Slideshow: 1969 'Vette Earns its Keep with an LS Makeover

Family Ties

It took at least three people and a whole lot of luck for Wayne Sanchez Jr. to even purchase this 1969 Corvette, and that was before bringing it up to the spec you see here. The first person was Wayne's dad, Wayne Sanchez Sr., who brought a 1972 'Vette home when Wayne was just a tyke. That '72, incidentally, was a blue coupe with aftermarket side pipes. As Wayne told Super Chevy magazine, "That was my first exposure to Corvettes and [I] was fascinated with how 'Vette drivers wave to one another, which seems to be a lost art these days." C3 Love runs deep for those who grew up around the cars, and years later, when adult Wayne ran across a '69 at a local body shop he immediately went home to confer with his wife Karen, the family's finance manager. Karen had nixed the Corvette buying impulse a few times before, and this time was no different. "The answer was once again a firm ‘no,’" Wayne remembered. After a month or so of Wayne's making his case for Corvette ownership, Karen finally relented, but by that time the '69 was gone and with it his vision of exactly what Corvette would be filling the family's garage.

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Lucky

It's said that luck is where preparation meets opportunity, and one day while on the way home from work Wayne spotted that same '69 again, at that same body shop, and it was for sale again. Wayne took the opportunity to test drive the Corvette and $10,500 later it was his. "The car had a recent paint job but needed the clutch fixed. It wasn’t numbers-matching and was far from original. I drove the car and even with a shaky clutch it was still a blast," Wayne said. But that was back in 1995.

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Time for a Change

After a time though, Wayne grew tired of how the C3 drove, and he started thinking about getting rid of it. Karen asked him how hard it would be to keep it and make it the car he wanted it to be. "To be honest I hadn’t thought about making this car fit my vision instead of finding a new car," Wayne admitted. He liked the idea, and after searching for the right people to work with, he took his aged Corvette to Mike Mclin, and his sons Michael and Chris, at The Restomod Store in Independence, Missouri. The body-off-frame project resulted in the brilliant blue House of Kolor paint job you see here, complete with straight-out-of-'69 fender flares, white graphics, and an L88 hood. The addition of a custom-fabricated steel air dam doesn't look at all out of place on the C3 and helps keep the Stingray planted.

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Brakes, Suspension

While the body was off, the Restomod Store powder coated the C3's fame and installed a completely new Speed Direct Stage VI Shark Bite suspension system, with QA1 coilovers, front and rear. Brakes were upgraded to C6 Corvette units with 13-inch rotors, necessitating larger wheels (Boze billet 18x9 F,19x12 R) in one of the only exterior breaks from the retro style of the build.

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Goodbye 350

A built 350 ci small-block Chevy is no slouch, but that's not what Wayne's Corvette had, so out it went and in went a fresh 6.2-liter Chevrolet Performance LS3 crate motor. Before installing the LS engine, The Restomod Store equipped it with a hotter cam and uprated pushrods, and swapped-in a beautifully-welded Top Street Performance intake manifold. The distinctive fat side pipes are fed via a Hooker exhaust system and long-tube Stainless Works headers. With 458 horsepower to the rear wheels, Wayne hasn't missed his old 350 yet.

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More Gears, More Cool

Four hundred and fifty-eight horsepower to the rear wheels generates a fair amount of heat, but the Be Cool radiator keeps temps firmly under control. Transferring that power to the rear wheels is the job of a Tremec T-56 six-speed, an LS7 clutch, and a Positraction rear end fitted with 3.73 gears. Back under the hood, Clayton Machine Works coil covers reside in place of the usual stock GM covers, and a Concept One pulley system adds a little additional flair to the engine compartment.

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All in the Family

The Restomod Shop handled the interior refresh as well. The black and grey Procar seats don't clash with the paint or vibe of the car, and generous amounts of Ultra Leather on the seats, dash, doors, and custom center console give the 'Vette a more luxurious feel. The dash features Dakota Digital gauges, and the cabin is kept cool via a Classic Auto Air Sure Fit A/C system–aided by new, tinted glass from Zip Corvette. It remains to be seen if there will be a third generation of Wayne's family keeping the C3 flame alight, but Wayne Jr. is doing his part—he's even taught his oldest how to drive stick in the Stingray. If that doesn't do it, we don't know what will!

>>Join the conversation about this 1969 Vette with an LS Makeover right here on LS1 Tech.

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