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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