t doesn’t matter what decade you grew up in as there’s always been that particular moment in time sitting at your desk daydreaming about owning the most-wicked hop-up in town while the teacher rambled on about some mundane subject. A flash so real that you could smell the race fuel and burning tires mixed with adrenalin as you launched from the lights during a late-night street race till you got the proverbial tap on the shoulder to snap out of it. The ’61 Corvette gasser laid out across our pages brings a high school flashback to life for Danny Jones of Joppa, Maryland, who dreamed of owning a hot Chevy with a nosebleed stance for an eternity.
Growing up in an automotive family since his dad sold Studebakers, it wasn’t long till he graduated from building models at the kitchen table to his first go-kart while spending plenty of time frequenting the dealership. With the local streets packed with hot rods running built Flatheads and small-blocks vying for bragging rights, he also spent time at the regional dragstrip watching his racing heroes lay down blistering times in Funny Cars, ’rails, and gassers. By the time he was 15 years old, Danny was deep into rebuilding a friend’s 292ci Ford V-8 while also cruising the strip in his personal ’57 Austin-Healey 3000 stuffed with a race-prepped 327ci Chevy. Plenty of other cool rides followed, including a diverse grouping of hot rods, rare muscle cars, and restored antiques.
Having seen the amazing array of traditional gassers emerging from B’z Rods in Beach Park, Illinois, Danny contacted shop owner Brian Bell to discuss the build. The pair shared many of the same ideas on what it would take to create an ultimate Corvette gasser by fusing plenty of period-perfect updates to its restored platform, including many of B’z exclusive elements direct from their many years of research and development in building hot rods and race cars. The C1 was delivered to get the project started but the tale of simplicity in the conversion was about to take a very unexpected turn.
Out back, a Strange Engineering 9-inch rearend custom built by Chassis Service of Waukegan, Illinois, features a nodular iron centersection with Truetrac and 4.10 gears linked to Strange 31-spline axles. It’s suspended in place by a combination of B’z Rods custom-adjustable 54-inch ladder bars with matching Panhard bar and double-adjustable Strange Engineering coilover shocks with Hyperco springs. Up front, a B’z Rods exclusive straight front axle wears custom forged spindles deftly matched to Posies Super Slide leaf springs and PRO tube shocks along with a Flaming River Vega-style steering box. To kill speed, a modified dual master pushes fluid through stainless lines to Wilwood Forged Dynalite Pro-Series 11-inch rotors with four-piston calipers anchored at each corner. Linking it all to the street you’ll find 15×4.5 front Rocket Launcher wheels combined with 15×10 rear E-T Team III Five Windows capped with Pro-Trac/Coker 550-15 and Towel City Cheater Slicks, 29.5×10-15 respectively.
While addressing the body, the team at Danny Ray’s Custom Auto Body in Antioch, Illinois, confirmed that the shell was also 4¼ inches out of square due to the prior collision damage. Close inspection revealed repairs had been made with roofing shingles and asphalt to the inside of the passenger front fender, which is just plain crazy. The body was stripped clean and adjusted back to factory proportions and repairs, completed with N.O.S. factory parts.
Inside is like stepping back in time with the restored factory dash and gauges accented by a dash-mounted Sun Super Tach while a massaged original column wears a 15-inch-diameter factory steering wheel. Shifts fly through a Hurst stick modified by Crash Enterprises, complemented by a B’z-fabbed rollbar. It all comes to life though a custom wiring harness by B’z and Hyperaktive Performance Solutions. Tom Spooner of Bitchin Stitchin in Antioch, Illinois, recovered the factory bucket seats in red vinyl complemented by matching side panels and Tuxedo Red carpeting.
This is one Corvette gasser that’s laying down plenty of miles with Danny at the wheel, and to us that’s as good as it gets!
Vehicle: ’61 Corvette
Type: Chevrolet big-block ZZ Crate
Displacement: 427 ci
Compression: 10.1:1
Bore: 4.250
Stroke: 3.750
Cylinder Heads: Aluminum oval port, 110cc chambers
Rotating Assembly: Forged steel crank and rods, forged aluminum pistons
Valvetrain: Aluminum roller-style
Camshaft: Hydraulic roller
Induction: Kinsler eight-stack injection by Alkydigger
Ignition: Joe Hunt, custom
Exhaust: B’z Rods custom fenderwell headers, 2¼ stainless exhaust, Moroso mufflers
Output: 467 rwhp at 5,700 rpm
Transmission: Muncie M22, custom by Crash Enterprises
Rear Axle: Strange Engineering 9-inch, nodular iron center, 4.10 gears, 31-spline Super Street axles, Eaton Truetrac
Chassis: Custom by B’z Rods
Steering: Flaming River Vega-style
Front Suspension: B’z Rods straight axle and spindles, Posies Super Slide leaf springs, PRO Shocks, tube
Rear Suspension: B’z Rods custom ladder bars, Panhard bar, PRO Shocks, coilover
Brakes: Wilwood Forged Dynalite Pro-Series11-inch drilled-and-slotted rotors, four-piston calipers
Wheels: Front 15×4.5 Rocket Launcher, rear 15×10 E-T Team III Five Window
Tires: Front Pro-Trac/Coker 550-15, rear Towel City Cheater Slicks 29.5×10-15
Seats: Stock
Upholstery: Red vinyl
Gauges: Stock, Sun Super Tach, vintage
Steering: Stock-style 15-inch
Carpet: Stock, Tuxedo Red
Shifter: Hurst, custom by Crash
Paint: PPG High Metallic Silver
Hood: Stock, modified