Mixed Metaphor: Russ Weid’s Corvette blends the breed’s best attributes
With eight generations to choose from, you’ve got to be a killjoy not to love one Corvette or the other. What the early roadsters lack in speed they make up with classic charm. The sold-out C8s are America’s feasible Ferraris. The six tweener generations broom away workaday misery in the first mile of any weekend excursion.
But what if you could mix and match your favorite Corvette design features without consuming more than a single slice of precious garage space? That’s precisely what Russ Weid of Chelsea, Michigan, has achieved with his 2013 C6 Corvette dressed as a Mid Year (1963–67). Weid’s hinged headlamps, beefy hood, and flared front fenders match the 1967 Corvette’s nosepiece. The tapered roof and split-window backlight pay homage to the ’63 factory Corvette coupe.
Weid bought his Corvette nearly new in Dallas a decade ago with a base 6.2-liter 430-hp V-8 and six-speed manual transmission. Karl Kustom (KK) over Tuxedo Black paint. Their fastidiously made skins are hand-laminated fiberglass bonded with vinyl-ester resin. KK also fitted new custom bumpers, aluminum grille bars, and door handles to Weid’s Corvette. Known as a “split build” because two model-year designs are replicated, the body makeover cost Weid $95,000. Only 14 of the 64 Corvettes converted by KK embodied this split-year configuration.
To add energy under the hood, Weid added a low-pressure Edelbrock E-Force supercharger. He estimates that upgrade yields about 550 horsepower. A new Billy Boat cat-back exhaust system includes two cross-flow mufflers and a flamboyant quartet of pipe tips. Weid’s wife Diane helped EVOD Industries design the unique custom forged-aluminum wheels wearing P275/35ZR-18 front and P325/30ZR-19 rear red-line radials.
The cost of these mods added to the $50,000 core charge yields a bottom line crowding $170,000. The retired Chrysler test driver and mechanic is convinced he made a shrewd investment. The stock suspension provides a nicely controlled ride and the engine’s thunder never overwhelms conversation. Weid confirms, “Even though I’ve owned my Corvette for a decade, it’s still a thoroughly enjoyable treat. Every spring that I remove it from its winter storage bubble, I feel like a giddy 16-year-old!”
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Call me an old fart, but everything after the C2s looks like the product of the “Hot Wheels” design studio.
It looks sort of C2 split window but it also looks a bit off at the same time. The lines are just not right. Not my idea of a restomod Corvette.
Not my cup of tea. Can’t stand modifications to a Corvette. Ugh! Desecration! Keep ‘em all the way God built them on the 8th Day.
Beautiful car Russ from a fellow Michigander.
The added third light started with the 1961 tail treatment. There was a school of thought that the third light was a factory item that came with solid lifter cam engines and in ’66 and ’67 a 427 of any sort.
Given some of the various engine crests used over the years before the front fender flags became the norm you can see the logic.
I always thought the exhaust bezel looked odd with three lights. Now two bezels per side to balance the appearance would be the answer.
Why?? Nice execution, but why? The ’63/’67 Vettes are not good enough by themselves?
Looks all wrong to me. Dimensions were perfect on the C2 so this doesn’t work. Also they didn’t even bother to put the hood stripe on correctly.
Perfect! Taillights and all!
Absolutely Beautiful
Back off haters, it’s a great looking treatment. And only two taillights per side of such a wide narrow valence would’ve looked wrong.
It’s the slope of the front window that causes things to look a little off…
BUT I believe this is the best restomod I have seen come down the pipe. I agree the 3 light treatment is needed for the wide rear on the car.
Look, he’s not trying to fool someone that this is a 63 split window, it is a love afair of the ages towards a body style he enjoys and a vehicle he enjoys to drive melded into one machine.
Kudos to a vision that came to fruition for him.
For the naysayer, lets see your projects…
Beautiful. Just wish I had the $
Well gents, it’s a custom. And with all customs it’s all about personal taste.
I run a C6 drop top with a 62 reboby on it.
All black with ZO6 wheels, Big tip Billy Boat bimodal exhaust. CRC built it for me in 2012. I built it to to drive and since then my wife and I have logged nearly 60000 miles driving all up and down the west coast and through every state and National park and back roads as far east as Texas, with zero problems, heated seats and AC comfort. Try that in a true ‘62.
This Vette is stunning. Compared to a new Corvette, well, there is no comparison, This restomod is a work of art. Good job.
All I can say is WOW !!!!!
That car is absolutely DROP DEAD GORGEOUS !!!