Project Bad eBay Purchase - 1972 Pro-Touring Corvette

[Bad Bird]

That's just weird, the Jake tag is pure badass.

I really should start a thread on here - mine is a 1971 that is also Sunflower Yellow. Yours is already a long way ahead of mine though. It's an inspiration!

[sokoloka]

That's just weird, the Jake tag is pure badass.

I really should start a thread on here - mine is a 1971 that is also Sunflower Yellow. Yours is already a long way ahead of mine though. It's an inspiration!

I can see it poking out in your avatar - please do! I'd love to check it out. Worst case scenario you can see what NOT to do from mine haha.

Some old photo updates from digging through my photobucket account. My goal was to do everything myself with the exception of bodywork - so far that's remained true; once JD Corvette started digging around I'm glad someone who actually knows what they're doing with the car is taking it on rather than my guessing.

Who says fiberglass cars can't rust?





Windshield frame corner lightened by nature:



New windshield frame grafted in:

[sokoloka]

Windshield fix from the inside:



Where the 1969 - 1972 collaboration part comes from:



I've always preferred the 4 fender "gills" of the 1968/69 models over the eggrate gills of the 70-72's. As the car needed a new front clip, I figured why not get what I originally wanted? The above pic shows the gills being grafted into a new 70-72 clip, in case I decide against doing additional fender flares the factory flare at the based of the wheel opening will match front to rear.

One less number's matching 1972 vette in the world - but I prefer to think of it as one less vette off to the crusher with that amount of birdcage rust.

[uxojerry]

Nice build, Im doing the same thing to a C2 coupe. I would recommend mild flares versus wide flares. Flares were always used on early Corvette race cars. Using old pics as a template, you cant go wrong. Another thought would be to have the car painted in one of the traditional color schemes and then do a vinyl wrap in matte black. That will help later on with resale value. The pic of my car was before I began the rebuild. It is currently semi disassembled. Baby-sh** yellow, (sunflower yellow), is not my favorite color so I will do a wrap on the car at the end of the build. It has a new paint job so it would be a waste to repaint the thing. Good luck with your project.
Take Care - Jerry Clements

[DTM]

following this one for sure...

succes, dennis

[68camotion]

Awesome work so far, can't wait to see the finished product.

[rfalker1]

So u are in London Eric, thats cool! I am in france myself while my cars are on the other side of the pond as well!! How do you fit inside your vette?? I have never been in one so its a mystery to me

[sokoloka]

So u are in London Eric, thats cool! I am in france myself while my cars are on the other side of the pond as well!! How do you fit inside your vette?? I have never been in one so its a mystery to me

I fit fairly well, but could do with another inch or so of room in an ideal world. That's the nice part about T-tops though! Always can pop them off if I need the space haha.
Hopefully someday there will be a first gen Camaro side by side with the Vette. In a perfect world at least.

[sokoloka]

So I have an update.. Not much of an update, but an update nonetheless.

Flares have been ordered and delivered! They accidentally shipped it to my parent's house in IL rather than the body shop but no big deal.
I finally ordered the wheels as well - black ano'd CCW Classics, 18x10.5 in the front and 18x12.5 in the rear. I had been waffling back and forth on whether to flare the car to fit the wheels but after seeing what a set looks like in black ano the deal was sealed.

Should have delivery within 4-6 weeks! Fingers crossed of course.

[srh3trinity]

CCW's are going to look great on a C3, and I am with you on the 69 fender grills. Much better look.

[sokoloka]

CCW's are going to look great on a C3, and I am with you on the 69 fender grills. Much better look.

Thank you! It's one of those thing where I figured, why not do exactly what I want?

I noticed a lot of projects have great renderings done for them. Who would you guys recommend? I wouldn't mind getting a nice one done and eventually having the car to match haha.

Please send on any recommendations!

[Riggs 74]

Looks like a great project, I think I seen parts of your build over on the CF, Subscribed here now. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Riggs

[gator1505]

I say modify the frame to make the wheels and tires fit anyone can flare it. Actually I love the C3 lines the way they left the plant but will admit, some of the cars that have been flared do grow on me. Lookin forward to wathin your progress

[srh3trinity]

I think it would ge cool if you could tuck big wheels on a C3 Vette too. I like flares as much as the next guy, but if you could get the car sitting lower with a little bit of tuck, that would be a cleaner look.

[Riggs 74]

Tucking a large 12'' wheel under a C3 vette is not as easy as say tub and narrowing a Comaro or such. You would have to find a new location for the battery, loosing most if not all storage compartment, reworking all the fiberglass in the rear storage/floor area, and then narrowing the frame and installing a straight axle with a four link. I can think of some ways to make it work with the independent suspension, but it would all be experimental and would take a lot of time to design and test until the suspension performed well enough to take out on the track. It would look good, but I would stay with the Flares, the look of a vette with a well done set of flares is very eye catching, you don't see many of them out on the streets.

Riggs

[srh3trinity]

From what I have read, it is difficult to pull it off, I was just trying to help him out with his scope creep problem by immersion therapy.

[ALLstrokedOUT]

I love this project, Vettes are my first love thanks to my dad, and Ive always wanted a chrome bumper c3 (i was 'stuck' with a 77' as my first car haha). Its everything id want to do to a c3 given the chance ( i love the black corvette as inspiration!). I agree with Riggs though- To fit 12+" wheels in the back, youll need at least some offset trailing arms no matter what you do which means resizing the half shafts. If you modify the frame, fuel tank, battery storage, wheel wells...you wont be able to fit t-tops in the back let alone anything else. But with the flares your saving a lot of time/work that i see as unnecessay- i love flares!! Do what the c3 racers did and flare it, the factory rear geometry isnt perfect, but once again as Riggs said, better than if you tried fitting 12" in without flares. Ill be watching this one

[J-440]

Love the blacked out look. Just don't go too huge on those wheels and make the car look like a Wells Fargo stagecoach!! You definitly need to incorporate the "Jake" logo somewhere. Pratt and Miller are the wizards when it comes to building Vettes. Sweet ride and can't wait till she's done.

[rrunner68]

Looks awesome. Very cool project.

[Protour_Pinto]

On Rick Springfield's car they made the body wider and unless you really know C3 vettes you cant even tell.