Photos: Atomic Autoworks YouTube channel
Attempted '73 Vette restoration goes off the rails
By Claudio D'Andrea
Atomic Autoworks attempt to restore a 1973 C3 Corvette to its original Ontario Orange factory colour glory fell short of its goal because of money.
The auto garage posted a YouTube video in 2024 and told viewers they would walk them through the history of the car, its restoration plan and completion. But in a followup video, they came clean with viewers and told them the project was not completed.
The first clip described how the car was found in Florida 15 years earlier with the original engine missing and replaced with a slightly modified 454. The car was brought back to Connecticut where it was supposed to go into full-restomod mode. The body and suspension parts were pulled off the car, a new four-speed frame was sourced and other parts that were needed were found.
The first video shows work on aligning the car, the addition of a fibreglass fender and bodywork on the rest of the car, and unexpected challenges and issues that delayed the project, including financing the work.
In the second video, the project was described as an "epic flop," according to Atomic Autoworkers' Eddie Barrett. He explains the customer would have had to pay $6,500 U.S. which he says was a fraction of the actual labour cost for the estimated 149 hours of work on the car. According to Barrett, he says he was prepared to shave off a substantial amount more in labour costs to bring the customer's bill to about $1,800 but the two sides could never agree on a price.
"That is honestly one of the reasons we closed the shop down a year ago because I wanted to get rid of all that stuff," he said. "We wanted to finish up some jobs. We wanted to build our own stuff and kind of show you behind the scenes of us doing what we do."
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