Arizona Custom Car Design Salvages a 1966 Corvette Project and Turns it into a Modern Muscle Machine
Herb Pavey’s 1966 Corvette navigated a long and winding road during the 40 years since he bought the car in Miami while on a business trip. He drove the car home to Chicago and later the Vette carried Herb to Park City, Utah. After 35 years of weekend cruiser duty and a move to Phoenix, Herb decided it was time to create the resto mod machine he always wanted.
Another bump in the road slowed the Corvette’s transformation, though.
“I finally made the decision to do it and took it to a local shop,” Herb says. “That was not a pleasant experience and left me with a sour taste and a hole in my wallet.”
At that point he met Travis Sanchez with Arizona Custom Car Design and the stalled project got turned around and headed in the right direction. This phase of the Corvette’s journey was daunting. There wasn’t much left of the car: no front clip, firewall, floors, tubs, quarter panels, chassis, or top.
Travis says the goal was to create a car that was true to the classic Corvette design but aggressive enough to make a statement in today’s street machine world. That meant starting with a Roadster Shop Fast Track chassis, a 525-horsepower GM 6.2-liter LS3, 6L80E automatic transmission, Baer disc brakes, a Strange rear axle with 3.73 gears, and more. A custom Borla exhaust exits out the rear but has electronically controlled cut-outs for the functional side pipes – a must for any mid-’60s Corvette.
The heavily tweaked 1966 Corvette body started with a Dynamic Corvette ZR1 body kit, with added wheel flares (3-inches in front, 4-inches in the rear), a shaved cowl, custom spoiler, flip-down headlights, Kindig door handles, and more. The vents were redesigned to combine C1 and C8 styling points. When all the fiberglass massaging was done and the bodywork complete, Travis applied the Debeer Black Rose Metallic finish, a one-year-only factory Corvette color from 2017.
Arizona Custom Car Design and Ceballos Customs collaborated for the stylish but functional interior. A Dynamic Corvette wide dash panel includes Dakota Digital gauges and a push-button start function. Custom seats are covered in Moore and Giles leather featuring red threadwork. A custom sound system features a Rockford Fosgate head unit and Morell speakers.
Herb’s 1966 Corvette is more than a good-looking show car; it’s also a competitor and a road-worthy performer. It proved its performance potential on the AutoCross track in Colorado, and was later driven much of the way from Arizona to Texas for the final Muscle Machine of the Year driving events at the Lone Star Nationals. In short, it’s got beauty and brawn – a wonderful combination!
Photos: Damon Lee, Terry Lysak
