water pump, on the other hand, can turn whatever speed it wants. Its impeller isn't connected to the engine's crankshaft (or, in the case of an LT1, its camshaft), but rather to an electric motor. When subjected to the near-constant 12V DC source of a typical vehicle's electrical system, an electric pump provides a constant flow rate that doesn't vary by engine rpm. This allows the use of an impeller design that is most efficient at that one turning speed.

In the typical street/strip application-or in a full-on drag race situation-electric water pumps step in to provide the ultimate cure. " provides optimal flow during the variety of engine operations the typical street/strip car sees. You want it to be able to go down the street at 1,500 rpm, then also work well at 6,500 rpm on the track, and an electric water pump allows you to do both with maximum efficiency," says Meziere.

Let's be perfectly clear, though: Electric water pumps are only appropriate for certain applications, and this usually means street/strip and drag racing (although Meziere says they have also been successful in cooling small-block Chevys of up to 650 hp in circle-track racing). "Typically, our electric pump will outflow a stock mechanical pump by about 3:1 at idle, and the flow advantage is there all the way into the middle-rpm range. A well-designed and properly-driven mechanical pump will outflow our electric past about 3,500 rpm, but the flow of the electric pump in this range is still quite adequate for street/strip vehicles. The case would be different during the sustained high-rpm operation of many road-race situations."

A side benefit for drag-raced cars is the ability to run an electric water pump while the engine is off. This allows coolant to circulate through the entire system and quickly cool down the engine between runs.

Practice
Since their widespread use is fairly new, it seems appropriate to touch on how electric water pumps evolved into the popular bolt-on goodie they are today. We talked to the Mezieres a bit about how they came to design these pumps for the small-block V-8s found under the hoods of Corvettes. "We've been manufacturing mechanical water pumps for quite a while, but starting with the LT engines, we began playing with the electric technology because it started getting reasonable to do so," says Don. "The seal technology we employ really allowed the rise of the electric pump, as it provides excellent reliability. In turn, we have been able to raise the flow levels of an electric pump substantially through intensive CAD and flow analysis of the pump body and impeller."

Enhanced durability has also been paramount to the success of electric water pumps on street applications. Since their electric motors are subjected to the high temperatures of a cooling system and the vibrations of the engines to which they are mounted, they need to last a long time in order to be feasible on a car that may be driven many thousands of miles a year. The company says it performs destructive testing on a consistent basis in order to verify that its pumps can perform 2,600-3,000 hours before failing. "That's about 50,000 miles at an average 20 mph," says Meziere. "One of the things that really has helped is optimizing the armatures, making sure the engine vibrations don't damage the windings of the motor. This helps the practical application of electrical pumps to street vehicles as well."

Durability is great and all, but the bottom line for most readers is probably the horsepower increase. Says Meziere, "We usually advertise 11-14 hp as a conservative estimate!"

Case Study
Double-digit horsepower increases sound pretty appealing-but let's not just take Mr. Meziere's word for it. What better place to test these claims out than on the king of all Corvette engines (at least as this is written), the LS7? With a lightly modded C6 Z06 donor car supplied by owner George Benson, and the top-notch installation/fabrication/tuning facility of TT Performance Parts in northern New Jersey, we were ready to get rolling with the installation of one of Meziere's electric pumps for LS-series engines.

Conclusion
Overall, the Meziere electric-water-pump installation took very little time and effort (the draining of coolant being the only somewhat messy part). Aside from meeting the claimed horsepower increase (at the rear wheels, no less), we also noted the very consistent coolant temperatures that Don Meziere spoke of, both on the dyno and out on the road. And let's not forget that with its ability to run independently of the engine, the Meziere 300-series LS pump provides control over engine temperatures not possible with a mechanical pump.

Freed-up power, super-consistent engine temps, and the ability to cool his LS7 in the staging lanes. With his new electric water pump, Benson is ready for his Z-car to assault the strip like never before!

After the Z06 is started and warmed to operating temperature, we make another dyno pull. The results: 482.0 horses and 459.2 lb-ft, for increases of nearly 13 hp and more than 10.5 lb-ft respectively-just as Meziere promised! As you can see, gains were recorded throughout the rpm range. Though some of this increase may be attributable to our use of a colder-than-stock 160-degree thermostat, we doubt it accounts for more than a couple of horses.

Most of us can point to the time when we first caught crossed-flag fever. For Dick Dawson, it was in '63, when the split-window Sting Ray first rolled out of St. Louis. "I fell in love with it," he says of the midyear. "It became an obsession." An obsession that, in Dawson's case, led through five C2 Corvettes-including a seriously-built '65 that he raced in Mexico's Carrera Pan Americana road race-and ultimately led to the hybrid "Z067" roadster seen here.

As timeless as the Sting Ray is, things have changed since '63, and the Corvette with them. Having grown restless with the limited-by-comparison performance of the C2, Dawson began studying the cold fusion it would take to blend the classic looks of a midyear with the latest technology of a new Corvette, creating the best of the breed in the process.

The project began with two halves-a top and a bottom-from two different Corvettes. The first was a rolling chassis from an '02 Z06. The 2002 model year was when the Z06's LS6 engine jumped from 385 horsepower to 405, bringing the car's 0-60 time down to around 4 seconds. Reputed to have been a test vehicle, Dawson's '02 roller only had 1,100 miles on the clock and even had its original tires.

The '66 to which this running gear was to be mated, however, was a different story entirely. Bought from a dealer who had obtained it from a previous owner in the form of an abandoned restoration project, the '66 comprised a finished frame with the body barely bolted on. At this point, it should be obvious to even a casual observer that simply installing a C5 engine, transaxle, and suspension on a stock midyear frame is something of a non-starter. Before we get into how Dawson did it, though, let's look at why it's worth doing.

The big advantage of the C5 gear has virtually nothing to do with the engine. There are plenty of otherwise-stock C2s pushing out 400 hp or more, and aftermarket EFI conversions are common enough that making a high-horse engine driveable is no longer the challenge it once was. What the C5 offers is driveability of a different sort. The rear-mounted transaxle greatly improves front-rear weight distribution for more-balanced handling, and the short/long arm (SLA) double-wishbone rear suspension is light-years ahead of the rather crude three-link setup found on the midyear.

Although GM was aware of the SLA system as far back as the '50s, the company chose to inflict the cheaper three-link system on the Corvette when the independent rear suspension debuted on the car in 1963. The wheel was connected to the differential on either side by the axle half-shaft on the top and a strut on the bottom, both of which were of different lengths. When the suspension was compressed under load, the wheel gained camber, keeping more of the tread in contact with the road. What it did not do was gain camber consistently. The half-shafts were of the "floating" variety, which meant they were free to wander in and out of the diff. This, of course, plays merry havoc with the camber, adding that extra touch of unpredictability that keeps the wild-eyed excitement in driving a C2 or shark.

The C4-style five-link rear, while a decisive step ahead, was still bettered with the introduction of the C5's more precise twin-A-arm configuration. The C5 also offered a six-speed, rear-mounted transaxle, which put the transmission at the rear of the car, right in front of the differential. While this greatly improved the front-to-rear weight distribution, all of that stuff still ain't gonna bolt up to a stock C2 chassis.

Dawson began looking at a number of different aftermarket frame manufacturers, ultimately contacting Tray Walden of Street Shop in Athens, Alabama. Although Street Shop is known for its C4 suspension frames for C1-C3 Vettes, sticking a transaxle in one was a new challenge altogether. After checking out the references that Walden supplied (including one customer who had frames from both Street Shop and a competitor), Dawson offered up his two project cars to be used in the creation of Street Shop's first C5 transaxle chassis.

Before they could come together, however, the '66 and the '02 had to part ways. The '66 went to nearby Wood's Body Shop, where Darrin Wood began the extensive fiberglass modifications required to fit the new mechanicals in place. The '02, meanwhile, stayed at Street Shop, where Walden began the painstaking process of building a frame jig and slowly welding the pieces in place. One of Walden's main conditions was that he put the body on himself, so he could make sure it was done right. "His attention to detail was exceptionally good," Dawson says. "He was great to work with."

Walden started with mandrel-formed rails, and by the time he was done cutting and welding, the body mounts were about the only things stock-looking on the new chassis. From the front end, with its mounts for the rack-and-pinion steering and C5 suspension components, to the rear cradle designed to accept the transaxle, everything else looked foreign on the C2 chassis. After Walden shortened the torque tube to fit and bolted it in place behind the LS6, the other C5 components were installed unmodified on the finished chassis. The shocks and transverse-mount fiberglass springs, however, fell by the wayside, replaced by Aldan American coilovers.

Meanwhile, Wood had no less of a challenge in doing the body work. Fortunately, says Dawson, "I don't have any aversion to cutting fiberglass." That is good, because there was a lot of it for Wood to cut. For starters, the C5 torque tube took up much more room than the usual C2 tranny and driveshaft. Wood had to fabricate a new fiberglass transmission tunnel to clear everything, one that was some 4 inches wider and 2 inches higher.

He also fabricated a new rear deck and installed tubs that would tuck the massive 18x10.5-inch Z06 wheels underneath the body without using flares. This would have been enough fun all by itself, except that the Z067 is a drop-top, and when that top drops, it's gotta go someplace. In this case, "someplace" means into painstakingly crafted notches in the tubs, which fill up the place that usually would hold the folded top.

The internal 'glass work wasn't all, though. One of Wood's trademarks is custom work so subtle that it blends almost imperceptibly into the car's original lines. On the Z067, this takes the form of a raised ridge running down the center of the hood bulge and stinger. Hard to do, and easy to botch, it's just one more thing about the Z067 that you only notice on close inspection.

With the fabrication complete and cured, Wood began the arduous prep work and block-sanding that ultimately led to a miles-deep Jet Black paint job and Rally Red stinger. The completed body and chassis were then taken to the nearby shop of Jim Hornaday, where the body drop was to be performed. Hornaday, a longtime Vette aficionado and an expert on C2 restoration, had become aware of the project early on, and when he heard that Dawson was mating a Z06 to a '67-style body, he referred to the car as a "Z067." The name stuck. Dawson's daughter, a graphic designer, laid out the distinctive Z06-inspired logo, which is found tastefully applied throughout the car. Another friend laser-cut the polished stainless-steel hood logos, the backs of which Dawson pocket-milled so he could install the red fiberglass inserts that show through the front.

Once the top and bottom were together, there was still a cloth Al Knoch ragtop to be put on, and work to be done on the interior. With all the room the torque tube took up in the passenger compartment, the standard, 19-inch-wide C2 seats simply wouldn't fit, so Dawson had narrower, 16-inch seats custom made by Chuck Rowland of Tulsa and covered by well-known hot-rod upholsterer James Carter of Springdale, Arkansas. These were sewn up in ultra-leather, rather than leather, for durability reasons, along with a set of matching door panels. Dawson even used the material to cover the custom aluminum console he had cut out with a CNC water jet. The red-and-black theme is maintained inside and out and is accompanied by the Z067 logo, which appears on the seatbelt latches, wheel center caps, and rear diff cover.

Looking good isn't everything, though, and since Dawson had previously owned a business that manufactured air-conditioning components for the automotive industry, he contacted his former company for the custom tubes and hoses needed to optimize the A/C installation. Unlike an original C2, the Z067 will blow cold air at idle all day long and never overheat.

One of the last things Dawson mentioned to me when I called to talk about the car was the radio. Not only was it reconditioned with digital circuitry, he'd had a line-in installed in the ashtray, along with a discreetly hidden toggle switch that takes the sound system from AM/FM to iPod compatible. The last thing he told me regarding the Z067 before I went to see it, though, was to drive it. And drive it I did.

The Z067 came alive with the customary cardiac throb, the factory-style side pipes emitting a slightly higher-strung cadence than you'd expect from a typical midyear. The six-speed trans slipped easily into First gear, and I handled the car with the amount of respect-no, make that fear-due a vehicle that weighs under 3,000 pounds and has more than 400 hp. Handled gently, it was surprisingly docile but also extraordinarily responsive: The lightest touch on the teak-and-rosewood steering wheel moved the car into the other lane, and even gentle pressure on the gas pedal brought it quickly up to cruising speed. More-authoritative footwork in Second and Third gears (frankly, I was way too scared of First) brought the fast-revving LS6 through its powerband to its shift points at preternatural speed, turning the world in the windshield into a blur. Shifts were fast and smooth, and the car felt ever-so-connected to the pavement, cornering as flat and stable as you please. Even to those accustomed to driving C5s, the feeling is entirely different-much more raw, untamed, and exhilarating.

When he was describing the Z067, Dawson referred to it as the culmination of his Corvette hobby. It's the culmination of many things, and you'd be hard pressed to find a car that does a better job of bringing the Corvette full circle-following its long journey from old-school elegance to today's technology, shoehorned back beneath the hood of what's gone before.

SPEC SHEET
Car	'67 Convertible
Owner	Richard Dawson
Block	Stock LS6 cast aluminum
Pistons	Stock LS6 hypereutectic aluminum
Rods	Stock LS6 powdered-metal steel
Displacement	346 ci
Compression Ratio	10.5:1
Heads	Stock LS6 aluminum
Valves	Stock 2.00/1.55
Camshaft	Stock LS6 hydraulic roller (204/211-deg duration,
	0.525/0.525-in lift)
Rocker Arms	Stock LS6, 1.7:1 ratio
Crankshaft	Stock LS6 nodular iron
Intake Manifold	Stock LS6 composite
Fuel Injectors	Stock LS6
Fuel Pump	Custom in-tank electric
Ignition	Stock LS6
Air Intake System	Custom tube with K&N filter
Exhaust System	Factory-style '67 Corvette side pipes
Transmission	Stock Z06 T56 six-speed
Clutch	Stock Z06
Steering	Rack-and-pinion with 16:1 ratio approximately
	1 3/4 turns, lock-to-lock
Chassis	Street Shop custom
Driveshaft	Modified Z06 torque-tube assembly
Front Suspension	Z06 short/long arm (SLA) double wishbone,
	adjustable Aldan American coilovers, set to
	approximately 400 lbs
Rear Suspension	Z06 short/long arm (SLA) double wishbone,
	adjustable Aldan American coilovers set to
	approximately 350 lbs
Rearend	Stock Z06 with 3.42 rear gear
Front Brakes	Stock 12.6-in Z06 discs
Rear Brakes	Stock 11.8-in Z06 discs
Front Wheels	17x9.5-in reproduction Z06, machine-finish front
	and gray webbing
Rear Wheels	18x10.5-in reproduction Z06, machine-finish front
	and gray webbing
Front Tires	Michelin 285/40-17
Rear Tires	Michelin 295/35-18
Weight	2,700 lbs (estimated)
Current Mileage	Approximately 2,500 miles since completion
Miles Driven Weekly	10-15

Ever since I heard about the Pratt & Miller C6RS project in July 2007, I've been coveting a chance to exploit the car's capabilities. I've worked with the P&M team and its Corvette Racing program for the last eight years, and I know full well its ability to engineer and produce a track weapon par excellence. Anything it builds is executed well, designed to take a beating, and tested for superb reliability and performance. If the team could produce a street-going Corvette with the DNA of its famous C6.R racer, the performance-car world would certainly genuflect at its feet.

Sworn to secrecy over the C6RS's existence until its unveiling at SEMA last November, I had to bite my tongue every time ultra-performance supercars inspired a spirited conversation. When the car was finally revealed, in the form of a prototype built for Tonight Show host Jay Leno, it exceeded all expectations. Still, it was Leno's coveted ride-no chance to get seat time there. Then, in early February, I received an e-mail from P&M C6RS program director Mike Atkins: "Would you like to come to Sebring while the racing team is tire testing with Michelin and drive the C6RS?" Duh! Cancel the week's scheduling and get me a ticket to Florida-now!

By February of this year, P&M had produced three C6RS cars-Jay's black-on-red prototype, a sinister-looking primer-black test mule, and a sparkling Velocity Yellow convertible built for company principal Jim Miller. All three cars were to be at Sebring, along with the Corvette Racing team. I arrived at the track to find that four P&M/Corvette Racing transporters had spilled their contents into the paddock, and the team was busy preparing for the week's test regimen. Off to one side, the three C6RS cars and a new yellow Z06 were huddled under a transporter's canopy. The next couple of days proved to be as exciting a time as I have ever had driving cars.

First Impressions
The first day, we had a chance to take out the test mule and see what it could do on the street. As I left the roadside, the pull from the 500ci, 600hp Katech engine was significant-downright massive, in fact. Shifting into Second, the rearend stepped out a little-the natural side effect of 600 lb-ft of torque-and the car pulled like the proverbial freight train. Grabbing Third, the C6RS literally felt like it wanted to take off. On the street, you'd be hard pressed to get past Third under full throttle and not be incarcerated for life.

Self-preservation dictated backing off and quickly applying the brakes-another experience in itself. The standard Brembo brake package is capable of extreme deceleration, hauling the car down immediately without getting into lockup. Given the kind of velocity the C6RS is capable of, great brakes are a welcome companion. Ron Fellows has tested this setup on the track at Gingerman Raceway and reports no brake fade with 100-to-0 stops executed lap after lap.

OK, so acceleration is no problem, and the brakes are supremely up to the task. But how about getting around a corner? The C6RS turns in very smoothly and progressively-better, frankly, than the Z06 I drive as an everyday car.

What is more impressive is the flat cornering posture the car takes as you apex the turn and track out. On the street, the car behaves as if it's on rails, with no perceptible lean whatsoever. This type of cornering attitude is usually achieved at the expense of ride comfort. The P&M engineers, utilizing a sophisticated air suspension system from Arvin-Meritor, have achieved a very compliant ride while maintaining exemplary cornering ability. In fact, the C6RS is even smoother and more comfortable than the factory Z06 when traversing bumps, expansion joints, and uneven pavement. The undulations found on the roads around the Sebring track simply melted away under the spell of the car's suspension setup, which is extremely surprising considering the performance of which those underpinnings are capable.

Auto Exotica
Bringing the car back to the Sebring paddock was difficult, like returning an enchanting first date to her home-you just don't want to let go. But waiting for me was another temptress from the P&M family, the convertible C6RS. The first date's sibling was dressed in spellbinding yellow, and her seductive call was more than this poor soul could bear.

A push of the start button whipped 600 horses into a frenzy, and we were off. There was no extraneous clutch/gear action to distract us, since this C6RS was equipped with a paddle-shifted six-speed automatic. Transmission choice notwithstanding, the driving experience proved no less seductive. In terms of acceleration, there was no perceptible difference between the topless version and her svelter sister. Ditto the magnificent brakes and magic-carpet-ride suspension.

I detected no cowl shake in the drop top, even when traversing the broken pavement that is characteristic of the small roads around SIR. The paddle-commanded gearshifts did require a little time to take effect, and slamming from gear to gear in a gut-tightening display of acceleration wasn't quite the visceral experience it was in the manual version. Still, the pure, large-displacement grunt was unmistakable.

The C6RS's standard Corsa exhaust emitted a nice, throaty burble at idle. At speed, the note was surprisingly muted, which should make the car tolerable for cruising long distances on the highway.

For leisurely, top-down driving enhanced by massive amounts of steroidal muscle, there is little to compare to the C6RS convertible. With all of that performance on tap, it's interesting to note that Jim Miller drove the car from Sebring to Naples and back, recording 20.4 mpg while dancing on the accelerator pedal from time to time along the way.

On The Track
The next day, we had a chance to take the C6RS "mule" out on the track at Sebring. This is where the car really had a chance to display its dance moves. Freed from having to monitor the rearview mirrors for police cruisers, the mind turns from thoughts of ride comfort and interior noise to the serious business of going fast. In this role, the car doesn't disappoint.

The acceleration is amazing. With the gobs of torque possessed by the 8.2L Katech engine, a major push in the back is available at any time, and at any rpm. Just give the accelerator a squeeze and bang-you're gone. But straight-line performance is not all this car is about. The cornering transitions from left to right are simply effortless. The turn-in feel is better than that of a stock Z06, perhaps a result of the P&M car's wider stance and different tire characteristics. (The C6RS uses Michelin Pilot Sports sized 295/30-18 front and 345/30-19 rear.)

What really impresses is how easy it is to maneuver the quick left-right slalom section that makes up the back side of the Sebring track. The snappy alterations in direction are handled with a flat attitude, even under acceleration. The resultant experience is intoxicating. Going faster and faster, you start to realize that the capabilities of the brakes and suspension likely exceed your ability to safely explore them-particularly during an all-too-brief testdrive in the company's only R&D vehicle. Besides, Ron Fellows was scheduled to give the car a proper wringing-out at the Michelin proving grounds in South Carolina the following week. Suffice it to say the C6RS would be a very rewarding date to any local track.

Conclusion
The first question asked by any knowledgeable Corvette nut is, "How does the C6RS stack up against a new ZR1?" At the time of this writing, no ZR1s were available for media evaluation. But I did ask Corvette Racing drivers Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell-who have significant experience in both cars-how they would compare the two.

O'Connell felt the C6RS had better torque and would be faster to 60 than the ZR1. However, he was unable to fully evaluate the C6RS's handling characteristics at Sebring, as a computer glitch prevented the traction-control system from being completely defeated during spirited driving. Fellows echoed O'Connell's comment that the torque of the P&M creation should make it a faster car in initial acceleration. Both veterans got out of P&M's latest ride with big smiles on their faces, commenting that the C6RS has as much power as their "company car," the all-conquering C6.R racer.

Still, the C6RS is not for everyone. First of all, the price of admission is pretty high: $225,000 to $260,000, including the cost of your Corvette donor car. And, as I noted earlier, the car's performance envelope far exceeds the capabilities of even a moderately experienced driver. Pilot it sedately, however, and the C6RS is perfectly capable of filling the role of daily conveyance. Indeed, never before have I driven anything that is so comfortable on the street while being so supremely capable on a racetrack. It's a testament to the skill of the P&M engineers that they were able to blend such disparate characteristics into such a harmonious whole.

If you have the wherewithal to experience a C6RS, do it. Careful, though. Once you've sampled this siren's temptations, you'll be forever under her spell.

For more information on the Pratt & Miller C6RS, visit www.prattmillerc6rs.com.

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!

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

The Sebring ALMS event always attracts a large number of Corvette owners who come to watch their favorite sports car compete against the world's best. A few years ago, Chevrolet, the C5/C6 Registry, and the National Corvette Museum began offering these enthusiasts a "Weekend at Sebring." The package includes many special "Corvette only" amenities, secure parking, private grandstands on Turn 17, lunch, car displays, a large tent, TV coverage of the race, and a slate of Corvette guest speakers.

This year, four special Corvettes were on display: an '09 ZR1 prototype, an '08 Indy pace car convertible, a 427 Limited Edition Z06, and a Pratt & Miller C6RS convertible. On Friday, retired Corvette Plant Manager Wil Cooksey presented the first 427 Limited Edition Z to the fans (see sidebar). Cooksey gave everyone a walk-around tour of the car, which previously had been presented to him as a retirement gift. Later in the day, the Corvette Racing drivers came to the Corral for the ever-popular autograph session.

On Saturday, retired Chief Engineer Dave McLellan gave a presentation on the history of the original C4 ZR-1 project. McLellan then drove a '90 ZR-1 on an exhibition lap around Sebring, accompanied by current Corvette supremo Tom Wallace at the wheel of a new ZR1. In an interesting twist, McLellan, who serves as an engineering consultant on the mid-engined Mosler MT900, brought one of the Vette-powered supercars to the Corral for everyone to inspect.

Later, Wallace spoke at length about the new ZR1. A large crowd asked him many probing questions about the new car, to which he gave commendably candid answers. Next, IMSA Event Director Larry Hayes honored Cooksey for his contribution to Corvette Racing by presenting him with a plaque. Owners were then presented with celebrity choice awards, and the rest of the day was spent watching the race and bench-racing with other Corvette owners. Once again, the Sebring Corvette Corral proved a winning complement to this season-opening race.

Cooksey's High-Powered Send Off
Wil Cooksey loves to tell people about his dream job: managing the Bowling Green Assembly Plant where the Corvette is built. Cooksey retired from GM and his dream job in early March of this year. His love of fast cars, especially Corvettes, made him the perfect match for this coveted management position. During his tenure, Cooksey worked hard to become an owner's advocate by inviting and listening to customer feedback. He took this feedback to GM executives, and many changes were introduced on the C5 and C6 as a result. Cooksey became plant manager in 1993 and was responsible for producing three generations of Corvettes.

As part of his sendoff, Cooksey was given the job of introducing the 427 Limited Edition Z06 at this year's 12 Hours of Sebring. The introduction marked the culmination of his extensive involvement with the car, which spanned several months. Late last year, Cooksey was approached by Corvette Product Manager Harlan Charles, who was seeking opinions on a new limited-edition model. Cooksey thought the car was a great idea. Charles then asked Cooksey if he would be willing to personally sign each vehicle, a first for a GM employee. "Who wouldn't want to do that?" Cooksey replied. Approval for the project was received in February, and Cooksey autographed the console lids of all 505 cars shortly thereafter.

Four hundred and twenty-seven of the limited-edition Z06s will be sold in the U.S., with the remaining seventy-eight reserved for export. Each car is equipped with "427" seats and emblems, '09 Z06 wheels, and body coloration for the door handles, third brake light, and center console. Crystal Red Metallic with a black, "stinger"-striped hood is the only color offered. In tribute to the man who poured his passion into the Corvette for 15 years, Cooksey was handed the keys to the first car built, No. 001.

When Marc and Vanessa Halphen of Spring Hill, Florida, decided to create a custom Corvette, they knew it would take more than a tape-on graphics package to make the sports car look hellaciously hot. "I wanted to do a car up with my own design," Marc tells VETTE, "and I liked the way real fire looked."

Flame graphics on Corvettes are nothing new. In fact, the first Vettes to receive the treatment appeared way back in the '50s. According to Mike Yager, owner and "Chief Cheerleader" of Mid America Motorworks, "A custom-painted Corvette back in the '60s was cool, but to have the front end on fire was awesome! I can remember attending shows, and if a Corvette had flames, it had a crowd.

"During the Corvette Challenge of 1989, the No. 10 and 11 Corvettes had flame paint jobs. It was very cool-looking on the track. They were crowd favorites, and are favorite collector cars of choice from that vintage series. Our Corvette Funfest brings in a lot of custom Corvettes, and it is amazing to see some of the flame jobs nowadays. It is a style that will never go away."

The Halphens began their project with a black '06 Corvette coupe purchased in Atlanta. It was 100 percent stock, with 385 miles on the odometer, and ready for the husband-and-wife team to sketch out its custom plans. Surprisingly, they didn't even wait to get outside of Atlanta's city limits before the work began. "I installed a shark-tooth grille on the front fascia for the vehicle's maiden journey down to Florida," Marc says. "If I'm driving a Corvette, it's got to be custom, even if I have to stop at a rest stop and add stainless trim to it."

Once back in Florida, the couple delivered its Vette to Jaymz Air Studios in Hudson for graphic design and paint. Marc had admired owner James Kunzinger's previous work for clients such as the New Jersey Nets and the New York Plaza Hotel, and he and his wife were certain they picked the right studio to customize their C6 in airbrushed flames and skulls.

Kunzinger started with a fresh, custom-graphic design for the Vette, followed by 60 hours of prep, airbrush, and detail. "Marc had originally shown me a few images of skeletons and skulls he had found to ensure that we were on the same page as far as the artwork style was concerned," he tells us. "After that, I was given free rein. And for me, that's always the way I do my best work."

Using the hood as a starting point, Kunzinger laid out the diabolical artwork, working a pair of skeletons into full detail using House of Kolor urethane whites, grays, and blacks. Once these were done, he began to freehand the realistic fire using the skeletons as a center point, working backwards down both sides of the vehicle. "The fire effect is a lot of back-and-forth color work," he explains. "I used House of Kolors Molly Orange, Lime Gold Kandy, Tangerine Kandy, Apple Kandy, and Passion Purple Pearl to achieve the realistic fire effect."

One key aspect of the graphic design is the nearly invisible Corvette logo on the hood. Sometimes you see it, and sometimes you don't. "I achieved the look by cutting the logo on my vinyl plotter and weeding the decal in reverse, creating a spray mask out of Low-Tac vinyl," says Kunzinger. "Once the paint mask was in place, I simply sprayed two light dust coats of House of Kolor Snowhite Pearl through the mask, creating a subtle 'see-through' image. It's like a ghost logo, except this ghost only shows up in the bright sunlight."

Using the same color-layering process, Kunzinger next added smaller skeleton graphics on the roof and rear of the Vette. The entire vehicle was degreased to remove any impurities, after which several coats of Matrix MS-42 high-solids clearcoat were applied to seal the artwork.

The next chapter of this story begins with the plan to customize the engine compartment. The Halphens called upon American Car Craft (ACC), also of Hudson, and asked owner Rick Rivera to design and install an underhood package that would make the Corvette a stainless-steel-clad show-stopper. "I fabricated the engine dress-up components from 20-gauge 304 'black chrome' stainless using laser-cut flat sheets, and then bent and shaped them by hand," Rivera tells us. "These pieces included fender caps and covers, a full engine shroud, air-tube and throttle-body covers, two-piece hood-panel inserts, and a radiator cover."

Marc and Vanessa delivered the stainless to Jaymz, commissioned more flame- and skull-themed airbrushing, and then returned to ACC with the completed pieces. Strangely, Rivera wouldn't allow the couple to watch the installation. "Please don't stop by here until I have completed the car entirely," he told them. "I want you to be really surprised with the results."

ACC reinstalled the accessories, making certain the artwork and the stainless pieces themselves weren't scratched. Then it designed and installed a special LED light system for the Corvette. The most impressive portion of this system is in the fender liner and features super-thin, super-bright LEDs. These lights are a stealth application: They're completely invisible unless illuminated. Once switched on, they dramatically change the appearance of the engine compartment, making the underhood area and its airbrushed stainless look like they're actually on fire.

Rivera also designed and inserted fiber-optic lighting between the hood's frame and pane. When lit, it gives the impression of real flames emanating from the bottom of each hood panel. Both lighting systems are activated by a hidden switch in the battery area. Using extremely low voltage and a miserly 3-amp draw, Marc can run them for hours at a time without any noticeable drain on the battery.

ACC's final steps were to hand-etch the side windows and hatch glass with tribal-skull and flame graphics. It also fabricated and applied stainless-steel emblems to both the taillights and to a perforated exhaust-port filler panel designed for C6 Corvettes.

Considering the flamed Vette's intended mission-torching competitors on the show field rather than the dragstrip-it's not surprising that the car's only aftermarket performance mod is a B&B Route 66 exhaust system with four polished tips. The factory six-speed automatic remains similarly stock, as do the C6's eminently capable OEM brake and suspension components.

Marc says he was genuinely shocked when he took delivery of the freshly modified Corvette. "I walked in, they opened up the hood, and I couldn't believe it was my car. I almost felt faint. It was beyond my wildest expectations." Still, it wasn't enough to satisfy the customizing-crazy Halphens. Marc took the Vette home, unbolted the interior gauge bezel, center console, shifter knob insert, A/C side vents, and kick guards, and sent them to Kunzinger for airbrushing. Finally, he added a Lloyd's cargo mat and floor mats from Fast Vette Accessories to complete the project. "Only then was I satisfied that we had created exactly what I dreamed," he says. "It's a crowd magnet wherever it goes."

Showgoers apparently agree. Marc and Vanessa's Corvette was featured in the American Car Craft booth at the Eckler's Reunion in 2007 and shown at numerous other car shows in Florida. These include the Chasco Fiesta in New Port Richey, where it won "Best Custom Corvette," and the October Vettes at Old Town, where it earned the "Eckler's Pick Award."

In October 2007, the couple finished its third custom Corvette, an '05 LeMans Blue convertible based around a similar, flame-intensive theme. Currently, the couple is looking forward to its fourth Corvette project, which will involve a black C6 coupe with a wide-body conversion kit, a high-rise hood, and a radical graphic design blending checker flags with-you guessed it-fire.

"The overall appearance of the Corvette was well thought out between James, Marc, and me," says Rivera. "Our goal was to display a very 'live' attitude-that is, to make the car look like a living creature. Between the shark-tooth grille, eyebrows, and the way the flames are arranged, I feel we really succeeded in creating a custom Corvette that says, 'Move on over, I'm coming through.'

"There are a lot of flame jobs that have been created over the decades, and this particular arrangement was extremely successful in achieving a very tasteful result, without overdoing the theme. When you combine the flame work and the stainless accessories, we really ended up with a special Corvette."

SPEC SHEET
Car	'06 coupe
Owner	Marc and Vanessa Halphen
Block	Stock LS2
Displacement	364 ci
Compression Ratio	10.9:1
Heads	Stock LS2 aluminum
Valves	Stock 2.00/1.55-in
Camshaft	Stock hydraulic roller (200/203-deg duration,
	0.500/0.500-in lift)
Rocker Arms	Stock 1.7-ratio
Pistons	Stock hypereutectic aluminum
Crankshaft	Stock nodular iron
Rods	Stock powdered-metal steel
Intake Manifold	Stock composite
Fuel Injectors	Stock
Fuel Pump	Stock
Ignition	Stock
Engine Management	Stock PCM
Exhaust System	B&B Route 66
Transmission	Stock six-speed automatic with paddle shift
Torque Converter	Stock
Driveshaft	Stock
Front Suspension	Stock
Rear Suspension	Stock
Rear End	Stock with 2.56 gears
Front Brakes	Stock 12.8-in discs
Rear Brakes	Stock 12-in discs
Wheels	Reproduction Z06; 18x9.5-in (front), 19x10-in (rear)
Front Tires	Goodyear F1 EMT, 245/40ZR18
Rear Tires	Goodyear F1 EMT, 285/35ZR19
Fuel Octane	93
Weight	3,240 lbs
Best ET/MPH	N/A
Best 60-ft. Time	N/A
Current Mileage	4,000
Miles Driven Weekly	Only to shows