The Shed

Without a doubt, this is a very special Corvette.

The custom body is coated with a unique black and silver base coat under a translucent violet hue with subtle ghost flames that can only be seen at certain angles. At night it takes on a stealth quality, becoming almost invisible.

Steve Mack Shed Mate who runs the Australian Corvettes Association became the lucky owner when his friend, who had put years of effort into creating this stunning Corvette, was forced to sell.

Everything impresses.

The engine is stroked to 383 cubic inches. The dash is totally custom. The new R4 700 transmission has beefed up internals and shifts via a B & M Hammer shift. Steering is rack and pinion. The independant suspension has Koni shocks with American Racing Torq-Thrust II polished alloy wheels.

Everything is custom, including the seats which have no adjustment. I sat in the drivers seat and was glad the roof was off, because my head was up in the weather, where the roof would be.

The B & M hammershift was stiff to put into drive, but the view through the windscreen as I drove off was brilliant, the C3 curvy fenders enhanced by the shotgun air intake sticking through the power bulge.

At the first junction I discovered the brakes were light and really good. The steering is 3 turns lock to lock, with a Ford Rack & Pinion steering and a Lexus steering column. The car was tight, no rattles and easy to drive.

Steve lives on the outskirts of Brisbane, almost in the country. We’ve driven each other’s Corvette’s a few times and it was extremely generous of him to let me drive this unique Corvette, and tell me I could ‘give it some stick’. With that encouragement, on a clear country road, I gave it about half throttle. It shot off like a rocket and when it changed into second I banged my head hard on the rear Targa bar. Steve then told me he’d had the shift adjusted to be firm – yeah, thanks mate, that didn’t ease the pain at all.

We turned onto a straight main road going slightly uphill, with a 100 kph speed limit. No traffic in sight. I pushed the accelerator to the floor and immediately the car dived strongly to the left, I corrected without lifting the throttle and we were flying. There was a very strong push into my back. The full throttle shift into second provided the usual rear end twitch to the left which I half expected but when I lifted off the throttle at the end of the run, the car dived to the right, which I hadn’t anticipated. Some serious torque there !!

The exhaust sound, like the rest of this Corvette, was perfect. On startup there is a loud crackle which is impressive. At idle the exhaust burbles powerfully. The 383 Chev engine runs super quiet, the only noise being from the fuel pump.

Once under way the exhaust note is very good without droning or being annoying. Accelerating in traffic produces a louder sound, suggesting there is far more power available. It sounded just right without making other drivers think there was a race going on. At wide open throttle there’s a totally different story, all hell breaks loose with a that awesome knocking/hammering noise of a powerful Chev engine at full noise. Yeah, I loved it.

All the engineering is well done, with many non standard items. For instance, the headlights are motor driven, not vaccuum. The Custom Dash looks good, the gauges are clear to read and the indicator is on the right hand side.

The Engine bay is clean and there’s lots of bling

The custom aluminium radiator has two 14” Craig Davis fans

The 750cfm Holley Carby has a Shotgun intake which protrudes through the hood

The rear interior has an 8 speaker Kenwood surround system with 500 watt amp and built in woofer. The sound was crystal clear, with plenty of guts.
I used to play in Rock bands and It was LOUD!!

Tyres are BFG Radial T/A on American Racing Torq-Thrust II polished alloys

Not surprisingly this Corvette has won trophies and appeared in magazines. My thanks To Steve Mack for trusting me with his pride and joy, and for permission to use his photos here.

I’m hanging out to drive this vette again!!