Road racing suits vintage Corvettes smartly, letting the powerful classics stretch their legs, leveraging their low center of gravity and advanced engineering with moves that quickly become illegal on public roadways. This Pleasanton, California Corvette reportedly raced in the ’70s. Now the desirable “split window” comes to market after 50 years of slumber, retaining some original equipment documented in the listing here on eBay. At least 17 bidders have accelerated the rough-ridden classic’s market value above $44,000 without meeting the seller’s Reserve or tempting someone to click Buy It Now for $56,995.
A host of pictures show more rust on this Northern California Corvette than we might expect, and the fender flares dictate bodywork in the fiberglass shell for buyers on a road to restoration. Would it be naive to suggest that 57 Large is too much to put this ‘Vette back on the track? Personally, I’d lean into the Trans Am look and keep the fender flares and roll cage.
Here we see the one-year-only split window treatment, best appreciated from above. Owners complained about the awkward pillar’s effect on rearward visibility and Chevrolet applied a single-window design for ’64. Road-going Corvettes have been called “rolling chicanes” thanks to their often-gray-haired pilots trolling casually from climate-controlled garages to the golf club. These vicious performers were never meant to clog up traffic for days, perpetually waiting for more than a red-light throttle stab or the occasional on-ramp blast. Thanks to HotRod for some details.
A 1963 block with ground-off serial number defies a numbers-matching confirmation, and the 327 cid (5.4L) small-block probably makes better than stock horsepower, based on the claimed racing history, but buyer beware. Do your homework on this non-runner unless you’re just after a VIN and body for your Pro-Touring dream ride.
New metal panels in the inner fender liner suggest recent work, and the new-looking wide-format wheels and tires suggest a resto-mod vision. How would you build this Corvette? Does the world need another perfect split-window ’63?
A bit rough around the edges for the asking price. The only logical thing I can say about the front wheel openings that it was going to be a race car and the header pipes would come out in that area. Drag racing would be the only type of racing I can think of in this case.
It was not likely a drag car. There would have been no reason to touch the front fenders. There are still a few early Corvette’s raced in that era that come to the local dragstrip they just cut the rear wheel wells and bolted in wider tires, pictures of other drag oriented Corvette’s from that timeframe rarely showed rear flares. There were a lot of road courses in Northern California operating in the late-60’s and early-70’s, you had Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Cotati, Vaca Valley and others lost to time. The San Francisco chapter of the SCCA was going strong at that point in time. The front flares weren’t necessarily left the same, it looks like this car might have been undergoing some work when it was parked, which might make sense because both Cotati and Vaca Valley, which were about 30 miles apart closed between 1972 and 1974.
Steve R
This one’s gonna be putting the credit card on the skillet fo sho!
I’d say finish it with the flares and vintage performance parts. It would be more interesting than another restored early Corvette and would be less expensive to complete.
Steve R
Based on the level of preparation, this was not a road racing car. Back then the SCCA had what was called (” Solo 1 ” ), that was a level above autocrossing, requiring fire suits & a roll bar. At about the same level were hill climbs. this car looks like that is where it lived. As a poverty stricken college student with a ragged out daily driver Lotus Elan. I almost made it from Eastern Kentucky to one of the last Bellefontaine hillclimbs in 1974-ish. I did not have the required nomex fire suit, but at that time you were allowed to soak your coveralls in baking soda and air dry as a substitute.
The writer and those responding so far with “how would you build this Corvette”, better go back and take a closer, more serious look at the pictures provided. The birdcage (the internal metal structure of the fiberglass body) is seriously rusted. This car’s birdcage is as bad as any I’ve seen in my 48 years of owning Corvettes, and 40 years of dealing in Corvette parts. The frame is also as bad as they come, and likely will collapse or fold in half when the body’s removed (I’ve seen it happen more than once, and to frames that looked better than that one). I’d call it a $50,000 parts car, if there were any worthwhile parts left on it.
As far as what kind of a race car it was, I’d guess that it was an autocross car. The front bar and rear crossmember have been updated with solid mounts, and the original drum brakes have been replaced with discs. A spreader bar’s been added to the front suspension. The “Thumper” flares on it were a popular addition for SCCA road racing in the late 70’s and 80’s. But from the lack of a fuel cell I can say it wasn’t a road racer, at least not by when the flares added. Fuels cells were pretty much required everywhere by the 70’s. Whatever it was, from the modifications made to it it was not a drag car.
Dont know why my dang like button again wont work.
Were it not for the cage, I would completely dismiss the ex race car claims. Even with it I would strongly doubt it. I got my first Vette in the mid sixties and was heavily involved in the street scene, and taking a Sawz-All to the wheel openings was pretty popular. Giwven how shoddy the work looks, it would be my guess that the work was done in somebody’s garage. Also, this thing is so hacked up everywhere that restoring it would cost more than it would be worth. I think that the only viable option would be the resto mod route, and even then it would require someone with some fairly serious skills. Bottom line is split window or not, the seller is in fantasy land with the price. I’m sure that there will be those that disagree, but that is the truth of the matter.
As a “gray-haired pilot” I’d like to apologize to the author for being a “rolling chicane” – not. That’s the problem with generalizations – they’re not often based on fact but on personal opinion, and we all know what opinions are like…
Every Corvette driver is subject to the Duramax owner who’s got a chip who wants to race. Every Corvette driver knows that it ain’t the 4-door behemoth that’s gonna get pulled over. A modicum of caution is well warranted in these situations.
In defense of the occasional “rolling chicane” be aware that the “gray-haired pilot” is usually accompanied by a long-suffering co-pilot who has endured his youthful shenanigans for decades. She is undoubtedly reminding him that the exuberant on-ramp tromp on the throttle just cost him five bucks.
But you knew all that.
Hello ccrvtt. True! Wisdom results in self-control. As a gray-haired pilot myself, I no longer care if a high school kid with a V6 Camry wants to tell their friends they “dusted off” a V8 Mustang when a traffic light turned green. Happy motoring!
As a 76 year old Corvette owner with said “long suffering co-pilot”, I find your remarks refreshing. Thank you.
Just me but I’d keep it on the tires. on the lift I’d be afraid of the droopsies.
A whole lotta money for a whole lotta nuthin.
Hard pass.
Those front fender ” flares” might have been the reason the project was parked. They look like the owner let his kid take a swing at the front end resculpting. Or it was a Coors 24 pack weekend.
There is not enough frame material left to repair unless you just “forge” 26,291+/- welding rods into one cross member). A very brave man got underneath it to grab those photos.
Once again, I’d pass.