If you are going to build a cool car, it is better to give it a cool name.
There is so much to love hot gossip. The can-do-do-do, belt-it-break-breaking posture they have in relation to cars for building and racing, the sense of community that the wild and ingenious, and of course the Badass names that They encourage their creations.
I recently met Lifelong ‘Rodder Kaoru Koshimizu to see his Evolution Ray, A C1 Chevrolet Corvette with a fully reworked powertrain and running equipment, plus a few party tricks in the sleeves.
Tucked away in a suburb of Yokohama, Koshimizu-San runs a bar and one Taiyaki Buy in addition to his automotive interests. On the bottom of the hill is his first garage workshop, which houses the original C2-Stingray from Koshimizu-San.
Within Koshimizu-San’s Taiyaki Shop, you will find delicious fish -shaped candies filled with sweet red beans. Take the stairs and you end up in his cozy speakeasy, which extends over the new garage.
The kit in Airplane Hangar style was sent from the United States and built by Koshimizu-San itself. His background in interior design, specialized in store views, is clear. A lot is packed in a small space, but none of the areas feel tight.
The first car of Koshimizu-San-a C3 Corvette from 1969 that he bought when he was parked only 20 next to the C1. He cannot explain where the desire to drive an American car came from, but it was not from his family or friends. I think that for a child in Japan in the 1970s and ’80s, a Corvette was the AC/DC for the air supply of a Nissan Fairlady. They were shoulder fillings versus elbow plasters. In a time of excess was the ‘fat king.
Inspired by the racing cars built by Greenwood Corvettes and the like, Koshimizu-San de C3 has widened the C3 with a modified kit from the US to house 13-inch Halibrand wheels in the back. It is powered by a 427CI Big Block V8 with four Weber Coalhydrates coupled to a Doug Nash 4+1 transmission.
The C3 is worthy in itself, but because it is currently not registered, we cannot terrorize the neighborhood in it. Koshimizu-San, however, has fired it for me, and yes, it has more heel than Jackie Chan.
This is what I would see: Koshimizu-San’s C1 Corvette.
The C1 is royalty of Muscle Car. It is the grandfather of American sports coupes with two-seater and Elke Corvette shares his DNA, until the current Twin-Turbo 1,064HP ZR1. That said, the first run of hand-built, Fibris-Body C1 Corvettes was about as sporty as a sloth in a swimming pool. Their anemic 235ci straight six engines were far from exciting, and rudimentary drum brakes made them difficult to stop quickly. The action was also nothing to write home about, no surprise given the powertrain was a partsbin collection of different passenger cars.
In 1957 a 265CI small block V8 and manual 3-speed gearbox saved the Corvette from extinction, but only in ’65 did the disc brakes become standard. Probably a good thing, because by that time the C2 made 425 hp.
What the C1 did have was the appearance. Petite proportions and delicate details such as the rear fins made his shortcomings somewhat forgiven, especially after the newer models had exchanged the Corvette name.
So there is a need to touch the body. Unless of course you are a somewhat eccentric interior designer who is a bar and a Taiyaki store. In that case, a hydraulically operated Clamshell front -end and a boot with an electric motor can be a nice small project.
The hood of the C1 originally went forward, but Koshimizu-San brought that further and turned the entire front of the glass fiber body of the car into a single piece. The boot is opened with an electric motor and reveals the first of many performance -upgrades for the Evolution Ray. Replacing the rear leaf springs and massive axis is a fully adapted pushrod suspension system, all designed in-house.
Because the C1 never had increasing points for independent suspension, Koshimizu-San was able to start with a clean slate. He also wanted to make a kind of party piece in the back to match the party at the front, which he also designed and built. The front is equipped with a tailor-made C3 chassisframe with tailor-made control arms, Koni-shocks, Swift Springs and C3 Hub-Assemblies.
The new suspension components would have little meaning if they were left to their own devices, so Koshimizu-San has tied the front and rear together with a hidden roll bar. That is the well -kept treatment.
Press a button on the dashboard and the Clamshell opens to reveal a 383CI Big Block Chevy V8 fed by Twin Demon 650CFM carbohydrates that sends 500 hp to a Richmond 5-speed gearbox and C3 diff.
After he had sailed the road on the road, thrown on the map with the chopped glass windshield that protects none of the wind, I don’t think this car wins prices on autocross days. The motor torque gives the car the feeling that it is tearing itself apart with even the lightest gas valve. But perhaps that is the beauty, the raw visceral energy of hot godding-living on the edge and enjoying every oil soaked minute.
Toby Thyer
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