A brief ride down to the fish docks under the Ballard Bridge in Seattle in the Kustom was memorable. On the day of the shoot, the Corvette was reluctant to start but eventually fired up, spluttering and spitting as it warmed up. Keeping three carbs in tune is a pain anyway, and in a barely-used car it's worse. Triple SU carbs are one reason why so many E-Type Jaguars finished up with Chevy engines. The idle finally settled down enough to drive off, and the heavy clutch and gearbox and the large gobs of available torque are a disincentive to changing gears, so Second and Third did nicely. The ride is fairly stiff but still very acceptable even on some rough Seattle side roads.
If I owned this car, I would probably drive it everywhere, so it's probably for the best that John owns it instead. The thermostat may be sticky, as the very cool-looking temperature gauge suggests a rather uncool tendency to boil. Fortunately, the dockside location isn't far from the building that houses the Goodman collection, so the engine was switched off and left to cool down quickly as the photo session proceeded.
After a few hours of looking through a Nikon at the car, I still think it's more fab than the already-fab stock C1 Corvette. I will be gently pushing John to take it to a few shows next year so that more Corvette enthusiasts can get a look at it. Hopefully he can take a hint.
Bugs Bunny was featured on...
Bugs Bunny was featured on many rods and Kustoms-rather nice that the whole subculture didn't take itself too seriously.
The interior remained stock...
The interior remained stock in 1959 and was restored to stock during Steve McCain's rebuild. There was never any need to change it, as the stock '53 interior is sublime.
The period 283 is topped by...
The period 283 is topped by a forest of Rochester barrels. The car is undoubtedly still as unruly in the wet as it was when Ed Cureton crashed it 47 years ago.