Denis '63 Restoration

This is the story of a complete body-off restoration on a 1963 Corvette Roadster, in the NCRS tradition.  At the end of the 70s this car had undergone a complete rebuild.  Not too much effort was spent on details in those years, as long as the car looked good.

The rebuild had been good, since the car still looked great after 17 yrs of use.  The paint was in decent shape, as well as the chrome and frame, however the interior was starting to look a bit tired and so the time had finally come to give this ‘63 Corvette the look it deserved. 

First things first. After removing the bumpers, moldings and trim, stripping was started.  Using a razor blade and a lot of patience, making sure not to damage the fiberglass was a time-consuming but necessary job. The fiberglass had to be examined for stress cracks and wear and tear.

Next the interior and all window glass, was removed leaving an empty shell, to allow for the next big step, lifting the body.  A good buddy in the NCRS lent us his body sling, enabling us to safely and relatively easily  lift the body.

The frame was momentarily moved aside, so that we could concentrate on the body.  Using exact dimensions from the ‘63 frame, we constructed a dolly to hold the body, allowing us the freedom to work on the body.  We were determined to clean and correct any defects everywhere under the car. 

After all the fiberglass was 35 years old, the dolly would facilitate our work. We inspected inner fenders, floor pans, inside and out, checking everywhere thoroughly for stress cracks. We busied ourselves repairing cracks, broken brackets and worn areas that when the car was assembled would have been impossible to repair.  This was a good time to correct hidden problems.

On the assembly line GM workers assigned each car a job number, from 1 to 500.  Once they reached 500 they started all over again at 1.  The numbers were used to identify what options were available on particular cars.  These numbers are usually found on the firewall, console, inside door panels, and on the bulkhead.  On this ‘63 Corvette the job number was 244, locating the numbers on the inside of the doors meant that the doors were still original equipment. 

It's always plenty of hard work to prepare a body for paint, but finally it was ready and sent off to the paint shop.  The original Sebring Silver, was applied.  It was great to see the body in paint, but there's still quite a bit of work remaining. 

Now we could concentrate our efforts on the frame.  First we stripped it, uncovering a very solid frame along with the original serial number, which matched the body serial number. This was a great discovery and we were delighted to find that this was the original frame.  We took the frame to a sandblast shop where they got rid of all the rust and applied a coat of epoxy primer to prevent future rust.  Next we spent some time getting rid of marks of time and finally applied a new coat of semi-gloss black, just like the original factory finish.

All the front and rear suspension components were changed or rebuilt to original specifications and carefully reinstalled.  Once all the mechanical components had been rebuilt and reinstalled the whole assembly looked brand new.  Just like back in February 1963 when GM first assembled it.

Time had come to put the body back on its frame, for us at least the most stressful time in the restoration.  With help from good friends, we lifted the body off the dolly and positioned the frame under it, then slowly lowered the body and bolted it down.  Finally back together.

Carefully we reinstalled the window glass, bumpers, doors, hood, soft top, and interior.  Without chipping or scratching the freshly painted body or any of the new parts. This is what I referred to as a test in patience and keeping ones cool, but in July 98 the result paid off, I was extremely satisfied.

Denis Hébert