Summary

Boyd Coddington built, specifically for Ron Pratte, this bright yellow custom is based on a true second-year Corvette (the 3,270th unit of 3,640 built). Powered by a 400hp LS2 with a Richmond 5-speed transmission resulting in an amazing transformation.

Details

Is it blasphemy to customize a 1954 Corvette? Not when it's the work of the legendary Boyd Coddington and his crew led by Gabe Lopez. Built specifically for Ron Pratte, this bright yellow custom is based on a true second-year Corvette (the 3,270th unit of 3,640 built). Following Pratte's wish for a wolf in early Corvette clothing, Boyd's minions replaced the stock frame with an Art Morrison GT Sport tube steel unit and upgraded the underpinnings with C5 front suspension and a Ford 9' rear axle suspended by triangulated 4-link bars and adjustable coilover springs. Naturally, its 18' and 20' diameter Boyd billet aluminum wheels are wrapped in ZR-rated Goodyear Eagle supercar rubber. The stock Blue Flame inline six and Powerglide automatic gave way to a 400hp LS2 and Richmond 5-speed manual transmission with custom-finned aluminum valve covers to hide the modern coil-on-plug ignition. A one-off finned aluminum Rochester FI plenum look-alike disguises the LS2 Corvette engine's front-feed intake manifold. The bucket seat interior has been upgraded with subtle two-tone brown leather surfaces and a woven wool carpet. The instruments mimic the originals but reside in a one-off billet aluminum bezel featuring Boyd Coddington's signature. The custom steering wheel features warm-touch wooden grips sandwiching a billet aluminum tri-spoke center. Far more than a generic kit car, this C1 Corvette's GM and Coddington ancestry combine to make it something extraordinary that can be shown on a national level — or simply driven and enjoyed immediately.