From Garbage to Gold: Mega C2 Corvette Pro-Touring Build with Lingenfelter LS7 Began as a Wrecked Carcass
After rotting in the desert for thirty years, this C2 Corvette Pro-Touring Build got a 630 HP all motor LS7 and that was just the beginning.
Do you love the C2 generation Corvette? Do you love pro-touring builds? How about an LS7 V8 massaged by the folks at Lingenfelter Performance Engineering? Well, this C2 Corvette pro-touring build has all those things and a whole lot more. Stunning, spectacular, gorgeous, and magnificent. When talking about this car a thesaurus does not have enough adjective entries for you to use. And that is OK because this is one case where the car does all the talking for you. In fact, half of this YouTube video is just car sounds and laughter. That tells you all you really need to know about this build.
The owner of this special C2 Corvette is Greg Thurmond. Thurmond recently stopped by AutotopiaLA to show the car off and the antics were captured on the video recently posted to the AutotopiaLA YouTube channel. Not only is the build itself impressive especially considering the car was once a wrecked, rotting shell. But the car is not a garage queen. The whole point of a pro-touring build is that it is built to compete on the racetrack. And this car does exactly that. It has about 6,000 hard earned racetrack miles on it and the LS7 is still running strong with no work other than regular oil changes. Impressive. Now let’s take a look at some of the details.
1965 Corvette
The car is a 1965 Corvette. Or as Thurmond puts it, “mostly” a 1965 Corvette as so much of it has been replaced. When he found the car, it was nothing but a carcass that was missing the entire front end and was sitting out in the desert for about 30 years. Keep that in mind when you look at the finished product today. Underneath is a stock frame that has been modified to fit a C4 Corvette suspension. The car has been widened by 6 inches in the rear and 5 inches up front. The rear valance has been cut away to help reduce lift at high speeds. It also helps give you a better view of the cantilevered suspension.
Noisy Bits
Under the hood is the LS7 built by Lingenfelter to produce 630 all motor horsepower. That includes ported and polished cylinder heads, and throttle body among many other upgrades. And all the components in this engine are top notch. The engine flows through a set of Hedman Hedders and into a 3-inch exhaust system and ending at a pair of Black Widow mufflers. The sound is epic. The power is controlled by a TREMEC Magnum manual transmission. A set of Forgeline wheels wrapped in fat 315 rubber at all four corners puts the power to the ground.
All Business Inside
As beautiful as this car is to look at, it is not a showpiece. It was built to race and one peek inside is all the proof you need to know this has been used as a racecar. In a lot of high-end modern cars there is a bunch of shiny carbon fiber to make the car sporty. In this car there is carbon fiber to keep the weight down. The carbon fiber shows all the signs of wear you would expect to see in a car that has 6,000 race miles on the clock. There is a harness bar, a pair of race seats, simple gauges, and not much else. Although there is a radio in case you ever tire of the engine sound.
A Laugh Riot
When this C2 Corvette pro-touring build hits the road, it is nothing but smiles. The sound, the acceleration, and the brakes. Holy crap the brakes. This thing will stop on a dime and give you nine cents change. Oh and it can do epic donuts as well. The car is just so dialed in that there is really nothing to say. Just watch the video below and see for yourself what this beautiful machine is capable of.
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