I am doing my first body off restoration on my 57 Corvette, vin # 1851. I am getting close to 600 hours into it its complete dissassembly and restoration. I started in March of 2006. It would have gone a lot faster, but I have had to learn the hard way a few lessons that have seriously slowed things down.... thanks to this board for much help in the past! Currently the body is COMPLETELY NAKED of any paint inside and out. The frame was wire brushed and polished, and then the original welds, which held lots of porosity were ground off and the frame was reseam welded top to bottom. She then went to a car-liner where she was pulled and smoothed to within 1 and 2 milimeters of factory spec. Then frame was media blasted inside and out and powder-coated to look very close to factory color. The 270 horse and 3spd have been rebuilt and I am still waiting on the rear 4:11 axle to come back (and a few other things I will be posting about soon, such as, How do I identify if my rear leaf springs are original or not?) before I begin chassis assembly. The car should be done by late summer of 07.
I picked up what is left of my 1957 Corvette's body from the blaster today and dropped it off at the body shop. It is pretty sad how they took my beautiful hand razor blade stripped corvette and demolished a nice bit of it by being a little too agressive... but that is another story and I am just venting! My painter promises he will make it right... I have seen his work and he is nothing short of amazing.
He called me today and asked about the history of the car, as he found what looks like brake ducts, that were covered up with fiberglass in the wheel wells. He is thinking it might have been a big brake car. I looked in the books... and as I understand it the big brake or Heavy Duty Suspension RPO 684 wasn't available till April 9th, of 57 and my car is Jan 21. RPO 581 may have been available earlier, but the book claims it didn't have the big brake components. Would it have had the brake ducts? It is a 270 horse car with 3spd, and appears to be original engine and tranny. What are the possibilities, if any, that this car was a big brake car, or a car used to test big brake cars?
Of course I will post some pictures as soon as he sends them to me.
Thanks,
Jacob Angel
NCRS # 40987
I picked up what is left of my 1957 Corvette's body from the blaster today and dropped it off at the body shop. It is pretty sad how they took my beautiful hand razor blade stripped corvette and demolished a nice bit of it by being a little too agressive... but that is another story and I am just venting! My painter promises he will make it right... I have seen his work and he is nothing short of amazing.
He called me today and asked about the history of the car, as he found what looks like brake ducts, that were covered up with fiberglass in the wheel wells. He is thinking it might have been a big brake car. I looked in the books... and as I understand it the big brake or Heavy Duty Suspension RPO 684 wasn't available till April 9th, of 57 and my car is Jan 21. RPO 581 may have been available earlier, but the book claims it didn't have the big brake components. Would it have had the brake ducts? It is a 270 horse car with 3spd, and appears to be original engine and tranny. What are the possibilities, if any, that this car was a big brake car, or a car used to test big brake cars?
Of course I will post some pictures as soon as he sends them to me.
Thanks,
Jacob Angel
NCRS # 40987
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