He wanted to build what?
The Jeep Wrangler and Chevy Corvette couldn’t be farther apart in automotive categories yet Chris DeSpears from Milwaukee had the idea to bring them together in a really fun build.
He picked up a 2003 Z06 C5 Vette a couple of years ago as a donor car that somebody had wacked and was originally looking for a Factory 5 wide body Shelby Cobra kit to mate it with only to find out that they are no longer made so he went to his Plan B.
“I started digging through my other projects on hand. I picked up a 1978 CJ7 fiberglass Jeep a few years back for a paddle tire wheeling project that I only have about half the parts for so I dropped the tape measure on the body. Because most of the parts are flat I decided to cut that body up and start making patch pieces that flat and fill it in, ” he told me.
He says he has the hard top for it too, so looks are just going to be a Jeep rod with the Vette windshield and Jeep tub. He’s estimating with a hardtop roof overall height will be four feet or just under. For an engine he had planned using a turbo charged QT4 6.0L
His inspiration was this vehicle that he saw in Hot Rod magazine but said he was going for a subtler more sleeper autocross version with Corvette suspension because of its reliability, drivability, and aftermarket go fast parts availability.
Where is the project now?
I discovered this vehicle mashup for sale on Facebook Marketplace where Chris is asking for just 4k for the rolling chassis with 37k miles on it and includes ZO6 seats, dash, counsel, carpet, rims, T56 6-speed trans and torque tube plus Jeep body parts. With tons of other items on his list, this one has fallen way back.
I love his sense of humor
Chris said, “Side benefit to putting the Jeep body on the Vette, it makes the altruists cringe because it isn’t a purest. It would have been a blast to take on Elkhart Lake in the elite corvette group and have something of a weight advantage. It’s a hot rodder toy, where scratches give it character and this would be full of disapproval, character, and still go 180+mph.”
Hi Paul, it is still available. I have had 18 people interested it in it but no one setting up a time to get it, and 10 people just want parts and willing to pick them up asap.
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I actually thought I pulled all of these ads too, it snowed for 20 minutes yesterday so I was going to get it back into storage before it gets worse and maybe haul it out to Jefferson in the spring. I’ve had too many things on my plate; Kitchen remodel, HPTuners for my 01′ vette that got the engine from this kart, I’m putting MegaSquirt on my 442, Thunder Chopper needs rear brake rebuilt, rebuilding a couple firearms too… and then a 40 foot Silver Maple fell on my house last month which just shutdown all of my projects until that gets finished, which is why the jeep-vette has to go. Thanks for your time and interest. Tell me if there is anything I can help you out with.
Savage On Wheels 