Welcome to Part 2 of Dave Semel's 1963 Corvette restomod story. Click back to Part 1 for a primer on how Semel sourced his car in Pennsylvania and then sussed out whether his goal of swapping in a supercharged LS9 engine was even possible.
While the engine choice and power output always serve as highlights for any serious build, just about every experienced mechanic on the planet will tell you that the cosmetic work takes much more time—not to mention talent. Semel didn't skimp in the mechanical department, with his custom frame from SRIII Motorsports cradling a powerplant built by SMC Performance and pushing out just shy of 600 dyno-proven horses. Throw in a five-speed stick shift and the suspension from a C6 Corvette and this thing sounds ready to rumble.
But the end goal for Semel was always to create his dream car—one that he could both drive and show—so the aesthetics figure into the story equally as much as the grunt lurking beneath the skin. Keep scrolling to learn just how much time and effort goes into transforming a stripped-to-the-fiberglass 'Vette into an immaculate example of the growing restomod craze.
Mechanical Requirements Lead To Cutting Up The Corvette
The mechanical work performed by SRIII Motorsports did dictate some modifications to the '63 Corvette's fiberglass body, it turns out. Specifically, because Semel wanted to retain the car's classic looks while also significantly increasing power output, he needed to shoehorn some wider rubber beneath those muscular haunches.
"The guy at SRIII was really good," Semel told me. "He said one of the things I’d have to do is cut out the back part of the floor to fit the wheels I was really gonna need. That way you don’t have to flare out. So he kind of talked us through it."
Semel did express that he felt a bit of hesitation at this decision, simply because of the place that any classic Corvette holds in his heart. Luckily, a solution emerged.
"He had some fiberglass parts that when you cut out the floor, you can put back in these inserts," Semel explained. "So that made it a little easier, cus you know, here I am, cutting up a ‘63 Corvette..."
Chris Bux Of Bux Customs Works Over The Interior
After a friend had cut some significant corners while putting the 'Vette through its first round of work, Semel knew he needed to find someone with a sharper eye and maybe a bit more talent to ensure the interior would live up to the build's high standards.
"I started looking for other people to basically redo the car," he said. "Originally, I saw Bux Customs with the interior that he did at a show in Philadelphia. At the time, he was doing a lot of motorcycle stuff and then he started into cars. When I first met him, he was doing all this out of his garage."
But Chris McClintock of Bux Customs wouldn't quite get the carte blanche he may, perhaps, have become accustomed to receiving from clients—Semel did want to retain some of the interior trim components that had already been completed by a master woodworker who specializes in piano restorations. Those pieces included the gauge face, parts of the dash, and the shifter, which had all been finished in a clear-coated burl wood.
"The car was almost done from the other guy but when I saw it, it wasn’t what I wanted. And Chris was available, so I said, 'You gotta do my interior,'" Semel recalled, "And at first he was like 'I donno, I like to be able to do the interior the way I like to do it.' And I said, 'No, this is what the requirement is. You have to be able to include what’s in it.' And so we matched up the leather and as Chris got into it, I think he felt a lot better with the way everything was looking."
Finished Product Inside And Out
In finished photos that Semel shared with me, there's no doubt Bux found that burl wood up to his standards, just judging from the immaculate stitchwork to the metalwork and carpeting.
"It looks unique but it still looks like the ‘63 Vette," Semel said proudly. "What you’d see in it, but just highly upgraded. I think he did a really nice job with it."
The interior looks like about a million man-hours to my eyes, but the exterior had also come a long, long way from the raw fiberglass of the "before" photos, too. Who'd done the job of fixing up that ex-friend's mistakes?
"I ended up reaching out to Carlisle Customs and Classics," Semel revealed. "Then they actually came up to where I am to look at the car. I was kind of impressed, he looked at it and he was telling me the same problems before I even told him... so that’s pretty impressive!"
Carlisle Customs and Classics managed to retain the Corvette's classic style while also hinting at the upgrades going on beneath the skin.
"When I looked at restomodding," Semel explained, "I looked at what was out there with different cars. You know, to each their own, but one of the things I noticed with some of the restomods was they ended up losing the lines of the classic car. The way I looked at it, that was one thing that I always wanted to retain, to keep it looking as much original as possible, without having to do modifications, flare the fenders, what have you."
But as good as it looks now, this 'Vette won't live its life as some pampered garage queen getting trailered to shows and pampered with fresh terrycloth rags. In fact, Semel chose the exterior's eye-catching shade of blue specifically so he could drive the car frequently without getting nervous about minor chips and damage.
"I wanted a car that I could show," he said, "But I also wanted one that I could drive. A lot of the time you see these people with these cars and they have these pearl paint jobs and stuff. And I was thinking, 'Well, if those get dinged up, scratched, or whatever, you’re basically repainting that whole section.' I didn’t want to have to do that if something happened, so I wanted a really cool color that is still basic so that if anything happened, I could pull into the GM dealer and say, 'Repaint my car.'"
A Timeframe Measured In Years
That attitude sounded very healthy to me, especially when I gathered the courage to ask Semel how long he'd had the '63 Corvette. I'd thought maybe a couple years would be on the longer end of things—guess again!
"This has been a long process," Semel sighed. "Originally, I started this back in September of 2012."
That's right, as Semel receives the car back this spring, he's getting the chance to truly drive and experience the results of a project that began almost a decade ago. With the ups and downs, the stop and starts, and the disappointment surrounding some of the early work, this kind of project reveals not just the talents of everyone who contributed to the final product but also the commitment to a specific vision within Semel himself.
Where others might have pushed through to get the job done, accepted inferior work in the name of expedience, or simply given up, Semel persisted—no wonder this guy manages production pipelines at Pfizer!
Getting The Final Details Done For Summer
And still, when we spoke, Semel had a few more finishing touches in mind to really pull his restomod's aesthetic together before summer. But why not—after almost a decade, might as well put in a bit more effort to get things 100% perfect.
"What we decided," Semel said, "Was to kind of bring in the interior color. So the wheels, instead of being a chrome, they’re kind of tannish color. If you look at the front of the ‘63, they have those grates in the hood. And those will also be painted in that tannish color. And then the cover that goes over the side pipes will also be, and that way it’ll match the colors for the interior, kind of. I think it’ll make the car kind of pop."
With the weather forecast looking good in Pennsylvania—almost as good as his split-window 1963 Corvette restomod—nearly ten years later, Dave Semel can finally get out and fully enjoy the car of his dreams.
Sources: sriiimotorsports.com, pfizer.com, carlislecustomsandclassics.com, buxcustoms.com, and smcautoparts.com.