Buying cars form overseas vendors via internet auction sites is fraught with danger, as we’ve all come to realise over the past few years. The temptation to hit the ‘buy now’ key is a something many of us find irresistible – and it was a temptation that Greg and Diane Haliday couldn’t resist when they spotted this Corvette for sale.
Like most of our readers, I’ve certainly heard my fair share of horror stories associated with the importation of cars, especially from the US – with unsuspecting new owners ending up with anything from mild dissatisfaction to a complete and utter financial nightmare.
Our feature car, unfortunately, confirmed an all too familiar story for Greg and Diane Haliday. Sure, they’d imported cars from the US before, and yes, they’d been disappointed and vowed never again. But when a 1958 Corvette looks like a million dollars on a computer screen and is described as a “good driver” with a numbers matching drivetrain, then I’m with Greg and Diane on this one.
I’d have pushed the ‘buy now’ key if I had the cash available.
It wasn’t really as if it was a rush decision, Greg and Diane had been looking around for a nice early Corvette for some time, and had done their homework researching the differences between the varying Corvette C1 models produced between 1953 and 1962, eventually deciding on the 1958 model. I have to agree, it’s the nicest-looking of the C1 ’Vettes. Diane had also spotted one at the Kumeu Hot Rod Festival which only confirmed they’d made the right choice.
Unchallenged
On the face of it, Greg and Diane had undoubtedly picked a winner – back in 1958 the Corvette was unchallenged, with staggering sales of over 9000 units. That was also the first year in its five year history that the Corvette showed a profit for Chevrolet and GM. Considered by many to be one of the ‘ritziest’ Corvettes ever built, the ’58 model reflected the ostentatious trend towards over-indulgence in cosmetic chrome-work, all wrapped up in a flamboyant, if impractical, body style. The quad headlights would end by becoming the hallmark of the Corvette’s styling for the next 25 years, even after the introduction of concealed lights in 1963.
The car’s curvaceous lines were hooked up with a row of simulated louvres on the bonnet, fake air scoops in the side cove areas, and twin chrome bars running down the boot lid. Stylists considered replacing the distinctive grille teeth with a mesh insert, but that idea was abandoned, although the grille had four of its original ‘teeth’ extracted.
The bumpers, which had previously been attached to the body, were now secured to the frame, providing significantly greater protection for the already toughened fibreglass body.
Interior revisions were just as extreme, but in the long run were to prove far more successful. It was severely criticised by many for its original instrument panel layout, so the ’58 Corvette’s interior designers made sure that every dial, except for the clock, was placed directly in front of the driver. The over-sized semi-circular 160mph (257kph) speedometer dominated, with the 6000rpm tachometer perched in front of it mounted on the steering column and flanked by secondary instruments. From the dash centre dropped a vertical style console housing the heater controls, clock and the ‘Wonder Bar’ signal-seeking radio. A grab-bar in front of a semi-circular cut-out made up the passenger’s side of the dash, and a locking glove compartment was installed between the seats.
Door panels also came in for some treatment, receiving a complete restyling with the inclusion of reflectors at arm level for safety when opening the doors at night.
More Power
But most notably, the all-new 1958 Corvette had even more power than ever before, and was actually reasonably quick. The high compression fuel-injected 4638cc (283ci) V8, complete with Duntov camshaft and cool air intake, was the most potent engine in the line-up, pumping out a respectable 216kW (290hp) at 6200rpm. There was also a twin-carb, 201kW (270bhp) version available. However, more than half the cars sold were equipped with the base 171kW (230bhp) single-carb engine. Barely 1000 customers purchased the 216kW unit, and only about 500 opted for the 186kW (250bhp) injected set-up, which also featured a milder cam. Rounding out the choices was the 182kW (245bhp) version with a four-barrel carburettor and mild 9.5:1 compression.
For about an extra grand you could option up with the hottest engine set-up, Positraction differential, heavy-duty brakes and suspension, four-speed manual transmission and metallic brake linings; making it one of the world’s quickest volume production sports cars – more than a match for the Jaguars and Porsches of the day.
The Purchase
Greg and Diane’s intention was never to buy and restore, but to turn their Corvette, once they found one, into a mild street rod by adding a few of their own subtle modifications and enjoy driving it.
After having the car checked over, Greg and Diane eventually bought their ’58 Vette and had it shipped down-under. Once Greg had had a chance to carry out the usual post purchase once-over he came to the conclusion that his ‘new’ Corvette was exactly what he thought it was, but not as good as he’d hoped it would be. At best it was a driver, just.
Not long after its arrival, Greg and Diane decided to take the Corvette along to an NCRS (National Corvette Restorers’ Society) judging meeting and let the ‘experts’ take a look. Fortunately, or should I say unfortunately for Greg and Diane, there were a few distinguished US NCRS top judges present, and the news wasn’t promising. Their little red Corvette was not what it seemed. It had obviously seen far better days, in fact there weren’t too many positives to come out of their first NCRS judging experience, which left them feeling somewhat dejected.
During the ensuing weeks, Greg and Dianne had some quite frank discussions with local Corvette guru and NCRS New Zealand chairman, Graham McDonald, about their dilemma. Essentially, they had to decide whether to keep the Corvette and restore it, or sell it and cut their losses – the latter option being Graham’s advice. Many sleepless nights followed, as well as some intense anguish, before Greg and Diane decided to bite the bullet and restore the car – although they did come extremely close to getting rid of it.
With this decision made, Greg wasted no time in putting together a budget (we’ve heard that one before). He’d had the foresight to ship a fairly comprehensive range of parts with the car, and soon formulated a plan of attack plus a list of more parts he thought necessary to complete the restoration.
The Restoration
The garage was cleared out and restoration began by stripping the car down to its bare shell. An NCRS member working bee was subsequently arranged and the body was lifted off the chassis. To everyone’s surprise the chassis and suspension were in relatively good shape, showing no signs of rust, a common problem with ageing Corvette chassis.
Graeme McNeill took the chassis away for sand-blasting, painting and suspension reassembly. Meanwhile the body was sent off for some minor fibreglass repairs.
Graeme McNeill also rebuilt one of the Corvette’s major redeeming features, the numbers matching engine, along with the four-speed manual transmission.
Completed parts of the car started to arrive back in Greg’s garage, but one of the ongoing frustrations he was experiencing was finding people with enough experience and knowledge in restoring old Corvettes. At this point the body was mounted on a dolly and sent off to John Lisle at Cascade Auto Finish for paint and more body repairs.
During a monthly NCRS meeting, Greg had light-heartedly mentioned to Graham McDonald that wouldn’t it be great to bring Ralph Ridge – a highly regarded Corvette restorer and frequent visitor to NCRS NZ meetings from Castle Rock, Colorado, USA – over to complete the restoration on his car.
To cut a long story short, a few phone calls later Ralph Ridge was on a flight to New Zealand.
It was March 2009 when Ralph arrived, and one of his first tasks was to visit Cascade Auto Finish and check out the paint job. On first glance he commented that it was a great job but, and there’s always that ‘but’, it was over finished, which would cost Greg valuable points in an NCRS judging situation. By ‘over finished’ Ralph explained that the paint was too highly polished for the period of the car, and the shade of red used was incorrect – apparently it was too red.
Much to Greg and Ralph’s surprise, John Lisle repainted the car overnight; the end result is a stunningly correct finish with the red taking on an almost milky finish, exactly as the original colour did according to Ralph’s expert opinion.
Once the car was back in Greg’s garage Ralph, surrounded by stacks of new parts, started the arduous task of reassembling the Corvette. Thankfully John Lisle, a welcomed and regular visitor, was on hand to assist Ralph and Greg whenever possible.
The Discovery
Things never quite go according to plan when restoring cars. We all know this to be the case, it’s programmed into our psyche, not only does it never go according to plan, but we usually discover somewhere along the way that it’s going to cost more. Way more than we ever expected! Yet we subject ourselves to this stressful heartache time and time again, thinking that one day we will eventually get it right.
Sometimes, and only sometimes, there’s an advantageous twist of fate. It does happen – and here’s proof.
While Ralph was busily reassembling the old ’Vette – which at that stage was about 90 per cent complete – he discovered some old studs when he was trying to fit the new interior kick panels, commenting that someone had obviously fitted ‘Fuel Injection’ badges at some stage for cosmetic reasons. While explaining this to Greg, Ralph went on to explain that if it was a “real fuelie” it would have a bracket for the air cleaner to attach to the underside lip of the front guard. As he mouthed those prophetic words, he was rubbing his hand along the front guard. Yes, you guessed it – the bracket was still in place. At his point Greg started to get rather, although somewhat prematurely excited, thinking that he may have a rare fuel-injected ’58 Corvette. Ralph had an inkling, but tempered his enthusiasm until he was certain.
Ralph immediately started contacting some early Corvette experts in the US for a second opinion, and began research via the internet for some answers. In addition there were many questions being asked – was there a hole in the firewall for the tachometer drive cable? Was there a high rpm tachometer? Were there open holes either side of the radiator support for the air intakes?
Unfortunately, the answer was no to all these questions and Greg felt rather gutted. After all, it appeared he didn’t have one of the rare 216kW fuel injection-optioned cars, of which only 1007 were built.
Then one of Ralph’s contacts suggested there was an even rarer 186kW fuel-injected Corvette also built in 1958. Rarer, because only 504 had been produced. These cars had one hole blocked off on the radiator surround, a low rpm tachometer and no hole in the firewall for the tachometer cable. After some intense double-checking the pieces finally started to fall into place. The clues had been present all along, and it was just a matter of placing them all together. Yes, Greg was in possession of an extremely rare – and valuable, I might add – 1958 186kW fuel-injected Corvette.
After this startling revelation, the project took on a whole new lease of life, and the decision had to be made whether to complete the restoration with or without adding the fuel injection unit which, in any event, was missing and was going to be a very expensive exercise – providing, of course, that they could locate the correct unit. However, both Greg and Diane felt that because they had come this far, they might as well carry on and finish the restoration complete with fuel injection.
The engine was subsequently removed from the car and shipped back to the US for Ralph to completely rebuild in conjunction with Glenn Reiff, a renowned specialist in old fuelie Corvettes.
More Luck
Another stroke of luck, another eBay purchase and Reiff had in his possession (on Greg’s behalf) a perfectly correct fuel injection unit that he completely refurbished and fitted to his own Corvette to ensure it ran perfectly.
When the engine was rebuilt and reassembled, complete with fuel injection, it was shipped back to New Zealand. Ralph arrived 24 hours later to finish the Corvette’s restoration, which took about another two weeks – the car being finished just in time for the annual Corvette and Mustang Show held on the Hibiscus Coast of Auckland, September 2009.
Unfortunately, the Corvette was unable to be tuned, another bug-bear of these fuelie Corvettes, and had to be taken to the show on a transporter.
When Glenn Reiff heard of the tuning issue he immediately flew all the way to New Zealand (now, that’s what I call service) to sort the issue, and discovered the difference in altitude between where the engine had been tuned in the US and NZ was the cause of the problem. Once re-tuned and road tested, the Corvette was running as if it had just rolled off the assembly line. Greg and Dianne appreciate Glenn Reiff making the commitment to stand by his workmanship, and would also like to say a special thank you to their good friends Ralph Ridge and John Lisle for their support and commitment throughout their restoration journey.
Greg and Diane soon had their freshly restored Corvette back at this year’s NCRS NZ Nationals for judging, and received an astounding Top Flight 99.1 per cent score, enough for it to qualify for a Duntov Award of Excellence. As New Zealand and Australian judges haven’t the necessary qualifications or experience at this level of judging, Greg and Diane are considering shipping the car to the US to be judged for this award.
Next year is possibly not an option due to other commitments, but for Greg and Diane, 2012 looks like the year for taking their beauty to the States to be critiqued by the world’s best.
We wish them luck and look forward to following their progress.
For more photos and full specifications, visit the Classic Car website.
Words: Ashley Webb
Photos: Dan Wakelin