What Are You Working On? Marty Smith’s Resurrected 1967 Corvette

What do you do when you find out that a rare and powerful classic musclecar is wasting away in the woods somewhere? You bring it back to life and turn it into a powerful drag racing machine.

That is just what automotive mechanic and weekend drag racing warrior Marty Smith did when he was told that a top-selling classic Chevrolet musclecar was wasting away in the backwoods of Virginia.

Smith, who spends most of his days repairing the bodies of wrecked vehicles from North Carolina to Virginia, was handed the keys to the muscle car kingdom when he was given a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette that was rotting away in the backwoods of Yanceyville, NC.

“I love a challenge when it comes to restoring old, damaged or wrecked cars,” said Smith. “When I found out that a friend of mine had a trashed ’67 Corvette sitting behind his house that had not only been wrecked, but had a tree growing out of it I knew that I had to take on this restoration project.”

While many automotive lovers like myself would take one look at this trashed piece automotive history and start thinking that this is a total loss, Smith took one look and saw his latest Classic Gear Jamming drag racing machine.

After spending a long day retrieving this piece of American muscle car history from its 35-year-old grave, Smith took this home and began his restoration magic.

“I have been a Chevy fan since I was 16-years-old,” said Smith. “In fact, that is all that my father and I race, so I knew that this historic Chevy was going to be my ticket to many drag racing wins in the near future.”

Marty Smith is sitting second in the 2017 Classic Gear Jammer point standings with a 1965 Chevrolet Nova.

While Smith is currently sitting second in the Gear Jammer point standings, with his 1965 Chevy Nova, he is continuing to use his knowledge in auto body work to create his next big winner.

To convert the wrecked ’67 Chevy into a drag racing phenom, Smith has rebuilt the body with parts and pieces from various Corvette Clubs and auto shows in the area, including having to bond on a new matching fiberglass front frame, tacking on a 9-inch rearend and giving his new beauty a paint job that restores the muscle car to its former glory.

From wooded graveyard to restored/enhanced drag racing muscle car.

While also restoring the inside of his new ride with its original factory interior, with the exception of a racing seat vs. black leather seating, Smith has also dropped in a hand-built 350-cubic-inch short block Chevy engine, which is paired with a Jerico four-speed transmission, capable of a jaw dropping 500-600 HP and on-track speeds of 100 MPH.

“This has been a work in progress over the last year or so, but I almost never turn down a challenge, especially when the end game becomes a powerful muscle car like this Corvette is sure to be,” said Smith.

While this veteran drag racer and automotive specialist continues to put the finishing touches on what is sure to be a serious hot rod, we can all wait with baited breath to find out if this once wrecked hot rod can take down the competition in the 2018 Classic Gear Jammer season.

It all starts with a project, and if you’ve got one you’re working on, share it with us! Send us an email and yours could be the next project featured in “What Are You Working On?

About the author

Ellen Richardson

While some little girls enjoyed playing with dolls and makeup when they were growing up Ellen Richardson, appropriately nicknamed the Automotive Maven, played with Matchbox Cars and watched her neighbor rebuild old musclecars. As she grew up this born to be writer began spending all her spare time web writing about the things that she loves the most - cars and racing. When not informing web viewers about the latest in automotive power, this auto maven spends time with her automotive photographer spouse attending as many races and auto shows as possible.
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