1963 Corvette Z06 Racecar

[Phildaupho]

I am building a model of the first Z06 Corvette. Chevrolet offered the first four Z06 Corvettes to prominent Corvette racers and sponsors. They were flown to St. Louis to pick up their cars. Dave MacDonald who had helped develop the Z06 got the first one built; for owner Don Steves Chevrolet. Dave and his wife drove the car back to California where it was race prepared for the October 12. 1962 Three Hour Endurance race at Riverside.

BODY – I did most of the body modifications a number of years ago by grafting the distinctive 63 bits from the AMT kit onto the Revell 67 body. I also filled the reverse light housing and extended the bumper mounts to wrap around by trimming the dechromed bumpers. I opened up the grill area where I will mount a fabricated 6 bar grill. I am aware of the Harold Bradford Z06 Resin kit but I already had the body started before it became available. I do however have Harold’s Z06 resin engine to use with this project and compare to the AMT offering.

CHASSIS – I had to narrow the chassis somewhat in the rear so I could use the wider Goodyear BlueStreak tires and deep-dish resin wheels. I also lowered the suspension a bit front and rear. I had to highly modify the kit inner wheels to mount to the suspension with the correct off-set but in the process was able to approximate the look of the special ventilated drum breaks used by the 63 Z06

 

 

 

[Phildaupho]

INTERIOR – I removed the heater and radio detail from the dash, fabricated a big gas tank cover and made up the simple single brace roll bar. I also sanded off the carpet texture in the area behind the seats 

[Snake45]

Very nice!

I see your hood (AMT) isn't a perfect matchup in the Revell '67 body. If you're going to this much trouble for accuracy (and you seem to be doing a good job), you might want to look at cutting the hood out of a Revell '63 Vette snapper kit and using that. It MIGHT fit better for you--I haven't tried it, just suggesting. 

I'll be following this interesting project. Drive on! 

[Ron Hamilton]

I have one of Harold's 63 Z06 Corvettes. It is the finest mid 60s Corvette kits I have ever seen. You are on your own for chrome, but otherwise, it is magnificent.

[Phildaupho]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

Very nice!

I see your hood (AMT) isn't a perfect matchup in the Revell '67 body. If you're going to this much trouble for accuracy (and you seem to be doing a good job), you might want to look at cutting the hood out of a Revell '63 Vette snapper kit and using that. It MIGHT fit better for you--I haven't tried it, just suggesting. 

I'll be following this interesting project. Drive on! 

Thanks Richard for the tip but I am determined to make the AMT hood work as I have other plans for the Revell Snapper.

[Phildaupho]

1 hour ago, Ron Hamilton said:

I have one of Harold's 63 Z06 Corvettes. It is the finest mid 60s Corvette kits I have ever seen. You are on your own for chrome, but otherwise, it is magnificent.

All of Harold's parts for excellent. The guy is definitely a master.

[James2]

You have my attention...

[Gramps46]

I am watching as I have this project in my stash.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Nice project, important car. Looking great so far.

[Peter Lombardo]

Off to a great start.  Not your "run of the mill" Corvettes.  Should look terrific once complete

[afx]

Looks like a great project Phil, I'm in.

[Lizard Racing]

 Just imagine all the stories told of real-live race drivers driving the first of the Z06 Corvettes from St. Louis to their various destinations?

[Phildaupho]

I did not find that much time since my original post to work on this project but when I did I concentrated on the interior and chassis which are pretty much finished. I am fortunate to have an acquaintance who owns a ’65 Corvette in pretty much as delivered condition, which I was able to have a close look at in his garage.

INTERIOR – At first I thought all I had to do was fabricate a big tank cover and a roll bar but I discovered that the interior of a ’63 was different in many ways than a ’67.

-         Cut in the longitudinal seat pleats from the AMT ’63 and extended them on the bottom of the seat.

-         Completely redid the door panels with vertical pleats and chrome trim

-         Eliminated the radio detail on the dash and added a grab slot to dash top on the passenger side

-         Cut down the arm rest between seats and added a pad

-         Added pull style hand brake under the dash

-         Used the excellent Model Car Garage Photo-Etch set for extra details

-         I had problems with the gauge decals and went through two sets. I had to supplement them with after-market gauge faces printed on clear styrene so ended up with a speedometer where a clock should be but it will be hard to detect once the body in place.

-         SEAT BELTS – Apparently all Corvettes from 1958 had aircraft style seat belts. I first used the old style kit supplied plastic seat belts but they stood out like a sore thumb. I did not have any appropriate hardware so I had to fab up something in combination with a photo-etched piece to represent the aircraft style buckles.

CHASSIS – I wanted to make the chassis as close as I could to the way the car originally was but it is very difficult to find photos of the underneath of C2 Corvettes. I did learn that the exposed fiberglass was left unpainted except for the wheelwells. It was very helpful looking under my friend’s Corvette. Something I spotted when my camera flashed was a lime green cross member. My friend told me this was the brace for the seats. It took some looking on-line but I finally discovered that this bracket was painted with green zinc chromate, which I replicated with some green added to Testor’s Zinc Chromate enamel. The chassis is box-stock except for slight lowering and some grinding to gain clearance for the wide tires.

TIRES – The tires I used are wider than what would have been on the car when originally raced but they are Goodyear Bluestreaks and nothing I had access to looked as good.

Next on the agenda will be the construction, painting and detailing of the Harold Bradford Historic Racing Miniatures resin 327 fuel injected engine which will be a model unto itself.

 

[dino246gt]

I'm really liking this so far, great job.

A tip for gauges: you can print them on cheap computer paper, then cover the sheet with clear packing tape, then cut out the gauge, or clock, and glue in place. I do this for license plates as well. 

But this latest picture sure looks fantastic!

 

[tbill]

Very nice! This is going to be special, carry on.

[Hoffman]

Great work, Phil!! Looks super nice so far. Looking forward to the engine build.

[Art Laski]

Cool project, Phil!

[Deuces]

Very cool! ☺️

I was doing some reading earlier and found out the N03 BiG tank option was used through the '67 model year... Only 2 were built in '67 with the 36.5 gallon fuel tank.... I'm not sure if they were both big block 427 cars though...

[250 Testa Rossa]

Looks great!

 

[Slick Shifter]

On 9/24/2019 at 8:39 PM, Deuces said:

 

Only 2 were built in '67 with the 36.5 gallon fuel tank.... I'm not sure if they were both big block 427 cars though...

Both the 1967 NO3 Corvettes carried the 327/4-speed powertrain. Both still exist. A white one with bright blue interior and a red over black example that was exported to Austria when new. The white car was recently sold at auction here in the states. Not sure where the red one is these days.

[Deuces]

Ok, thank you!....

[Phildaupho]

For this project I am using the excellent Harold Bradford Historic Racing Miniatures [HRM] resin Corvette Z06 327 fuel-injected engine which may have been derived from the Revell 1969 Z-28 Camaro kit modified to fit the ’67 Corvette engine mounts.

The 327 that came in the original AMT ’63 Corvette kit was OK for its time but lacked detail and did not fit well in the engine compartment in that its location was too far forward of the firewall. There was an optional big block in the kit and it appears they wanted to use the same mounts for both engines so they gave the small block a longer bellhousing and transmission.

The real car has been restored back to how it was when originally raced. I was surprised to see that the emblem on the plenum cover was removed. Being a racecar I also noted there is no vacuum advance to the distributor.

[Deuces]

☺️?

[Phildaupho]

I have completed all the underbody modifications and assembly, as this will likely be the last On the Workbench post before finishing the body and putting it all together. The engine fit perfectly into the Revell 67 427 engine compartment. I added the surge tank from the AMT 63 and made up a master cylinder more representative of that used on the Z-06. The radiator bulkhead was modified to except the air intake and some additional plumbing was added. I had a chance to look underneath my buddies 65 Corvette and realized I had previously misidentified what was painted green zinc chromate. The two green pieces are seat securing nut plates. I also painted the spare tire carrier a more representative grey. Side exhausts are aluminum tube joined to sections of the styrene exhaust from the 427 kit.

[Deuces]

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