So, what's this and who made it? Uno point..o...
Perhaps more familiar to the experts?
Corvette base?
Do the pros know what goes with saying?
A modified Corvette Stingray made in USA ?
Quote from: oko94 on April 01, 2015, 12:23:50 PM
A modified Corvette Stingray made in USA ?
It is indeed a modified Stingray from the US, but it has a specific name and a specific maker too.
Yenko ?
Quote from: oko94 on April 02, 2015, 01:47:04 PM
Yenko ?
I do not believe Yenko to have had any involvement in this car.
Was it built by a company known for its racing activities ?
Quote from: oko94 on April 07, 2015, 03:32:04 AM
Was it built by a company known for its racing activities ?
It was not.
An extra picture to aid in the identification of this car.
Interesting. From that angle the modifications seem more modern than the base car. Modified in the eighties ?
Quote from: oko94 on April 07, 2015, 09:03:34 AM
Interesting. From that angle the modifications seem more modern than the base car. Modified in the eighties ?
That is one of the few bits of information I don't have unfortunately. I'd say - based on some other dates presented - not from the eighties.
You are correct though that this car was modified a number of years after the original base Corvette was made.
Did the company build other cars than this one ?
Quote from: oko94 on April 07, 2015, 01:00:40 PM
Did the company build other cars than this one ?
The company that this was born out of technically may have done, but this creation was one man's project - not officially done under the umbrella of a company.
Was John Silva involved ?
Quote from: oko94 on April 07, 2015, 06:56:51 PM
Was John Silva involved ?
Not a name that I have related to this car, no.
Looks like the rear glass is originally from a DeTomaso Vallelunga.
Only name that sprang to mind was Dick Guldstrand.
Quote from: WayneB on April 08, 2015, 09:03:33 PM
Looks like the rear glass is originally from a DeTomaso Vallelunga.
Only name that sprang to mind was Dick Guldstrand.
Very very good eye! That is indeed the source of the glass - you're on the right track!
Not Guldstrand.
I've found a reference to a custom Corvette called "Love American Style" with a Vallelunga rear window, is it this one ?
Quote from: oko94 on April 09, 2015, 03:03:44 AM
I've found a reference to a custom Corvette called "Love American Style" with a Vallelunga rear window, is it this one ?
I've not heard of anything close to Love American Style in relation to this car.
Was it modified by Roger Brunelle, aka Bruno, and called King Rat ?
Quote from: oko94 on April 09, 2015, 03:10:09 AM
Was it modified by Roger Brunelle, aka Bruno, and called King Rat ?
That's the car, but not the modifier. In the article you'll see it's Keith Ball who made the conversion - but since you provided his name in the image, you'll get the point anyway. ;D
Reading that it seems Love American Style was a previous car that came through the store, this being a completely separate project.
Well done, 1 point duly awarded!
A couple more images from my source to round this one out.
I indeed misread the article, so thanks for the point !
And many thanks to WayneB, I would never have found the solution without the Vallelunga hint.
No Problem, glad it helped.
I am sure I saw it in an old Hot Rod magazine back in the 70's, but couldn't remember exactly who built it.
Traco engineering was just down the road from Dick Guldstrands shop in Culver City California , so I was fishing in the right pond.
Bruno's Corvettes certainaly is a familiar name, but I probably wouldn't have remembered it.
Well Done!
The King Rat is a creation by a man named Keith Ball. Of course you already knew that.
I have a couple of photos I took of it back in the early nineties around here somewhere.
He told me he got it from Hollywood after it had been wrecked.
It was the Corvette that the couple on 'Love American Style' hopped out of to run down to the beach.
I met him several years after he created it, so the only things I know of its history before then are only what he told me.
But, I washed the car and worked with Keith for a few years.
Here are a few facts that may have been missed:
The lights are aircraft landing lights, because as Keith says, "When you are going 222.222222 mph, you want to see as far ahead as you can!"
It went 222.22222 mph on the salt flats (I think it was in 1972).
I can't find a copy, but his first wife was the model in the pictures for Hot Rod mag.
It has submarine batteries in the floor (they drop in by the kick-plate near the door).
It has sheepskin seats and interior (he had a mouse chew through a water line in his garage and it flooded the Rat one summer).
The day it flooded, he told me to hop in and we'd take it down the highway to "dry it out'. I declined (wish I hadn't now ... it's complicated).
I thought he was kidding me about his custom jobs in LA until he went to his closet to get something one day and a pile of trophies fell out.
There were pictures of the Vettes he custom built for Sonny and Cher, Charlton Heston and a few more that I can't remember.
We worked together around 1992.
Oh yeah, the color is not just yellow ... he clear-coated it with blue pearl.
As to his life and private matters, those are his business.
All I know and will share is that he was a good friend (he's still around the last I heard, but that is personal information as well).
I left a lengthy reply yesterday as to the history of this car and its creator. I have looked for pics (other than my own) of this for years!
Only wish I had seen this when it was first posted.
"You asked me what it's like going 222. 22222 mph? You are thinking, 'Did I tighten that to specs? LOL!" ~ Keith Ball
Keith Ball is bigger than life.