Jerry Lyndon’s experience with rebuilding and restoring Corvettes began quite some time ago, when he was only 17 years old. It was then that he bought his first Vette, a 1960 model that he still owns today. “The ’60 needed some things,” he recalls, “so I learned how to do whatever was required, from mechanical repairs to body and paint restoration.”
Though he has never performed Corvette restorations as a full-time job, Lyndon continued to hone his skills, and over time he completed more partial and full builds than many shops. “I’ve restored and painted way too many to count over the years. It’s in my blood. I enjoy bringing an old road warrior back to its glory.”
The impetus for Lyndon to create the car featured here was the COVID pandemic. Like so many others, he had extra time on his hands when most of the world shut down in early 2020. Instead of taking it easy, he decided to use that time to tackle another project.
“I wanted to stay busy during the shutdown, so I got on Craigslist and found this 1959 Corvette ‘basket case’ in West Virginia,” he reports. “It had been taken apart many years ago and came with boxes full of parts. There was no paint on the body, which made it easy to see the excellent condition of the fiberglass.
“After evaluating it, I chose to build a restomod,” he continues. “I had already done the LS [engine swap] ‘thing’ when I built a beautiful 1958, so I wanted to do something different with the ’59. I happened to have a 427/425-horsepower engine out of a 1966 Corvette, so I decided to use that.”
Lyndon put in a call to Art Morrison Engineering for one of the company’s GT Sport chassis, but was surprised to learn that AME didn’t offer one already set up to accept his vintage Mark IV big-block. (Most restomods, after all, use modern powerplants these days.) Undaunted, he had the firm build the chassis with no engine mounts, then figured out where they needed to go and installed them himself.
As is standard with an AME chassis, it was configured with the company’s Sport suspension up front. This setup uses tubular control arms linked by Wilwood Pro spindles and adjustable PAC Racing Springs coil-overs in place of the car’s stock, pressed-steel control arms and kingpins. A four-link independent rear suspension—replacing the original longitudinal leaf springs and solid axle—also uses PAC adjustable coil-overs for springing and damping. Infinitely more precise steering comes from a Detroit Speed and Engineering rack-and-pinion system installed in place of the factory worm-and-sector, third-arm-bearing arrangement.
The original four-wheel drum-brake system found in C1 Corvettes is a major weak point in the car’s performance, but one that is easy to fix. Lyndon’s AME chassis was designed to utilize large Wilwood six-piston Super Lite calipers squeezing slotted and drilled rotors all around. The calipers are actuated by a Wilwood dual-reservoir master cylinder, and front/rear bias is controlled by a proportioning valve that also came from the Camarillo, California, firm.
Power flows from the aforementioned vintage 427, machined and balanced by Heintz Brothers in Statesville, North Carolina. Tom Callis assembled the bottom end using a stock, forged Chevy crankshaft and rods, along with Icon forged pistons. Large-port GM cylinder heads and a hydraulic roller cam help the big mill ingest and distribute a prodigious quantity of fuel/air mixture. Gasoline delivery comes via an eight-stack electronic fuel-injection system custom designed by Jim Inglese. Engine management is handled by a Holley Terminator controller, and Holley also supplied the needed high-pressure fuel pump. Hudson, North Carolina’s Brett Hollar, whom Lyndon calls “a masterful genius,” adapted an American Auto Wire engine harness to the car’s unique features in order to get everything under the hood working properly.
Combusted air is expelled through Sanderson headers and a custom-built three-inch exhaust system. All accessories are driven by a Billet Specialties Tru Trac serpentine belt system. Cooling the big mill within the confines of the C1 engine bay is no easy task, but a custom-made aluminum radiator and Rainbow Products Extreme Cooler EC-30 electric fan help get the job done.
On the Heintz Brothers dyno, Lyndon’s engine delivered 625 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 475 pound-feet of torque at 5,500 rpm. That all goes through a Hurst
Quarter Stick-shifted Bowler Performance Transmissions 4L60E four-speed automatic transmission fitted with a 2,000-rpm lock-up torque converter. A custom-fabricated driveshaft links the strengthened automatic to a nine-inch rear end equipped with 3.70:1 gears. Strange axles get the engine’s rotation to 20-inch Billet Specialties Bonneville wheels shod with 285/35R20 Michelin tires. Up front, matching Bonneville rims wear 245/40R18 Michelins.
When planning the car’s build, Lyndon decided to lightly modify the exterior while maintaining a largely stock appearance. The rear license plate was “frenched” into the lower rear valance panel for a cleaner look. Other, equally restrained modifications include three-inch-longer fender “spears,” and rear bumpers enlarged to allow the car’s large-diameter exhaust to pass through. Carbon-fiber panels finish off the areas between the exhaust tips and bumpers. And to accommodate the engine’s injector stacks, a section was cut out of the hood.
Lyndon did all body modifications and paint preparation himself, and after massaging the fiberglass panels to perfection, he sprayed them Ferrari Red with a PPG waterborne two-stage paint. A pair of simple black stripes were added only to the hardtop.
Though it is highly unusual for owners to do their own exterior paint work, it’s second nature for Lyndon. “I first learned the basics about painting by reading a step-by-step guide in Hot Rod magazine in 1971,” he explains, “and one of the first questions I always get at car shows is, ‘Who painted your car?’ I tell people that I did it, and they are invariably surprised until I reveal that I’ve been doing it for 50 years—and almost know how by now!”
All exterior chrome and stainless trim restoration was entrusted to the experts at Dan’s Polishing & Chrome in Adamsville, Tennessee. Custom LED headlamps look more high-tech while simultaneously providing dramatically better lighting than did the original sealed-beam bulbs. A pair of 1956-57 Corvette tail lamps replace the car’s stock 1959 rear lamps, simply because Lyndon likes their appearance.
As with the exterior, Lyndon decided to subtly alter the car’s interior while keeping the overall look and feel of the original layout. Al Knoch Interiors manufactured leather seat covers that mimic the stock covers. The Corvette-trim specialist also made the carpet, door panels, custom-leather hardtop headliner, and other soft trim items, including the leather dash pad. To significantly improve both thermal and acoustical characteristics, Dynamat insulation was adhered to the floor, doors, hardtop, and firewall before interior installation began.
For both appearance and functionality, Lyndon designed and made a center-console assembly that provides a comfortable armrest for the driver’s right arm, something C1s didn’t come with. Lyndon turned to Ididit for a new steering column and Flaming River for a more modern-looking wheel. Dakota Digital VHX Direct Fit gauges, designed to combine the look of vintage analog instrumentation with the precision of modern electronic units, replace the car’s original instrumentation.
C1 Corvettes weren’t available new with air conditioning, but Vintage Air makes a cleverly engineered system designed specifically for first-generation cars. Lyndon installed one of these units so that he could use the car the entire year, including during the height of summer.
All told, Lyndon worked on the ’59 almost every day for two years to take it from concept to completion. His tireless efforts were quickly rewarded when he took it to the 634-car-strong Rick Hendrick all-Corvette show in Charlotte the day after it was finished and captured the Best in Show trophy. Many more Best in Show and First Place honors followed in the ensuing months.
While success at shows is certainly rewarding for Lyndon, that is not his greatest source of satisfaction when it comes to this beautifully crafted restomod. “Corvettes have been a huge part of my life since I was a teenager,” he reflects, “and I have met some of the best people in the world because of them. These beautiful cars bring me tremendous joy, and I am continuously challenged to save another one. Simply stated, I have been so blessed to be associated with all that the Corvette world encompasses.”
