63 Corvette Coupe 13K Original Miles
 

I figured I would start a thread on this car, to mirror the thread going on CF.

I helped my investing partner get this car about 18 months ago because he was smitten with my 63 fuelie. He decided vintage car ownership isn't for him at this station in life (it probably isn't for me, either) and I jumped at the opportunity to own it.

White with saddle leather interior and 13K original miles. The special part about it is that the ownership history is continuously documented back to new, and verifies the shown mileage. The original owner ordered the car from Kleinfelter Chevrolet in Lebanon, PA. He waited a long time because it was originally ordered with the KO wheels, which were never delivered. He installed a set of aftermarket mag wheels at delivery, The set of KO wheels on the car now were purchased at the parts counter in 1965, and have been with the car since.

It has been sitting a long time and I like my cars mechanically perfect, so I have lots of small items to tend-to. I don't think this is nearly the level of project I usually do, as it runs and drives fine already. I am looking forward to this being a leisurely project, with the intention of making it a solid driver and actually using it every weekend.

It was spec'd with leather interior, sintered brakes, AM/FM, 3.36 posi. It's just a 300 car but it's still pretty cool. It was undercoated heavily when new, and a prior owner endeavored to remove much of the undercoating. The frame is preserved so well that the original stencil is still totally clear.

The original leather is petrified, and I have a fully restored set of seats (and correct tires) to freshen it cosemetically.

I'll be adding some updates and Day 2 photos along the way. It had a 340 intake and valve covers added at some point, along with the deep groove pulleys. Basically cloned-out to look like a 340, but the original intake and VC are on now (still have the deep groove pulleys).

I had to haul it home on an open trailer in the rain, so it's pretty dirty at the moment.

Nice pad!

Very cool car! Good to see you still have your 993 also!

Yes I do. I didn't drive it except to get the AC repaired last summer, and only put about 100 miles on it this year. I seriously considered selling it, but I just couldn't. It's just too nice an example to part with, even if I don't have time for it right now. I've had newer 911's but nothing compares to a 993 IMO. I sold my 356C but am looking at another one right now.

It certainly is a nice one! I put 250 miles on mine this year…the summer just seemed to get away from me. Hope to get it out this weekend, but it’s raining right now…

Thank you. I love that car, I had just gotten burned-out on Porsches for awhile and I was so focused on getting my 63 fuel car sorted the last 2 years, I have had no time for it. Now my situation is the opposite--burned-out on Corvettes and wanting to make time for the Porsches. But I need to finish this 63 and then evaluate what to sell because it's just too many cars for me at this point in time. The only ones I simply will not sell are the 993 and the fuelie.

Congrats, nice Vette! I'll be following.

Thanks guys.

Here are the new seats (Bill and other said it would be a sin to tear apart the originals, so they will be on a shelf).

And it's getting (Kelsey) 670-15's like the fuelie as soon as I get the engine running right.

Nice CJ!!

love the car - one of my bucket list cars!

Thanks for the positive feedback.

Here is the progress thread on CF, with more of the technical content:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...project-2.html

Thanks for noticing. I keep trying to forget we have that. It's actually my wife's--purchased on BAT using my account while I was at work. I've tried to sell it off a few times, but she keeps thwarting my efforts.

It's kind of grown on me over the summer. I have a 6 mile in-town commute, and it's well-suited to daily use. Very loaded Jeep with the luxury carpet option, 5-speed, cruise, tilt. Also has dealer added A/C which is ice cold. Paint and decals original, except one door and the tailgate have been painted.

----So glad you saved the original seats. They are irreplaceable!....Bill S

I'm going to steal the hockey sticks for the new seats, because they are perfect. The offshore repro ones won't cut it.

I had some wicked vacuum leaks at the manifold, and now have it off for the second time. Should be driving in a few days.

Curse undercoating, but it preserved the undercarriage incredibly well.....

The white coupe looks great. It reminds me of the white '67 coupe I picked up earlier this year. The coupes are great drivers, you will enjoy it.

I agree on being a good driver. I have never had a 300 car before. I think this will be a great driver with the 3.36 (posi) gear. All the 63's I've had are 340s and one fuelie, all of which have/had deep gears and are of limited utility. Especially the FI car and the 110 octane Sunoco needed to make it run its best. I envision driving this a lot more. If I hang on awhile, maybe I will paint it (has one lacquer repaint done in the 60s or 70s and is showing its age). I'd like to keep the character of the original fiberglass and not have it straightened out to look like a show car. Need to find the right person for that job, if I go there. I'm in it for a fair enough price that I could justify paint.

I feel the 300hp 327 is the best running engine of the group. Nice idle, great torque, no drama. It pulls a 3.36 gear easily. Just a great road combination!

----The right painter/body guy will be able to track down some lacquer for you to make it as authentic as possible!....Bill S

Ran into some difficulties, as I always do. Carb and distributor were in great shape, rebuilt both because that's how I do things.

I started with a vacuum leak at the manifold, and after re-installing it twice, I still have a vacuum leak. Found I am sucking oil at the bottom of the intake runners all around. Appears someone surfaced the intake manifold, so it's a doorstop now. Just located a (hopefully better) date correct manifold and waiting on that to arrive. It doesn't appear the heads have been machined, but then again who knows...

Have gone over it and every number and date code is correct and/or original. All the original fasteners are still there, which is great to have. I had to replace the surge tank because it had the typical 63-64 tube issues and wouldn't hold pressure. But saved the original, of course.

More to come in a couple weeks once I strip and magnaflux the new manifold. Note it still has the original light gray/tan 63 tach cable. Radiator is original as well, so that will probably fail once I start driving it.

My Dad has a saying......

"Old cars, old buildings, and old women all require some work from time to time":wink:

Looking great Nick!

Radiators, waterpumps and heater cores have always seemed to haunt me on low mileage cars that I have owned. I think almost every car I have now has had all three of those components done. Just the way it seems to go.

My eyes are on that Jeep you have :D Looks really nice!

Ha! My old man used to say, "If it has t!ts or tires, you will have problems."

Had a CJ in HS. Living in a rural area it allowed me and my buddies a lot of off road escapades. I beat the tar out of it and it kept going!
I own a low mileage TJ Rubicon now that I enjoy on nice days! Makes a great convertible !

Sorry for hijack, now back to the regular scheduled program!

Not a hijack at all. I had a LJ Rubicon for awhile--good daily driver for my short commute. Had a soft top only, which made it more enjoyable. I've never taken the top off the CJ. Next summer, maybe.

I had 2 cj5s one on 38.5s 14 inches of lift SBC and one on 35s w 304. I built a pulley system to lift the top off. I did that once on each jeep and never did it again always a soft top usually a bikini top. Both had full cages. I went to look at a 76 304 last week w 33s but it was gone before I got there. Loved my jeeps. Yeah she got a lot of hard use! That’s what it was there for right.
Lousy pic of the big boy but it’s all I have it would do the best wheelies! Dark Teal green w black flames was such a bad ass ride for an 18 year old. When I first got it I had 33s w 6 popper , the 38-5s w this much lift was kinda too big for anything but mud and street put it on its side in the woods a few times.

Sorry couldn’t resist the jeep talk.
Apologies.

I don't mind talking about Jeeps, at all.

Since there are some Jeep fans, here are some more pics of the wife's CJ-7. It's a fairly loaded Jeep and a lifelong California desert Jeep--has the extended carpet package (in garnet), 5-speed, tilt, cruise, the chrome wheels, and dealer-added air that is polar cold. Original owner had it until 2019, then it got passed around among a few collectors and sold through Barrett Jackson a couple years ago. It is as close to a zero-rust original CJ-7 as there is--I was in the doors recently cleaning up the window regulators, and it looks like it was manufactured last week. Same for under the carpeting. The reason I ended up with this is because her father had one in the exact same color and trim when she was a kid. Plowing snow commercially with Jeeps was apparently a thing in Wisconsin back then, and he had a fleet of CJ's for some specific snow removal use--the Renegade was her father's personal plow Jeep.

I was hoping/expecting it would be just another wife request fulfilled at great expense, and she'd be over it, but she wants to keep it. I tried to sell it twice so I can have more room (I have 6 cars and can have only 2-3 at home), and was thwarted both times.

Besides being into 63 Corvettes, I am into air cooled 356s and 911s, and old trucks. The K10 is more my style.

Where's that hats off emoje? Love them all and you've got 3, at least, rides that take you on totally different places and they're all stunning.
Little bias here, I've got a '66 L72 vette, a '73 454 square body and a '70 CJ5, and they're all keepers for me.

Gotta wonder if that little jeeps ever been out to competition hill or Oldsmobile hill in glamis being a desert jeep. I spent some great times out there in brawley inn, el Centro boardmanville ! Great place for cr500s and 250rs

No real idea on the history, but it looks very stock and unabused to me so I tend to think it was a pavement princess. The reason I know much of the history is that a guy reached-out to us on Facebook and told us he used to own it. I told my wife to be careful engaging (I hate FB), but it turned-out he was the person who bought it from the nephew of the original owner. He filled in a lot of blanks. Ultra-knowledgeable guy with a massive fleet of Jeeps and early Broncos. Something like that never happens with a 63 Corvette.

Thanks, that's a lot of praise and I don't feel I deserve that.

I have eclectic taste in cars, and I mix things up often. I even like a lot of older Japanese cars. I'm at a point where I have a few "keepers", so it's getting harder to trade in- and out-of cars as much as I want. This 63 and my Fox-body (currently at a consignment dealer) are the only two cars I'd sell. There is a 356C out there with my name on it, so it's just a matter of time...

That K10 Cheyenne is cool too. :drool::beers:

I feel the same way and frankly I sometimes enjoy the pursuit more than anything!

I dig that as well!!

I'm surprised!

As much as I don't approve of my wife's Jeep policy, I have to admit her 1980 K10 Cheyenne policy was correct. Even though I only clocked 60 miles on it this year, I did put several hundred on it last year. And once I move a couple cars, it will go back into the power rotation next season.

63 Corvette Coupe 13K Original Miles
 

Great! Thanks for sharing.

SupremeDeluxe,

Awesome Split Window!

Does this low mileage car still have its Original exhaust?
If so, does it have any black protective coating applied on the topside with drippings?

Below is a neat photo showing factory new ‘65 frames with the stenciled identifier like your ‘63.

Thanks, Chris.

Chris,

Thanks for the compliment.

It does not have the original exhaust. The person I bought it from had it for 13 years. It had the original pipes on it and someone had replaced the mufflers (aftermarket) before he got it. He said the pipes were almost entirely black, so when he replaced with a Corvette Central system, he painted the entire thing black.

There is a lot of debate on CF about the "blackout" on the exhaust systems. I never dug into that, but as we know 63's are often not normal compared to 64-67. I don't like the look of the blackout, so when I put a new repro N-11 system on the fuel car, I left it with the aluminized finish:



Nick

I haven't forgotten about the thread. I've just been dead in the water waiting for the intake to arrive (1 week in Corvette parts terms==2 months of actual time, I learned that years ago). I still think I will be done by January.

Some other opportunity came up, and I don't need two 63 Corvettes, so this one will be for sale once sorted. I will list it on this forum first, of course.

OK, after 2 failed attempts to get the intake to seal, I finally figured out the oil separator was binding against the bottom of the intake, causing the rear ports to suck oil.

Runs sweet now. Just in time for the first snow.