Tracy Fisher tells the story of this car and his father’s love of Corvettes.
As a kid growing up in Simi Valley, California (just north of Los Angeles), I always dreamed of Hot Rods, custom cars and motorcycles. We had a neighbor that was in a car club who had monthly meetings at his house. I would ride my bike up and down the street gazing at the cars and dreaming that I would someday own one.
My father was an avid customizer. I grew up in the garage watching him work his magic, turning cars and motorcycles into fine art. He was very talented and could do so much with so little. With the help of my father, I built my first car at the age of fifteen. A 1966 El Camino. He taught me how to do body work and paint. I prepped the El Camino and dad painted it. Of course, it was a custom blend, which made it stand out from the rest. By the time I was 16, it was finished and I was ready to cruise Van Nuys Blvd. and hit the show circuits.
My father had a few Corvettes, a ’62 and then a ’66. They were his daily drivers. He even built a custom 2-rail trailer for our dirt bikes, and the tow vehicle was the ’66 Corvette! We rode every Sunday at Muntz Motorcycle Park and no one had a cooler tow rig than us. One day in 1969 my dad pulled ip in a new silver ’69 Corvette. I asked, “where’s the ’66?” I loved that car so much, but it was gone, we now had the ’69. First thing my dad did was mask out a panel style pattern and sprayed it white. When he unmasked it, it looked really cool! He added some fully polished U.S. Slotted Mags and that’s how he drove it for many years.
One year he decided to paint it a different color; copper and striped it with a similar pattern it had when it was silver. In 1984, he was rear-ended. It had minor damage, however that gave him the opportunity to yet another color change. He took it to Jessie, the Kandy Man in the valley. Jessie was known for his colorful paint jobs he laid down on lowrider cars. The color he chose was orange with a heavy gold pearl, and some killer candy graphics.
When my dad passed away, I took ownership of the car. It had sat for many years and needed some TLC. Everything on the car was original. It was unmolested other than the paint and wheels. It had the 350ci engine, and a turbo 400 automatic trans original combination.
With the motor in need of a rebuild, I decided to disassemble the car down to the body on a frame, and bring it back as a period correct 70’s Street Freak. Everything was replaced or rebuilt except for the paint. That killer lacquer paint job was the perfect canvas for my vision. I had a 327ci engine that would be just right for this project. To add to the thrill of driving, I converted the trans from an automatic to a Tremec TKO 5-speed manual. Once the car was reassembled I brought it to the king of Corvettes; Dick Guldstrand of Guldstrand Motorsports to perform the final dial-in before hitting the streets.
It’s not a trailer queen. My wife, Terri and I enjoy cruising the streets of Southern California. We have logged many miles of smiles, and thumbs up, and an occasional burn-out or two.
