Last updated on August 26, 2021
Todays car is my 1977 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible and yesterday was its birthday. Did I hear you say, they did not build any Corvette convertibles between 1976 through 1986! You are right! I bought it 44 years ago. It was a bone stock T – Top car with over 300,000 miles on it when in September 2011 I decided it was time to breathe some new life into it. But, I wanted more! I wanted the car I could not buy. Yes a convertible and something with more power. So I consulted with my friend Scott Kenning owner of The Fiberglass Body and a Corvette specialist. Scott and I came up with plans to make it a convertible and we got to work. The day came when Scott said to me “Frank today would be a good day to go to lunch”. When I came back Scott had performed the surgery. The top and associated parts were just laying there waiting for us to lift them off. Well one thing lead to another and the next thing I knew I decided it was going to be a frame off restomod project. I did most of the mechanical and electrical work with Scott, Greg and Felix to help with the heavy lifting and guiding me from making and huge mistakes. They did all of the fiberglass body work including the parts to make it a convertible, the fiberglass front and rear bumpers and correcting all the opening gabs.
The exterior is finish in black with a saddle and black interior, and a cloth saddle convertible top. It is powered by a 350 cu in ZZ4 crate engine with roller rockers producing about 370 hp. Transferring that power through a 700R4 4-speed automatic transmission with overdrive and delivering that power to the 18 inch wheels and tires through 3.70s in the rear end. I ride comfortably in the 2005 C6 Corvette seats that are fully adjustable and they are heated. That is a nice touch for those chilly early morning runs up PCH. For more details of what was done during the refurbishment look at the show board at the bottom of the page..
This was a fun project and I learned a lot. It is a real pleasure to drive and I get plenty of thumbs ups from other drivers. I am super happy to be able say that I have driven this car for the last 44 years.
Thanks for rinding along. Frank
