Project - Ashes to ...?

[groovyjay]

My project started whopping 10 years ago driving home from a cruise night.



I'll try to document the whole project from ashes to ...? on this topic, it's been a long journey, a real battle if you will, but it's finally almost finished so I decided to make a topic about the build. Helps me remember all the stuff that's been done to it.

Later.

Jay

[Rick D]

Ouch!!!

[jr2226]

Man that sucks. Sorry for your loss

[groovyjay]

Ok, let's continue with the story. So, due to a bad fuel line the car caught fire and it burned down to the ground. After the FD left the scene the sight wasn't very uplifting....

[Sieg]

This will be interesting as my car was within seconds of looking like yours due to a fuel line failure. I was very fortunate thanks to passer-by's willing and prepared to assist.

Glad to see you're making a comeback!

[waynieZ]

That brakes my heart!

[WSSix]

I can't think of a car more deserving of the name Phoenix.

[kmdracer]

I can't even tell what kind of car it is. Holy batman!

[groovyjay]

I returned to the sad scene the following morning. A pile of ashes was there to remind you about what had happened the night before.



While I was standing there by the highway I had time to think about what I was going to do next. Of course there was insurance company involved, so I had to wait to their settlement before I could make any final decisions.

So, what car is/was it? It is a 1963 Corvette roadster that I'd bought just few months prior to the fire. It is a car that I remember really well from the mid 90's, because the guy who had it, lived next door to us and fully customized (made it a lot uglier ) back then and installed a then-new LT1 and automatic transmission, did a full frame off resto on it.



Even though it was ugly as hell, I thought it had the right bones to start with, rust free frame and birdcage, EFI, AC etc... I had a plan to turn it into a restomod back in 2004. I bought new set of bumpers for it along with the original headlights etc. So the plan was to keep the LT1, maybe spice it up a little and turn the exterior back to more stock looking, make it handle better with new suspension, brakes and steering. But the fire changed the plans some what...



After we got to agreement with the insurance company I decided to go ahead and start it all over again. So all the previous plans went out the window, along with the badly damaged LT1.



The interior had been restored by the previous owner, not much was left of the Autometer gauges or the newly done seats.

[Rick D]

You are a brave man to take on redoing that!! So how long ago did the fire happen?