New member from CF

Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
13
Hi all
Been a long time CorvetteForum member but recently was referred to this forum because of all the information about suspension setups on here. Seems like this place is more business than the corvette forum with less of the drama:)

Pleasant surprise to see Twin_Turbo as the main mod over here, him and merlin were the two inspirations for me to really dig into my 79.
 
I am origianlly from the south side of Chgo., Marquette Park area. Lived in Tinley Park before moving to a better climate here in NC.

Welcome!
 
Welcome Killervette666! Sweet ride!
Good to see another midwest guy here!
I'm in Schererville, IN...About 20 minutes from the Loop!
:thumbs:
 
Me? I was tight with Steven Kamis! :D

Oh WTF....INVITE HIM HERE!!!!:bounce:

OK... Here I am! What's up everyone? Long time no see!! I've been out of commisson after the nice lady fell asleep at the wheel and hit me. Hummer Wreck - had to re-learn everthing. How to sleep, how to walk, how to talk. It was bad. I lost everthing I owned and had to fight and claw all the way back. To this day the insurance companies are still fighting over it. I haven't received a dime of help to this day.

Moral of the story? Enjoy EVERY day of your lives like it is your last. It just might be.

So with all that mess out of the way, I'm back working again and back in my home state of Florida. I'm compiling a new site about the car: Merlin. I lost most everything from the original site so if any of you have images or videos from the original build, I would be forever in your debt if you could share :)

I just saw an email cross my desk that the present owner has the car being voted into the Corvette Hall of Fame or something like that. At first I was skeptical given the warm reception over there in that "other forum" but now after getting my head crushed in and looking at the project as a complete outsider, I have a lot of pride about what we did and all the cool people I met along the way. The detractors don't bug me any more. I realize a lot of it was just jealously and petty crap. Any time you break the envelope people get upset. I actually had people tell me I was a jerk for putting big modern rims on a classic sports car. Ummm HELLO!! Can anyone say Chip Foose?!

I'm no Chip Foose by a LONG shot, but a lot of the ideas we came up with were way before he was getting popular. Ironically some of the original rims I looked at for the car were from him but before I realized what he would become. We look at Boyd's and a lot of others, but the HRE's were just too amazing.

Anyway, I'm going to do my best to compile all the info I can about the car. I'm now in contact with the owner - apparently he found my name on an old insurance card in the glove box and tracked me down. One day maybe Merlin will come home - and if not, I'm considering a Merlin II project once I get all my medical bills squared away.

I hope this post finds you all happy and healthy. Here's to the best car ever built - and the best version - the C3 Corvette!! Though many things have changed in my life, some things apparently will never change - and that includes my insatiable lust for street drivable horsepower and pushing the envelope. Any votes for a 4,000HP compound boost version of this madness?

One of the big contentions about Merlin is that it never would live up to the billing. A lot of that was because we never really got it done - and most of the people I hired to help either ripped me off or just weren't the right people. Remember, back in the 90's getting a car to live on the street at that high power level was damn near impossible due to fuel pump issues, heat issues etc. Now, it's a walk in the park. They are getting over 1,000 RWP out of the puny aluminum block 4.6 modular Fords over at Hellion with compound boost. I find it laughable that nobody thought we could do that with a big block 522 and 2 superchargers. Again I say, computers and methanol. HELLO!!! LOL... Hey, I didn't call the first one Steve's Project Insane Asylum for nothing! :evil:

OK, enough out of me. Thanks for having me over here. Looks like a more civil and friendly crew on VetteMod. My best to all of you and your families. Hope you are having a great summer!

-Steve
 
Welcome Steve and thanks for joining up. Hope you are doing well. One of the GOOD memories I have of CF are the posts you made and the car you built. That video sure brings back memories. :thumbs:
 
HEY STEVE!!

Welcome to the motley crew of the Flying Dutchmen....

Sorry about that wreck, WTF happened?? looks like you got rolled and slammed on the top pretty bad....I have a good friend here, used to be into vettes, he drives a H2 now....

so you have any long term permanent injuries, or you mostly OK now???

2000 hp....snicker.....:flash::p:hissyfit::yahoo:

hope this build goes better than the last one, but you knowing more now, should make decisions better and easier....

WTF you going to use for a freeking DRIVE TRAIN....???

:beer::beer:
 
Welcome...glad your making a good recovery.


Thanks Big G - I have my good days and my definite bad days, but just walking out of something like that is a blessing. Every day I wake up and I'm glad to have the chance to do good in the neighborhood. That's something I wasn't always working on before. I spent WAY too much money on cars and not enough on helping others. Now I try to find a balance.

I do miss my Vette though. You all know what I mean. That feeling of sitting there with those 2 big fins out front. There's nothing like the feeling of sitting in a big block C3. It's a badass feeling to be sure and I do miss it. I love all muscle cars but when my dad brought home that Stingray all those years ago. Well, I guess you would say my life changed that day...
 
Welcome Steve and thanks for joining up. Hope you are doing well. One of the GOOD memories I have of CF are the posts you made and the car you built. That video sure brings back memories. :thumbs:

Hi DJ Dep! Glad to be on board. The honest truth is - I was way too high on my high horse back then. Things were just so different back in the late 90's. Money was free, times were crazy. I never started out to build such a crazy car but everyone kept egging me on - and I was only too happy to oblige. I mean really, if everyone had the chance to do ANYTHING you wanted, wouldn't most of us get out of control?

A lot of the detractors were actually people who know a LOT more about cars than me so I probably learned as much from them as anyone - though like with my parents, it STILL bugs me when they tell me what to do :hissyfit: LOL..

The reality is - with a car that powerful, I wanted professionals. You want software architecture? I'm your man. Working on a 1,000+ HP car - I just don't have the experience to do something like that - though I did learn a lot and hope to build a car with my kids one day if I ever do have a family. I got pretty well lambasted for not doing the work myself but at the end of the day, I did design every aspect of the car and I'm the one who wrote every single check so I can assure you, I felt the pain as well as the joy every step of the way.

I think time heals all wounds. My goal was to show that C3 Corvette could be made into a MONSTER and compete with the best of the best. Though like my brain the project got constantly randomized, I do feel satisfied that it was something I can be proud of. To quote The Natural, I spend a lot of time wondering what could have been - but ultimately as I search the web and STILL see people talking about the car, good or bad - it had an impact and helped people go for their own dreams. Isn't that what America is all about? The freedom to live our dreams?

Corvette Forum is OK. I'm as much to blame as they are but it does feel like a safe haven here to have fun without all the drama so for that, I am thankful. Thank you all for having me as a member of your little family here :)
 
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