1965 Chevrolet Corvette

Convertible

8 - Cyl.

Manual

Gasoline

Offered for your consideration is my beautiful 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster. A rust free Texas car, I purchased her in 2004 and began a thorough 6 year restoration and upgrade process. She was gone through bumper to bumper, and no expense was spared anywhere throughout the restoration. My goal was to not only retain the look and feel of this classic work of art but to upgrade key components to make her feel and drive like a new performance car with modern reliability and conveniences. The end result of this labor of love is an impeccable "Resto Mod" that looks like a classic muscle Corvette of the 60's with the performance, handling and comfort of a modern Corvette. This car is truly a one of a kind work of art that you can drive around town or across the country with no concerns. You can also blow the doors off just about anything on the road today with her. She's powered by a small block Chevy motor with big block power. Originally, she came from the factory with a 327/350 horsepower engine. Today she sports a 383 stroker motor hand built by one of the foremost performance engine builders in the Southwest. Internally, the engine has a 4 bolt main with a one piece rear seal. An Eagle 4340 steel crank with Eagle high performance connecting rods. She runs 9.5 to 1 JE pistons and runs great on pump premium fuel. Cylinder heads are Dart Pro 1 aluminum heads. The valve train sports Edelbrock hydraulic rollers with excellent throttle response. Headers are Hooker Shorties that feed into the factory side pipes. The sound is throaty and crisp, not too loud but a real head turner under acceleration. The motor turns out approximately 465 horsepower, a big increase over what she put out when new. The motor components are all top of the line, and in addition to greatly enhanced performance the motor is reliable as a stone. As opposed to dropping a heavy big block motor into these corvettes for more power, having the small block motor creates much better front / rear weight distribution and makes a tremendous positive difference in handling and braking. From the factory she came with a 4 barrel carburetor. I've upgraded her with modern sequential multiport fuel injection controlled by an Accel DFI Gen 7 brain with wide band tuning. Now she fires up instantly and purrs at idle. No more carburetor fussiness, long warm ups and vapor locks. She starts and instantly performs like a modern Corvette. Ignition is handled by a dual sync distributor with a msd box. From the factory the transmission was an M-21 4 speed "road race" close ratio unit. I still have this and it will be available separately. To handle the increased horsepower and to upgrade to modern performance I installed a full Keisler Conversion kit and a Tremec 5 speed overdrive transmission. This unit is top of the line and is rated to handle 600 ft. pounds of torque. It has a low 2.87 first gear which will launch the car like a rocket and 5th is geared as a .68 overdrive for highway cruising at low rpms. To complete the transmission upgrade the unit is mated to a Keisler Correct Fit bell housing with an 11 inch Centerforce diaphragm clutch with an easy pedal. The rear end is a factory GM unit with an Eaton Brute Strength differential sporting 3.73 gears. Next is the extensive brake, suspension and handling upgrades. She sports Full Vette brakes and Products Suspension front and rear. In front is a complete mono spring setup with box tube offset upper arms The rear is handled by a dual mount spring system with a fiberglass mono leaf, a rear cross member reinforcing kit, and ends with heavy duty Smart Struts and poly differential mount bushing kit. The suspension is handled by QA1 adjustable shocks at all four corners. Additionally I added rear end offset trailing arms to accommodate larger wheels and tires. On the rear I installed larger 17” x 9” wheels with 255/60 ZR 17 tires. The front also has 17” wheels and tires. The steering was upgraded with a Steeroids Power Rack and Pinion conversion kit. This is the smoothest steering system on the market, and now she is 2 1/2 steering wheel turns full lock left to full lock right. The brake system sports SSBC Turbo Slotted rotors front and rear. The calipers are SSBC Extremes front and rear. They are powdercoated in high temp red, replicating the look of modern Corvette brakes. The whole braking system is controlled by a Bosch Hydroboost brake system using no vacuum. As opposed to how she came from the factory, this baby stops like an Indy car. To keep her cool I installed a Dewitts aluminum large capacity radiator with twin thermostatically controlled electric fans. No more problems with overheating when you are out cruising in stop and go traffic. To keep you (and your better half) cool I've installed a Vintage Air system with a polished Sanden compressor. It blows ice cold and keeps the interior cool on the hottest days. The electrical system is handled by a 100 amp chrome alternator, and a top of the line red Optima gel cell battery is installed. All the above is driven by a March Performance serpentine belt system. On the inside, the carpet and seat covers were replaced when I purchased the car. The interior looks like it just left the showroom floor. I upgraded the factory crank windows to modern power windows powered with factory Chevrolet switches. The sound system was upgraded with a modern Auto Sound retrofit stereo system. This unit can play your Ipod, and is mated to a 6 disc changer that is installed in the trunk. The beauty of this unit is it fits into the factory radio slot without any cutting or modifying of the dash. You retain the classic radio look with modern sound and convenience. The sound is handled through 4 main speakers and 2 eight inch sub woofers conveniently hidden away from view. The top was recently replaced and looks like new. The exterior of the car is finished in a beautiful silver paint scheme in excellent condition and shows great with the black top and interior. In summary, this girl is a stunning example of one of the most beautiful Corvettes ever made. It has all the timeless beauty of a 60's classic with 21st century muscle, reliability and performance. There simply isn't an area on this car where it falls short. As much as I hate to part with her, I am so busy with my business and other interests I don't have the time to drive her like I'd like to. Since purchasing her 6 years ago I've put less than 1,500 miles on her. It's a shame to have her sitting in the garage so I've decided to let someone else who can appreciate her become the proud new owner. It would be impossible to replicate this car for under 100K. My reserve is well below this, so my loss is your gain. You might never find a finer example of this beauty, so don't let this opportunity pass you by. She's also for sale in other venues so I reserve the right to end the auction early. I must also reserve the right to cancel bids from bidders with negative or zero feedback. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. The winning bidder must place a non refundable $1000 deposit via Paypal within 48 hours of the end of the auction. The balance is due in cash or cashier's check within 7 days of the end of the auction. Shipping is at the expense of the winning bidder. There are several good movers listed here on Ebay or you can do a google search to find auto shippers. Don't miss out on this exceptional beauty. You might not see one like her again for a long time!