1964 Corvette - The Timberwolf Speed Shop C2 Project Car: The Beginning

We are going to take you on a journey, not only of space and time but one that includes fiberglass and steel. This journey will encompass the transformation of a domesticated Corvette into a C2 beast, changing a Dr. Jekyll into a Mr. Hyde if you will; one that will lurk the streets at night and rule the roads by day. When its oily lifeblood is warm and circulated, a treacherous scream will be heard coming from under its muscular skin. A scream that will be heard from far, far away, almost like a pack of hungry timber wolves on a clear night.

In serious horsepower circles, this C2 beast will never be tamed. It will always be lurking and waiting to wreak havoc on the unprepared car builder. For the one who has not bulletproofed every aspect of his or hers car's components, the beast will wreak havoc on every cubic inch of their being. This beast isn't human or animal, it's the C2 Timber Wolf Corvette that has a heartbeat with a personality all its own. This car has an insatiable appetite for whatever gets in its way, and when the beast is hungry, it goes on the road looking for whomever or whatever it may devour. Soon in your town, around any corner, at any stoplight, the beast called the Timber Wolf C2 may be on the road leading to the "Taillight Zone."

Yes, imagine reading this with the low monotone voice of Rod Sterling with a lit cigarette burning in your hand, tilting your head a little to the side, enunciating the words, "Taillight Zone." We just couldn't resist! A C2 Vette named Timber Wolf. It gives literary license to mate machine to animal.

When you think about a journey, any journey, many times you have a preconceived notion of how the final destination will turn out. When you are planning a special car project like this one, there is an excitement that generates energy in the planning and preparation. You plan, prepare, take notes, make drawings, and have visions at night of how the project should turn out. But as we all know, project cars can and will take on a persona of their own. This is the story of how the Corvette Fever/Timber Wolf Speed Shop C2 project began.

When the head office of Primedia got in touch with Corvette Fever to discuss the Timber Wolf project and the possibility of building this car, a big decision had to be made. Who could possibly help build a car of this magnitude in the short timeframe dictated by Timber Wolf? due to the flurry of restoration sales activity over the last couple of years, many, if not all, of the great restoration shops currently have two to three years of work already spoken for. CF contacted Corvette Restoration AZ in Tempe, Arizona. After several intense phone calls, the shop found a way to take the project on. Great! Now we had to come up with a build plan and find a suitable car to rebuild ASAP. This would not be an easy process given all the parameters of the build, but everyone was excited to get started.

As the Timber Wolf project ramped up, the next step was to find a suitable donor car. The search was finally narrowed down to three potential cars: a '67 coupe in Rochester, New York, a project car owned by John Blanding; a '66 coupe in Phoenix, Arizona, more or less a finished car; and a '64 coupe that was purchased many years ago by Jerry Sawyers, proprietor of a carnival concession company in the Washington State area.

Jerry is now retired and has amassed an incredible collection of rare musclecars. In years past, when Jerry would set up his carnival all over the U.S., he would wander through the parking lot searching for vehicles for sale. The shrewd, astute business man that he is, he would purchase notable and rare musclecars for pennies, and then leave them sitting in the parking lot for the duration of the carnival to make the carnival appear busier. When the carnival was over, he would stash the purchased vehicles in a warehouse and leave them, moving on to do the same thing in the next town.

When Jerry was told about this project, he offered to sell this '64 at a fair price, less its running gear. The stock powertrain was to be replaced anyway so a deal was struck, and the car was brought from Jerry's storage area near Phoenix to the Corvette Restoration AZ shop in Tempe. Ironically, we searched the entire country for a car, and the best one was located only a quarter-mile away.