Project - Ashes to ...?

[groovyjay]

I'm pretty sure I updated this space couple of weeks ago and got few replies that have vanished along with my update? Was I only dreaming?



Car turned out even better than I ever dreamed of. It's a race car for the street, power to weight ratio is pretty good with 500hp and 930kg (2050lb). Windshield is so low that it only just prevents the bugs hitting your teeth, you really are exposed to the elements in this car. I still need to play with the rear suspension a little, I'm sure I can get it dialed even better. Ride, handling, steering, braking is spot on. 6-speed was the right call for this project along with the lsx power plant. I'm having the car professionally photographed for an UK based car mag and hoping to get some decent shots to share with you guys soon.

[Payton King]

Cannot wait to see the pictures! Love this car!

[groovyjay]

What would you first do when you finish a 10yr long project?

You might say that the sensible thing would be a cautious first run around the block, just to see that everything works. Stay within 200 yards from the shop, don't even think about getting on the freeway on the first time you get it running. Check for leaks, check this and that and then double check everything again and again.

This might make sense to many, but this is not such a case.

How's this for a sensible scenario; You've been working on an old Corvette project for 10 years, it's been a real struggle to get it finished a real nightmare project to say the least. The whole project started when the car caught fire and burned down to the ground. This should have been a clear indication that this particular Corvette should be left alone, buried under ground and never to be restored again. But I just thought that it would be a nice little project. The car will be featured in one of the big Corvette mags soon, so I'm saving the car introduction for that but this is more about my 1st test drive.

So, I had the car first running around 2am one night some time ago and had to be back at work at 5am, so I was just happy to get the car running. I HAD to get the car running since I was about to do its first test drive right after I got back to the shop from work. I got back to the shop around noon and found out I had a small brake issue, so I had to take care of that. Well that took couple of hours to put everything back together and bleed the brakes again.

It might be a good idea at this point to mention that I had booked a ferry ride from Finland to Sweden along with 10 other Club members months prior to this. I was so confident that the car would be finished way before this trip would take place, but boy was I wrong. Whole idea was to go to Sweden to their clubs 40th anniversary party and do a road trip through Sweden and Denmark while we were at it.

So, back to the first day. Car was still on the lift around 2pm and the ferry would leave at 5pm and we had to be onboard 1hr before. I hadn't had any time to pack for this trip, so I had to go do that and this left me no time to do a test drive. My co-pilot for this trip was flipping out since he was expecting me to be there picking him up around 2pm and we could easily cruise to the ferry way ahead of schedule. So I quickly packed for a 9 day trip, didn't have time even for a quick shower. After I got back to the shop it was 3.30pm and all the other vettes going on this trip had gathered in front of my shop and they were all waiting to go in a hurry so we wouldn't miss our boat.

So I told them to leave before me because I still had to make a de-tour to pick up my co-pilot, who was getting very nervous at this point. So, I fired the car up and it seemed to run just fine. First time pressing the clutch, feeling out if it would engage and release, worked fine. Lights on, they all seemed to work. Slowly rolled out of the shop and pressed the brakes, car stopped! So now it looked like I had a car that would go and stop and in my book that is pretty much all you need to get around, right?

So I went for it, I was running against the clock at this point. No room for any faults or errors if I dreamed on getting on that boat on time.

My co-pilot lives 15 minute drive away from me and from there it was another 30minutes drive, so I was still confident. The sun was out, so that has to be a good sign. While driving to pick up my friend I was going through all the stuff on my check list I forgot to do. One thing was spare parts and tools, yup left those in the shop. Did I even check the oil... pretty sure I did or not... :crazy2:

My friend was already waiting by the side of the road and made a Miami Vice style jump in the car with all his stuff he'd packed. Talk about getting crowded in an old Vette. We nailed it and the car still seemed to make all the right noises and do the right things so I was still feeling pretty good. At this point I might add that I hadn't slept for 3 days, because I had been trying to get the car up and running for this journey. So, we made it to the docks only to hear that everyone in our group had given up on us making it on time. But they seemed to be just as happy as we were when we arrived.

And now after this 45minute test drive I was confident enough to get onboard the boat and head to the unknown, in another country all together.

And here's how the story of our road trip unfolded.

Here's our planned route for this trip, this might give the readers little better understanding on where were are going during the adventure.



I copied the following from another forum:

Hello everybody,

It's always exciting to go on these long trips and this time it was even more exciting for me since I literately finished my Grand Sport 1 hour before we left to Viking Line Ferry!!! This has been a 10 year long project and I did absolutely NO test driving before we left... :mrgreen:



That's my car parked along the other vettes on the docks of Helsinki.





We had a group of 10 vettes which consisted 6 mid years, 1 C3 and 2 C5's and 1 C6.



Here's our group just about to leave Stockholm, the weather was just perfect for driving a roadster. 8)



Video

JeesJeesClub on the road !!! - YouTube

On the road again. :arrow:

No real drama on the first day, just easy to cruising from ferry to another ferry. We had booked our first night stay in the Gyllene Uttern and we visited Gränna and Visingsö. Can't say enough how nice that little island is, hot summer night, group of friends enjoying the cruise around the island, good meal and drinks afterwards, doesn't get much better than that.

[groovyjay]

So that was DAY 1.

[groovyjay]

DAY 2 started out real nice and sunny but after a healthy breakfast the clouds started gathering and it was getting darker by the minute. Traveling with a car with no roof and not much of windscreen can give you second thoughts about the choice of transportation when the weather gets bad. But that's part of the fun in my opinion. So we got a little wet (soaked ) on our way to the second night accommodation, which in this case turned out to be one of the highlights of this trip. We got lost only once trying to find our way to the Kronovall vineyard near town of Tomelilla. But it was well worth getting wet on the way there. That place is a paradise. We had booked for wine tasting, 6 course dinner and castle tour. They really took good care of us from the get go. It was a place none of us wanted to leave. But we had to leave the following morning to stay on schedule.



Cars parked in front of the castle.



Afternoon tea was to die for.



View from my room was spectacular.



'Glass on Grass. :mrgreen:



Sparkling wine tasting in the wine cellar was a nice appetizer.





Red wine tasting.



Chef gave us a little pep talk on what to expect on dinner.





Dinner time.



After hours and hours of shoveling food in our mouths it was time for some sleep.

End of DAY 2

[groovyjay]

3rd day started kind of misty in Kronovall, not sure if it was just the weather or was the 6 course dinner and wine tasting playing a role here as well. After another hefty breakfast it was time to start the engines and head further down south to Ystad. We sure managed to enjoy the beautiful town of Ystad and the coast line to Trellborg. Nice to see palm trees and having the sun shining it made us feel like we were driving in the French Rivieras.



We kept driving south along the coast to the point we couldn't go any further without getting out feet wet. So we decided to stop for some ice cream before leaving to Denmark for the night.







So next hurdle was to find our way to Malmö and the little bridge that would take us to Denmark. It quickly became pretty obvious to us that the bridge was not that little... It was huge! The bridge alone made the trip to Denmark worth while.





After surviving the bridge we navigated through Copenhagen and managed to find ourselves a nice hotel along the strandvejen in Skodsborg. This place was an absolute gem. No matter where you looked everything was so picturesque. The bright blue sky on top of the turquoise sea, beautiful beach with drop dead gorgeous houses every where.









After checking into the hotel we headed back on the road and drove along the cost up to Helsingör. We went to visit the Kronoborg castle, which is also called the Hamlet castle. Wow, was the first word on everyones mind when we arrived there. Another nice place to visit for those who are thinking about going to Denmark.







After the tour in the castle we sat down for a nice dinner in the Helsingör harbor.

Of course this was the night that the Football (soccer) world cup started so we arranged a football studio back at the hotel with some drinks and snacks. Talking about being on a vacation. 8)

So that was the end of DAY3

[groovyjay]

DAY 4



Noah's Ark in Helsingör might have been a sign of a great flood to come.

This was one of the most long awaited days of this trip because we would start from Denmark, take a ferry over to Helsingborg, Sweden before heading to Ängelnholm to the Hypercar factory tour at Koenigsegg and heading to Tanum Strand for the night, So a lot was on our plate for the day, not just on our breakfast plates. Sun was out again when we started our cars in Skodsborg, but the sky suddenly started to get dark, really dark on the ferry to Sweden.

As soon as we hit the docks of Helsingborg it started drizzling down, a little drizzle never hurt no one. :wink: Of course it was still early in the morning when we arrived back to Sweden and it was the morning rush hour. And of course it was there and then the rain started pouring. I do mean POURING. After few seconds we were thoroughly soaked from head to toe and we were still stuck in traffic. At this point our car had turned into a bathtub, too bad we forgot the bath bubbles and the rubber duck. It kept raining really heavy all through the traffic but the skies cleared as soon as we got out of town... :roll:

We made a quick pit stop at a gas station before we headed back on the road and headed to Ängelholm. No better way to dry your clothes than driving a roadster on a freeway under the hot sun. When we arrived at the Koenigsegg facility we were greeted by few fellow club members who had made their way to Ängelholm just to see the supercar factory.







Our tour guide was Mrs. Koenigsegg, her husband was in Malaysia opening a new dealership so we had to settle for the Mrs. :wink:
The tour gave us a step by step insight on how these magnificent cars are build, or handcrafted I should say. Each car truly is an individual masterpiece. The most impressive car currently on their fleet is the new 1:1 which means 1380Kg weight and 1380hp power. There was one being built for a certain hotel heir, all black carbon with pink stripes might give you a clue of who we are talking about.

We agreed not to take any pics during the factory tour, but we were allowed to take some in the showroom.







Very impressive tour ended with champagne and some appetizers before getting back in our cars and heading north to the Corvette Club Sweden's Summer Meet.





Sun just kept getting hotter by the hour and when we arrived to the Corvette Meet it felt like the skin on my face was 2 sizes too small for it. That's the price you have to pay I guess, but who's complaining. Making it to Grebbestad was one of the highlights of this trip. Some of our group members had been attending the Swedish Corvette meet in the past and we knew what to expect, but still it was like a hammer in the head how well everything was organized. It all worked like a well oiled machine even with around 1000 participants. The Swedish Corvette club celebrated their 40th anniversary and they really did it with style. The location, the weather, the cars and the people couldn't have been any better.

We were almost ashamed to park our dirty cars next to the shiny Corvettes of the Swedes but still they didn't seem to mind and we got to talk the universal Corvette language with the Swedes all through the weekend and that's the best part of this hobby. No matter where you are in the world, you'll still find a common language when Corvettes are involved.



This reminded me of the 56 I build few years ago, one of the many beautiful cars we came across during the weekend.



C7's were also present. One of the best things about Corvette is the long and rich history. So much has happened between C1-7.



As much as I like all 7 generations the Mid Years still, to me, represents the best car design ever to leave Detroit or anywhere else for that matter. My current project is a 1963 fuelie Split Window and getting up and close with a fully restored example really made my weekend.

Night ended with nice dinner and music late into the night. 8)

End of DAY 4

[groovyjay]

DAY 5

The morning in Tanum Strand started just as sunny as most of the days on our trip. After yet another all-out-breakfast we headed back on the road and did one of those rallies where you drive around the beautiful scenery and you'll need to stop at certain check points for a pop quiz or driving skill test. Great fun, even though the questions made no sense to us. It was nice to cruise around and see how nice the West coast of Sweden really is.





After getting the back to Tanum Strand everyone parked their cars in lines organized for each generation. Almost 400 vettes in a nice setting is always good fun in my book. It took the rest of the day just to trying to see each car and having juicy burgers for lunch kept the hunger away until the awards Gala.







Awards dinner was just as awesome as everything the CCS does, food was brilliant, drinks were cold, atmosphere hot and the company to share all this with was just perfect. Live music and dancing into the wee-wee hours made sure Mr.Sandman came knocking as soon as we got back to our cabins.

End of DAY 5

[groovyjay]

DAY 6

Sunday morning started with the usual, monster-of-a-breakfast, sun shine and Corvettes. We were not in a rush to get out of Grebbestad, so we took time to pack the cars and line out to leave our fellow Swedes. We waved for goodbye and headed to our next stop, which would be in Örebro. Before getting there we filled our cars at a local gas station. I think the owner was having a field day, they also gave us premium on the price of regular and piles of Gulf stickers. :wink:



Since we were not in a hurry, just like we hadn't been once on this trip (this was a vacation, not a race ) we stopped here and there where we found something nice. Here we stopped just out Åmal by the lake for icecream.



After checking into our hotel it turned out to be another spectacular view from the hotel window.



The Örebro castle was right across the street from our hotel. It was already closed when we got there, but that was alright, since we had planned going there the following morning anyway. For the night we had planned a nice stroll along the river, great food at Paco's and more drinks.



:wink:

DAY 7

Last morning in Sweden started with a drizzle, but since we weren't in a hurry, we enjoyed our last proper breakfast in Sweden, went to see the castle and after the sun came out it was time to get our cars out and headed to Stockholm.

[groovyjay]

Trip from Örebro to Stockholm was another nice blast through nice scenery. Here's pictures of our cars.



Nice 64 coupe with LS3 and 5-speed along with other mods. Never missed a beat on this trip.



There's also more than meets the eye done to this awesome C5 that joined us on this trip.



You have to look hard to find any flaws with this C5 Z.



Nice and original 63 convertible. No worries even with the old school engine and transmission.



Dream car for many of us. Real 67 Big Block, now with a 5 speed for these longer journeys.



Another Big Block monster. 1972 with 4-speed and ZL1 stripe.



This silver/red 65 coupe was restored couple of years ago and has seen a lot of road since.



My other car on this trip was my 65 coupe, LSX+5-speed etc. Friend of mine had to settle for this car since his own car broke down just as we were getting ready to go.



And here's me giving thumbs up to all our friends in Sweden for having us at their 40th anniversary party.


End of the trip.

PS: It was nice to come back to Finland and get snowed on!!! Yes it was actually snowing heavily when we got back, and mind you that this is mid June!!!

PPS: We didn't have any real problems with any of our cars during this trip so that's another point why people should drive these cars more often, not sure to local shows but take those long road trips.

PPPS: I'm still smiling on how well my car rode and performed. 10 years is a long time, I managed to finish many other corvette projects during the time, but after this first test drive it sure feels like all the pain and struggle to get it done has been well worth it.

Thanks for reading and keep driving those cars people! :thumbs: