January 2011 Under Construction

'65 Corvette Dedication
In 1987, second-generation Corvettes were popular, but not nearly as prized as they are today. That's when 15-year-old Bryan Albertson bought this '65 Corvette as his first car. He and his friends tinkered with it, driving it long distances to hang out with other enthusiasts using their newfound freedom granted to them in the form of a driver's license. The car was left close to how he bought it: rough. And no huge changes were made until Bryan got into college, when he completely disassembled it. He realized this was a bad time to make such a bold move because being a full-time student, time and money is limited, and the Vette didn't get put back together how he would have liked.

After college, Bryan even bought some other cars to avoid doing a full teardown on the Corvette. "The build has been a real long one, and the butt of many jokes among the family," he says. When his wife was on tour in Iraq, Bryan struggled to get a jump-start on the project, but without a garage he didn't have the space to work on it. He modified one of the house's exterior walls to allow the car entrance. He got a fair amount done, but when he saw the structurally disturbed frame, it stopped him in his tracks. The biggest decision he made was to enlist Speed Shop to create a bolt-in frame that would accept late-model suspension and a ton more meat between the fenders. While Bryan was himself deployed to Iraq for the second time, a close friend offered to work on the car while he was gone. He ended up repairing all of the bad bodywork and repainted the car before he got back.

Bryan's wife wasn't at all upset about the hole in the house, because it ended up becoming an addition to the home's space while Bryan got the garage he needed to continue working on the Corvette.