1964 C2 Finds Freedom After Over 40 Years
Every classic car has a story and this 1964 C2 is no exception as it goes from Vietnam Vet to Corvette Hall of Fame restorer Werner Meier.
Forty years in darkness
For a war veteran, the concept of freedom can be many things. But for the 4-year-old Corvette, he purchased when he returned from Vietnam in the late '60s, freedom means getting out into the sunshine after a long tour of duty in the garage. Vietnam veteran Barry Glushyn drove the silver blue C2 for several years, then got married to his first wife. Once they had a family, though, he parked the Corvette in the garage in 1975 and bought a more sensible family car. His dream, however, was to restore the Corvette and even install a big-block engine. But Glushyn never got his chance.
Photos by SuperChevy.com.
Clearing out the garage
The car sat in the same spot in the garage for 43 years, and it wasn't until Glushyn passed away in 2018 that it got a second chance at life. His second wife, Kim Glushyn, inherited the car and decided she wanted to sell it. She asked Glushyn's son Derek to help her find a buyer.
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Hiring a Hall of Famer
Derek Glushyn knew the Corvette needed work, but he was not about to do the work himself. Fortunately, his uncle knew Werner Meier, 2013 Corvette Hall of Fame Inductee and owner of Masterworks in Madison Heights, Michigan. Although Masterworks restores all sorts of classic cars, they have more than 1,000 Corvette restorations notched on the back of their garage door. Meier's expertise is restoring many of the "Styling" Corvettes of the '60s, so this one seemed like a perfect project for him.
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Lift your hood and say aah
Lucky for Derek, Masterworks happened to be about two miles from the Glushyn's home and Werner drove over to take a look at the silver blue convertible with a dark blue interior. Under the hood, he found an original but upgraded L75 327ci, 300hp engine. It consisted of 2-1/2 inch exhaust manifolds and an AFB carburetor on a cast-iron intake. Had it been the 250 hp standard 327ci Small-Block V8 it would have produced only 250 hp and would have revealed two-inch exhaust manifolds and a WCFB four-barrel.
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Evaluating value
Derek wanted to know what the Corvette was worth, but Meier felt that in order to get a true value, they would need to get it running. Werner's rough estimate of its worth was $15,000 but said it would take about $7,000 to get the car running. They did get an offer from another party who was willing to pay $12,000, but Kim wanted $15,000 so they passed on the deal.
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Mostly unmolested
Werner considered buying it himself. He liked that the body was unmolested, save for one of the front wheel wells, which had been patched. The headlights were frozen open and the heater box was on top of the engine. “They must have had a leaky heater core. They took it apart and that’s where they lost interest. The fuel line had rotted out.”
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Meier's ah-ha moment
Then Meier remembered that one of his clients wanted to buy one of the Sting Ray "Styling" Corvettes of the mid-60-s (two of which are pictured above) and recalled how much they cost at auction. “I told him I could build one for half of that if you want one.” But before Meier even got an answer back from the client, he decided to buy the car anyway and get started on the build.
The ’64 needed an interior which was fine because as a Styling clone it would have to be changed anyway. He also determined that the small-block engine would work fine. “I still have some old GM Styling badges and we could make a clone of one of those Bunkie Knudsen or Harley Earl cars.”
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Glushyn's dream come true
Werner Meier and his team at Masterworks are just now getting started on the Styling Corvette project. The circle will soon be complete for the Vietnam veteran who put his car in the garage 43 years ago for his special build. What will come out of the Masterworks garage promises to be better than anything that Barry Glushyn had imagined. We will keep our eyes open for the finished product and share it right here in CorvetteForums!
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