1196 Wigwam Parkway
Henderson, NV 89074
702.369.7037
Reach us at
Mon - Fri: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Our shop is open
Henderson, NV 89074
Reach us at
Our shop is open
Classic Corvette looks with a modern chassis, engine and brakes. See NightHawk, our widebody 1965 Sting Ray shown at SEMA 2023, and how a Corvette build works.
A classic Corvette is one of the best looking cars America ever built. A Corvette restomod keeps that look and fixes the parts that feel old: the chassis, the brakes, the steering and the cabin. Nostalgia Hot Rods builds them at 1196 Wigwam Parkway, Henderson, NV 89074, near Las Vegas. Call us at (702) 369-7037. Below is what goes into one, shown through two of our own Corvettes.
Chevy groups its Corvettes by generation. The C1 ran from 1953 to 1962, the C2 from 1963 to 1967, and the C3 from 1968 to 1982. Any of them can become a restomod.
The C2 gets the most attention. It’s the Sting Ray, with the hidden headlights, the sharp body line and, in 1963 only, the split rear window. It is also the car most owners want to keep looking stock from the outside.
Underneath, every classic Corvette shows its age. Old steering, old brakes and an old frame make the car feel loose compared to anything modern. That’s the part a restomod fixes.
The C1 is the earliest shape, rounder and full of chrome. The C3 is the long, curvy car with the pointed nose that ran into the 1980s. Both make good restomods too, and both need the same modern parts underneath.
NightHawk is a 1965 Corvette Sting Ray we built for a collector. He already owned a fleet of original Corvettes, as CorvetteBlogger reported in November 2023. He didn’t need another stock one. He knew these cars well, and he wanted one that drives as well as it looks.
So we built him a Corvette he could drive hard. The specs below come from CorvetteBlogger and Motorious, both from November 2023.
| Area | What’s on NightHawk |
|---|---|
| Body | Widebody, with 5 inch flares in front and 7 inch flares in the rear |
| Engine | 427 cubic inch big block, about 500 horsepower |
| Transmission | Tremec six speed manual |
| Chassis | Art Morrison chassis |
| Wheels | Forgeline MS3C |
| Build time | About nine months |
| Shown | SEMA 2023, FiTech booth |
A Corvette restomod is a long list of choices. Here are the main ones, and what each one changes when you drive the car.
None of these has one right answer. A car built for long highway trips and a car built for track days can share a body and almost nothing else.
| Area | What a restomod changes | What you feel |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | A modern V8, or a built big block like NightHawk’s 427 | It starts, idles and pulls like a new car |
| Transmission | A modern manual or automatic with overdrive | Quiet, easy highway cruising |
| Chassis | A new chassis, such as an Art Morrison | A stiff, settled car over bumps |
| Suspension and steering | Modern geometry and parts | Steering that goes where you point it |
| Brakes | Large modern disc brakes | Stops you can trust from speed |
| Cabin | New seats, gauges, air conditioning and audio | A car you’re happy to sit in for hours |
Flares are not just for looks. They make room for much wider wheels and tires, and wider tires grip harder. But a stock Corvette frame was never designed for that much grip or that much power.
That’s why NightHawk sits on an Art Morrison chassis. A modern chassis is stiffer, and it lets us set the suspension, steering and track width to match the wider body. The flares, the wheels and the chassis are planned together.
Big block power needs the same care. A 427 makes a lot of torque. The chassis, the Tremec gearbox and the brakes all have to be able to handle it, every time you put your foot down.
Get those pieces right and the car feels whole. Get one wrong and you feel it in every corner.
All Chevy Performance put it plainly in June 2024: our builds are meant to be driven, with horsepower, driveability and comfort all taken seriously.
Our 1963 Split Window Corvette is a different kind of build. It keeps the classic white body and pours the detail into the finish and the cabin.
It’s painted PPG Pure White, with a hand fabricated carbon fiber engine bay, flush mount glass and LED lights front and rear. The interior was hand made by Darren Wingrove of HRH Designs, with Dakota Digital gauges and billet pedals from Clayton Machine Works.
It shows the other way to build a classic Corvette. The shape stays close to how Chevy drew it. The work goes into the details you see up close and the cabin you sit in.
You can see the full parts list on our 1963 Split Window Corvette page.
Tell us the year, the shape it’s in and how you want to drive it.
There is no wrong answer. Some owners want a Corvette that looks factory from ten feet away. Others want the wide, aggressive stance of a car like NightHawk.
A stock looking body limits wheel and tire size, so the car leans more on suspension tuning for its grip. A widebody opens up much bigger tires, but it changes the body forever.
Wheels are part of that choice. NightHawk runs Forgeline MS3C wheels sized to fill its flares. On a stock looking car, the wheels have to fit the original openings, which keeps the look close to factory.
If your car is rare or numbers matching, keep that in mind. A restomod is usually best on a car that will be driven, not one being kept for its originality. We’ll talk it through with you before any metal gets cut.
It starts with a conversation. What year is the car? What shape is it in? Will it do long trips, track days, shows, or all three?
Those answers set the chassis, engine, brakes and body plan. Then the build moves through our shop. Fabrication, paint and interior are all done in-house, as Street Trucks noted in October 2023.
Our projects typically take 9 to 12 months, as All Chevy Performance reported in June 2024. NightHawk took about nine.
You don’t need to live near Las Vegas. Our builds ship to collectors and enthusiasts across the world. When the car’s done, it ships to you.
Want to see how we handle a build part by part? Our 1969 Camaro build lists every major component with its source, and our 1957 Chevy Bel Air shows a very different style of car from the same shop.
It depends on the car you start with and the parts you choose. We don’t publish prices. We quote each build after we talk through what you want, so call (702) 369-7037 or use the quote form.
Our projects typically take 9 to 12 months, as All Chevy Performance reported in June 2024. NightHawk took about nine months.
Yes. Our builds ship to collectors, racers and enthusiasts across the world.
Yes. We do classic car restoration as well as full custom builds, chassis work, suspension, sheet metal, body and paint, and interiors.
Tell us about your Corvette and how you want to drive it. We’ll walk you through the build.
Nostalgia Hot Rods · 1196 Wigwam Parkway, Henderson, NV 89074 · (702) 369-7037