Greetings from MA

[SammyinMA]

Hey folks,

While not new to enjoying cars, I am just now learning about Pro Touring, so I hope I am posting this in the right place.

As you can see from my sig, I have tended towards Mustangs out of simple bang for the buck. While I know enough to be dangerous around a car, I know nothing about any kind of restoration.

My father has a 66 Corvette coupe that has been off the road since 1977 (no matching numbers, pickled NOM, stored in barn, good house for mice in winter, etc.). He has never gotten around to getting it back on the road, and recently offered to me if I wanted to. The thought of making a fun street 'racer' with all new mechanicals, but using the older car exterior really appealed to me. So in the process of starting research, I stumbled upon this website.

I already learned a great deal from what I have read thusfar, and look forward to learning more. I was wondering if I could bounce some questions of you folks.

1) Does anyone know of Pro Touring resto shop in the New England area (preferably MA) that does a good deal of Corvette work?

2) Do anyone of you that have started your own projects have a starting list/spreadsheet you could share? I am looking for top level info on things I need to consider while initially planning this project (engine, suspension, tranny, differential, brakes, etc.); because I imagine getting your arms around these things will help figure cost and duration of the project.

3) It is obviously going to need to be a frame-off job. With that in mind, are there any other questions I should be asking that I am not?

Thanks in advance for any info y'all can share. I really do appreciate it.

Mike

[lnirenberg]

Welcome, big fan of Vette projects. I have owned a # of Vettes and there are some very good shops around. Whether your going pro-touring or stock resto, plan for your budget to be some solid 5 digits and then add 50%. On the one hand, there are a ton of reproduced stock and upgrade parts for C2s on the other hand the $$ can pile up very quickly. Everything depends on good well thought out plans, your budget and the condition of the car. Before I bought my '93 I was very far along in planning a '69 LeMans racer and other than the body change the frame, suspension, brakes etc are the same as a C2. I'm in Milford all the time, including this Friday, so if you time for a coffee shoot me a private message and we can pick one of the many Dunkin Donuts in town. Check out this build in a series of articles in Corvette Fever--
http://www.corvettefever.com/sch/04/-split-personality-/-22--22/articles/index.html?SearchSource=Site
The owner of this car is from Enfield, Ct and the shop who helped him is in Newington. They've done work for me and they are a great shop. This car was a Ridler finalist which is extremely unusual for a sports car or a car this new.

also you need to go the vette forums if you haven't already--
http://www.corvetteforum.com/
http://corvetteactioncenter.com/

[tones2SS]

Hey Sammy.
Love that 2011 Shelby GT500. Very nice.
My buddy Pete owns Competition Specialties in Walpole, MA. The website is; http://www.competition-specialties.com/home.html
About 25 minutes away from Milford. (A very good friend of mine lives in Milford, actually. I'm there once a week hanging out with her.) Pete does great work. And if you do a search on this forum or on lateral-g.net and search for Tony's car, KARMA, you will hear and see the comments about the work that comes out of that shop. They will be doing my pro-tour build when I am ready to build as well.
Good luck.

[SammyinMA]

Thank you very much for the information. I just started reading the article from corvettefever you linked, Larry, and that has a TON of good info. Would be great to link up some time and chat about restos, but I won't be in Milford on Friday (I work in Natick during the day). I did previously sign up at corvetteforum, definitely a good source.

Thanks also, Tones. I will give that shop a look at some point, still trying to get my arms around what all I need to research. I am glad I have the car to start with, I will just need to get it out here to look it over to determine how much of it is still useable, and how much I want to use.

The Shelby is definitely fun, and will be a monster once I upgrade the supercharger, etc., next month, but I am getting excited about the old-school vibe of the Vette. Sadly, my uncle is selling his AC Shelby 427 kit car from ERA, but my hope is to make the Vette a little like that; wonderously loud, eye-catching, looks like it is flying even sitting still, and barely manageable enough to drive. Well, maybe I'll make the Vette a little more manageable.

Mike

[lnirenberg]

Talk about unmanageable, I was looking at a big block mid-year vette owned by a paving contractor in Milford--no power steering no power brakes and an old steering box with play. That may have been the scariest 5 minute drive I ever took. Pro-touring cars go fast without feeling like your about to die.

I live in Newton and run my own business, which is my vocation and puts food on the table. My avocation is cars and like a lot of New England car buffs I spend a part of the winter messing with my car ie spending money and looking for signs of spring, and I like the winter! Given the weather outlook, I doubt I'll be in Milford tomorrow either. Anytime you want to have lunch, either in Natick or Milford send me a PM as I have a very flexible schedule.

[Morgan]

Hey Mike, welcome to the forum. I'm fellow M******* and I see you already met Larry. Keep us posted on your projects and use this forum as a huge resource.

[1971CHEVELLE]

Welcome to the site

[rtwind02]

Looking forward to seeing some pictures ofvthe car before you get started! Pro-touring is the way to go. Welcome!