The Restoration of Daryl Mallinson’s 1964 Corvette Stingray convertible was never going to be an easy or a cheap task, however he managed it against all the odds…

Words and Photography: Paul Bussey

When Daryl Mallinson took on a partially completed Corvette restoration project he had visions of spending around £3000 on refurbishing the suspension and brakes, followed by a respray and job done. Six years later, having parted with so much cash that made the original budget look like a kid’s pocket money, two failed relationships (and almost a third because he was never around with ‘her in doors’,) and working on the car instead, it was finally completed in June 2005.



‘A friend of mine, Andy Wolf purchased the Corvette in 1987 and when I saw the car it was a case of love at first sight,’ remembers Daryl. ‘Andy took the Corvette off the road in around 1993 and started some restoration work, and it remained partially dismantled on his driveway for years. Every time I drove past, the car seemed to have deteriorated further and looked very forlorn. Then I decided it would be a great idea to finish the restoration myself and kept pestering Andy to sell the Corvette to me. I must have eventually convinced him that he’d never get around to completing the car, and years later in 1999 Andy finally relented and said he’d part with the car, as long as I’d promise to finish the job. Mind you, there were a few times when I nearly gave up as well, more through lack of money though than anything else!’
Having made a start on the partly restored Corvette, Daryl then split up with his girlfriend, the house had to be sold and he had to find somewhere to store the car. It found temporary refuge in a succession of friends’ garages for several years and then finally a rented lock-up. Daryl’s idea of a little remedial work and a respray soon disappeared into the ether; now he was looking at a bare chassis and about 20 boxes of components! Realising he may be just a tad out of his depth, he set about enlisting the help of his good friend and experienced mechanic Neil, who after being plied with plenty of beers, became quite enthusiastic about the idea. However during the periods when Neil’s dog was consuming all his dinners, because he was down at the lock-up and not returning until late at night, he did begin to question the wisdom of his role in the project!



Both Daryl and Neil aren’t what we’d refer to as serious ‘Vette Heads’, to be fair their knowledge of Corvettes in general was rather limited, they weren’t CCCUK members, nor did any of their friends have cars which they could inspect and take notes. In fact, the entire restoration was completed using a workshop manual and a Corvette reference book - where there’s a will there’s a way!  



Once the chassis, which had previously been repaired by Andy Wolf had returned from shot blasting it was painted and then the front and rear suspension assemblies were rebuilt using new mostly new parts throughout, followed by refurbishment of the braking system. The L76 engine had previously been rebuilt using new pistons, bearings, the crankshaft had been polished and so on, though Daryl discovered that the clutch and operating mechanism were incorrect and needed replacing.



The carburettor wasn’t correct either, and even now the engine is still thought to be under performing with a Holley 600cfm, and that a 750cfm would be more suitable. The engine had also been fitted with headers which have been replaced in favour of cast iron manifolds to maintain originality. A completely new exhaust system was made by Paul and Darren at PDM Motorsport Fabricators in West Drayton. All other engine ancillaries such as the starter motor, radiator, alternator, and heater matrix etc were all renewed. The four-speed Muncie manual transmission was known to be quite serviceable, as was the back axle which was believed to have been rebuilt by Andy Wolf, so apart from replacing a front bearing and seal on the ’box and replenishing with fresh oil, no further work was necessary.



With the Corvette’s rolling chassis work all completed, Daryl now focussed his attention on getting the body painted. For ease of transportation to the paint shop, the body was reunited with the chassis, a job which over seen by Neil and accomplished with the help of a few friends, a mechanical hoist and some straps. Barry Hopkins at Northstar Garage, Hounslow, Middlesex, was entrusted to paint the body in the original colour of Daytona Blue using two-pack for durability. Daryl was delighted with the completed respray, but a short while later there was an adverse reaction and the paint blistered in several places. Barry Hopkins decided to respray the body a second time to eliminate a similar problem occurring elsewhere.
‘The restoration now looked liked it was gaining momentum, but there were still numerous other jobs to finish and some unseen delays,’ Daryl points out. ‘It took me six months to source some new seat runners, which I eventually obtained from OCW in Perivale. For the interior I purchased a complete deluxe re-trim kit in blue leather which Paul Flynn of BTS Trimmers of Hillingdon fitted for me. Some parts were missing like interior handles, kick panels, and parts of the folding roof mechanism which all had to be found. It was now around four years into the project and though my original budget had long since been consumed I had literally run out of money, so work slowly ground to a halt and things weren’t looking too good. I was still having to shell out each month for the rented lock-up and during this time I even had a few potential purchasers look at the Corvette with a view to taking it off my hands. However their offers fell far short of my expectations and as so much hard work had been put in over the previous four years I stuck to my guns and battled on.’
Just when it looked as though things couldn’t get any worse Neil decided that the dashboard had to come out so that everything behind it could be cleaned and painted and it would make rewiring easier. ‘This is where we had a few rows,’ Daryl admits. ‘If the dash had to come out, then I said to Neil, he’d have to tackle the job.



I guess he was right all along, only that’s the one thing I didn’t relish getting involved with. A friend who is an auto electrician renewed the wiring, Neil put the dash back in and our friendship returned back to normal. There were a few teething problems with the wiring such as trying to establish why every time the horn was pushed, it blew a fuse on a relay. After spending two days fault finding and still none the wiser I reluctantly sought professional help. The auto electrician spotted that one of the courtesy lights wasn’t working, he changed the bulb for a different one which solved the problem.’



Over the next two years Daryl and Neil gradually completed the many remaining jobs. All the exterior brightwork was either rechromed or repolished, and the wheels were refurbished by Protyre of Slough, who did a splendid job as they look like new again. During the last four months of the project nearly every spare hour was spent at the lock-up. Then, suddenly one day in June 2005 there wasn’t anything else left to do except go out and test drive the Corvette and of course go and get that all important MoT certificate. For the next two weeks Daryl and Neil would be out in the car most evenings, giving it a thorough shake down and making sure everything was working correctly and that nothing fell off.  ‘Our girlfriends Liz and Judith followed us in another car with a tow rope just in case we broke down, which didn’t go down too well with them as they missed so many episodes of Coronation Street and Eastenders,’ grins Daryl. ‘Then a week later disaster nearly struck; there was an attempted break-in at the lock-up garage which resulted in the locks, door and frame being destroyed, but they never managed to get in and steal the Corvette, but it was a pretty close thing. Maybe they were disturbed, thought better of it and made a rapid retreat? It was a scary moment nevertheless.’



The Corvette made its post restoration public debut at the CCCUK Nationals at Knebworth Park in July 2005. One obvious omission from the car is the thin wood rim steering wheel, but Daryl says he couldn’t live with it, so a thicker rimmed Corvette wheel has replaced it. I asked him if six years of hard work, hassle and aggravation, not to mention the huge cost, had all been worth it? ‘Yes and no,’ he replied. ‘I didn’t really get to drive the car much at the end of last summer. However, this year I’m looking forward to enjoying getting some miles under my belt during the whole of the spring and summer, so the answer to your question will be yes.  
‘However, I’ve learned many things over the course of the six year restoration that I wished I’d known at the start - especially where to obtain replacement parts and their cost. I could have saved myself a lot of money by more prudent purchasing. I also came very close to my current girlfriend Judit walking out on me as I was spending too much time working on the car and not enough with her. I used to leave work and go straight around to the lock-up and sometimes stayed there until eleven or twelve o’clock at night and then had to get up for work at 06.00am. I did sail very close to the wind quite a few times, and after the Corvette Club Nationals I didn’t tinker with the car for at least a few months. Unfortunately my two previous girlfriends weren’t quite as understanding and did walk out on me!’

With the limited resources available, and working from a couple of books for reference, Daryl is nevertheless very pleased with what he has achieved, though he says without major help from his friend Neil it would never have been possible.

Photographic location courtesy of Gavin Kinson, Hanson Aggregates, West Drayton Depot, Stockley Road, West Drayton, London.

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