If you want a Corvette with vintage looks and modern performance, there’s really only two routes to take. You can purchase a C1, C2 or C3 Corvette and give it a massive overhaul with modern-day suspension and chassis components and a contemporary drivetrain, or you can scoop up a Karl Kustom C6 Corvette.
The Karl Kustom Corvette, as you can probably tell, is essentially a modern take on the C2 Corvette. The company starts with a brand-new C6 and replaces nearly all of the body panels with their own specially designed pieces, giving it the look of a 1963 split window C2. It may not look entirely like the real thing, but it’s enough to fool most passersby, and the best of all the car retains the performance, reliability and comfort of a modern day ‘Vette.
If this all sounds a bit enticing to you, you’ll want to pay a visit to Barrett Jackson’s upcoming Palm Beach auction set to be held from April 17th to the 19th. A silver Karl Kustom C6 Corvette equipped with a supercharged 6.2-liter LS3 V8 and a 6-speed automatic transmission is set to cross the auction block there, and better yet, it used to belong to Rick Hendrick.
According to the listing, Hendrick purchased this car brand-new for his huge car collection and it has been sitting there ever since. It’s travelled only 202 miles since it left Karl Kustom’s shop, and has also undergone a full 168-point Hendrick Peformance inspection and comes with a clean CARFAX report. It’d be hard to find a C2 with similar credentials.
This might not be a real split-window ‘Vette, but it’s a pretty convincing replica. Ken Lingenfelter owns of these cars and during a visit to his collection, we were standing right next to it for quite sometime before we realized it was a replica C2 and not the real deal.
Check out the listing here for additional information and photos.
Comment
I saw one of these on the street In Toledo, OH last week. First spotted it from behind and thought “Wow, an old ’63 split window Vette”. Then the image sank in and everything looked just sort of strange. Longer, lower, and wider body made it look like it had been stepped on by the Jolly Green Giant, or some kind of slot car body from the ’70s. The longer I followed it, the less it looked like a ’63 and more like some wannabe kit car. It was well executed, but sorry, I’d rather spend the money on something from Factory Five or Foose.