Turning a Corvette into a Vetterod doesn’t always require
that you have a complete car to start with. But in the case of Don Kalina’s
’63, he did, in fact, begin with an intact C2. But he didn’t use—or need—all of
it. Kalina has always loved the second-generation Vettes. “Since I was a
teenager, I’ve always wanted a ’63 split-window,” he recalls. “I finally found
one, and the rest is history.” He adds, “The ’63 was always my ‘heartbeat.’”
The rear quarters
were subtly stretched to fit the wide rims and rubber.
His years-long search began to pay off when he got a tip
about a potential project car while at an out-of-town event. “I was at a car
show in Columbus, Ohio, and someone said they knew of a ’63 in Pittsburgh,”
says Kalina. He then got the owner’s phone number and contacted him to find out
more about the car.
It had been off the road since 1979, according to its
then-owner, the car’s second. There was no unusual history behind this
Corvette, and no rare options on or in it. It wasn’t a numbers-matching car
either, but it was definitely “project ready’’.
Before long the deal was made. “At the time, I’d just had my
knee replaced, so I couldn’t go get it,” Kalina says. “I just bought it from
the pictures. My two partners went out there and picked it up for me.”
Once the car was hauled home, they began the project by
taking the midyear apart. What wasn’t going to be reused was put to one side of
the garage, for sale to other C2 owners and restorers. “I sold the chassis,
engine, transmission—everything that was under the car, I sold on eBay,” says
Kalina, who was then left with an original ’63 coupe body that needed some
help. “When we stripped all the paint off of it, we saw that one door needed a
new skin, and we found that the right front needed some repair work,” he says.
“Those kinds of things you have to expect.”
A 505hp CPP LS7
replaced the non-matching small-block that was under the C2’s hood.
When it came to the chassis, Kalina chose a roller from
Newman Car Creations, with a complete C4 suspension system—front and
rear—already installed. “We rolled it off the trailer and put the body on it,”
Kalina says of the conversion.
He had plenty of help in building the rest of the
split-window Vetterod: Chevy Performance Parts built the LS7 crate engine,
while Distinctive Street Rods in Syracuse, New York, did the bodywork and
paint. The latter job included widening the rear quarters, shaving off the
emblems and trim, and adding a stainless steel grille. RP Interiors in
Horseheads, New York, stitched up the cabin’s seats and trim. The colors on and
inside the body (including the two-stage Glasurit Black paint) were chosen by
Kalina’s wife, Lizz
In all, it took about two years for Kalina’s dream car to go
from discovery to debut, with about a year’s worth of shop work needed to put
the Vetterod together. Unlike many other resto-rod projects, this one went
smoothly from start to finish, especially when it came to the chassis. “Paul
Newman helped direct us through what we had to do, and we really didn’t have
any difficulty,” Kalina says of the assistance he got from the California-based
chassis shop.
What’s it like to drive this C2-on-a-C4? “People who drive
it, or ride in it, just can’t believe it,” says Kalina. “It’s a solid car,” he
adds, while stating that the overall experience rivals that of a C6. “I have an
’05 right now that I’ll be trading in on a new ’14. If you closed your eyes and
drove either it or this Sting Ray, you wouldn’t know the difference.”
But the judges have seen the difference between Kalina’s ’63
and competing rides on the show field, honoring the midyear with class wins and
other awards at Carlisle, the Syracuse Nationals (where it was a Top 12
winner), and at Good guys’ big show at Rhinebeck, New York.
Maybe you, too, have asked around at Corvette shows and
other events over the years, in search of that ideal project car. “If you’re
going to do it, find a body that’s half decent,” advises Kalina. “Make sure
that the body is as good as it looks. That’s the key, [and] you can save
yourself a lot of money.”
’63 Coupe
split-window out look
With a decent body, a rolling chassis, a modern crate
engine, and a little bit of luck, you’re bound to make your own dream Vetterod
a reality.
