A tale of two visions
By Rick Erickson
Screen name ZO66

It started in 2002 at the Corvette show in Orlando when I stumbled on modern frames for mid year Vette�s. I saw this really nice frame with C-4 suspension, big brakes, coilovers and a modern power steering rack. I dreamed about strapping the new ls6 and 5 speed into it, and dropping that mid year body right down on it.  Having just completed a long 66 roadster project, I took the plunge and ordered the frame and began surfing the net for parts. Things moved fast at first and the big pieces of the puzzle seemed almost too easy. A pullout ls6 was acquired, and then the Tremec TKO conversion kit was ordered, no problem. Now the search was on for a body. This part of the process would be a bit more tricky. The goal was to find a body that I would not have to paint, as I am not a painter and had had some very long paint jail experiences. I thought this to be a prudent course of action. The first candidate, was a 65 coupe that looked very good and the hugger orange paint was very slick, but upon closer inspection the car had been back halved and not quite the quality I was looking for. Time goes by and still no plain Jane Corvette with laser straight paint appears, I start too get a little frustrated, looking at low dollar mid year Corvettes is kind of not a lot of fun because cracks and bad paint are the rule. Then I saw this radical gasser looking purple car with killer paint, big flares, tilt front nose, hmmm, if I could get that nose down on the front tires it could be real slick. Let�s do it.

Two summers of week end wrenching in my buddy Mike Huber�s garage the body was on the frame with the drive train in it, the first vision was now complete. We did everything ourselves with no hired professionals and had what was now a running and driving car. I submitted some pics to Scott at Lateral-g.net and he was gracious enough to post them. I really did not know much about Pro Touring but I lurked around the site and really enjoyed reading the forums. I started to become fascinated with supercharged LSX's and I thought hmm...I wonder...This is where I found Prodigy Customs. Frank was kind enough to refer me to Mike from Next Level as his LSX guru. I made the call and Mike was kind enough to take a small road trip up to check out my car. Mike had this grin when he saw the LS6.

With the car basically complete (vision 1 that is), the second vision began with Frank, Mike and I over beer and burritos on a late December afternoon in 06. Realizing I now had access to Mike�s LSX power abilities, and Franks talents to do everything else, A more sophisticated, higher end, as Frank calls it �PERFECT CAR� vision emerged.

The realization to redo the body came after trying to lower the front to look more "right", Frank adjusted and re adjusted the suspension trying to lower the stance and still maintain ride / handling. But by lowering the ride height, we were binding up the suspension so badly that it was surely dangerous with 555 RWHP to the rear wheels it was pulling since Mike had done his magic.

Frank had exhausted all ideas looking at different ways to modify the frame, change the suspension mounting points, possibly raising the mounting points to effectively lower the body. The fender flares were simply too high, and no matter what we did to the suspension to lower the body, we simply could not get the look I wanted. While I had considered rebodying the front end and quarters, and actually had the parts bought to do it, Frank confirmed my suspicions, the 70's disco flared look was going to have to go, or be extensively reworked to "look right" with our Pro Touring theme. There was simply no way to lower the car with the suspension adjustments without causing other ill handling effects.

Well since Prowler purple was now five years on the car and the front end needed surgery why not go all the way, the car never left Orlando. Once Mike had the blower installed, tuning done, Frank and Team Prodigy accepted the build and deadline of May and the Year One Experience, just 5 months away. The entire front clip was replaced with a stock reproduction nose. All the original lights and housings were installed. And new custom widened rear quarters pushed out about 1� were installed. The rest of the car was stripped and reblocked. All the lines were re sculptured perfectly. In April I took a road trip to Orlando to see the vette and make a final color decision. This decision kept me up many nights. We took a quick ride up to the Glasurit store and in what seemed to be seconds.

We had our colors, and were back at the shop spraying test cards, Frank had concerns on the size of the metallic but as the test panels dried we knew that we had the perfect colors. Steel looking silver and a Gunmetal gray were picked. The Gunmetal for the Stinger stripe was intentionally chosen to match the centers of the Forgeline SP3P wheels Frank set me up with. I was amazed when the pictures down loaded from the paint shoot, it was right on the money, now it was a week before Year One and there were lots to do.

As it turned out, the entire intercooler set up that Mike had made for the tilt front end (which worked just fine with the (1) piece tilt front end), needed to be completely reworked for the now much different stock nose and folding hood and inner fenders to clear. Actually, as it turns out we were putting 2 lbs of stuff in a 1 lb bag. Fitting it all in a attractive package would be tricky. The guys at Prodigy, along with John Parsons, did a great job of fabricating the plumbing. The final result was impressive enough for Procharger to take notice and ask to use the Vette for their 2007 SEMA display. The debut for what has become known as the "Prodigy Vette" at Year One was pretty impressive. The Vette won awards at the show, V8TV selected the Vette for a video feature, and Vette magazine selected the car for studio shots for a feature in a coming issue. We just did the pictures at Primedia headquarters last week, so it will be a few months I guess.

After The Year One show and subsequent ProCharger invite to SEMA, Frank talked me into changing the seats and doing some carbon fiber treatment on the dash to bring the interior up to the level of the exterior. I located some C5 Corvette Sport Seats and Frank and the boys rounded the tops of the seats, cutting them down and making them �less tall� and making the tops of the seat a better match for the curved dash pads. The final result was well worth it. Covered in factory 2005 seat covers with CORVETTE embroidered in the seats, was the ultimate old meets new. The charcoal Carbon Fiber dash inserts just seem to pull it all together.

I have to say this has been an entirely different car building experience then what I have been through in the past. My wife Jen and my three boys have my most humble thanks for their love and support through this process, while I was not out in the garage for this one I was constantly communicating with The Team at Prodigy who delivered everything they promised including schedule, cost, quality, media coverage, awards, and more. Thanks Frank, Lisa, Michael, Andrew, Matt, David, John and Mike. You guys built what I envisioned and it came out better than I could have ever hoped and. To have the Vette featured here at Lateral �G is the icing on the cake. Thanks guy�s, it has been a privilege.

Specs.
Frame Art Morrison Frame Rails and C-4 suspension
Provided by Street Shop Inc.

Drivetrain
Procharged D1SC intercooled ZO6 / lS6, by Prodigy Customs and Mike Norris Motorsports
555RWHP Mike Norris MotorSports tuning
Tremec TKO 600 5 speed
DANA 44 rear with hardened shafts 345:1 rear gears

Suspension
Al Dan coilovers, C4 Big Brake W / Baer Rotors and Grand Sport Calipers

Paint and Body
Glasurit artic silver with Viper Graphite accent By Prodigy Customs

Wheels and Tires
Forgeline SP3P's, chrome lips with graphite centers, 19x9.5 front and 20x10.5 rears wrapped W / Michelin Pilot sports By Prodigy Customs

Interior
Gauges by Autometer
Sound system by Pinnacle Electronics in Fernandina
Custom modified C5 Sport Seats and carbon fiber dash by Prodigy Customs
Custom Cloth Top by Al Knoch / Complete Auto Upholstery