I bought a 1960 corvette decades ago when I was young, naive, and quite frankly, ignorant about corvettes. At the time it could best be described as a project car. It was not a complete car, did not have any of its original drive train components, and the body was customized to some degree. I did spend some time getting it road worthy and removing some of the body modifications. I drove the car for a year and loved it but I decided that the car should be put back to its original condition. So I began a body off restoration, tearing down the chassis, having it sandblasted and painted, and rebuilding the entire front suspension. Then life happened, marriage, children, etc. and I spent very limited time over the years working on it.
Well I have recently retired and my hope is to complete what I started so long ago. But here is my dilemma, I cannot decide the appropriate direction to take to complete the car and I have gone back and forth multiple times in trying to decide. Since the car does not have its original drive train, and finding it will never happen, is it best to restore it with period correct drive train components or should I update them with modern components. I know that there are ways to find drive train parts that can be "correct", and I have read many opinions about this, and I am certainly not looking to do anything fraudulent, but without build records, I have no idea what options the car originally had so if I did go down the period correct route, what configuration do I go with. I should add that I am not sure if I want to have the car judged or not, maybe at some point in the future, but with not having the pleasure of driving it for so long, my first priority is to drive and enjoy it again. I know that upgrading some components might make driving it even more enjoyable but I am torn between updating and keeping it true to its 1960 roots. Obviously making the car as valuable as possible is a factor as well.
I am curious what others have done with cars in a similar condition and an looking for comments, suggestions and opinions.
Well I have recently retired and my hope is to complete what I started so long ago. But here is my dilemma, I cannot decide the appropriate direction to take to complete the car and I have gone back and forth multiple times in trying to decide. Since the car does not have its original drive train, and finding it will never happen, is it best to restore it with period correct drive train components or should I update them with modern components. I know that there are ways to find drive train parts that can be "correct", and I have read many opinions about this, and I am certainly not looking to do anything fraudulent, but without build records, I have no idea what options the car originally had so if I did go down the period correct route, what configuration do I go with. I should add that I am not sure if I want to have the car judged or not, maybe at some point in the future, but with not having the pleasure of driving it for so long, my first priority is to drive and enjoy it again. I know that upgrading some components might make driving it even more enjoyable but I am torn between updating and keeping it true to its 1960 roots. Obviously making the car as valuable as possible is a factor as well.
I am curious what others have done with cars in a similar condition and an looking for comments, suggestions and opinions.
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