[PICS] This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler

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[PICS] This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler

If you’re in the Houston area and have done a couple of Corvette shows, you have probably seen Steve and Lou Ann Pond’s bright yellow 2007 C6 known as the “Tweety Bird” Corvette.

Like a lot of us, Steve has been fallen for the new C7. So with a new Corvette Stingray in the garage, the show car designer set about to transform the White and Red Corvette into a show car in its own right.

We talked with Steve earlier this week and he told us that when it came to designing a theme for his C7, he didn’t want to go with the old standbys. “I don’t want a Corvette that has flames, skulls or flags,” he said and then added, “No disrespect to those that have it, but I just wanted something different.”

Steve said he was always interested in fantasy and design and eventually he came to decide on a time travel theme. Steve’s wife Lou Ann jumped onto the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to start looking up vanity plates for the C7. The vanity plate “TM TRVLR” was available and so the plate was ordered. Once that was done, Steve began planning his new show car.

[PICS] This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler

He says “I wanted to stay away from the Delorean ‘Back to the Future’ look and wanted to do something that was both retro and believable.” Steve also hit the books and began incorporating everything from Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to Salvador Dali’s famous paintings of clocks melting into time. It was also important that Corvette’s history from 1953 onward was represented. Steve said that he has always been fascinated with the fantasy look of Steampunk design and so those design elements of wonderful steam-powered mechanics straight out of a Jules Vern or H.G. Wells novel would be incorporated as well. Once all that was decided, Steve was ready to begin.

Mechanically, the Stingray received an AFE Cold Air Intake, headers and a new tune. Steve used his own fabricating skills and combined a Borla exhaust with CORSA’s black Hexagon Tips. Following the addition of the mods, the Stingray was put on a Mustang Dyno where is showed an impressive 452 RWHP and 475 ft-lbs torque.

[PICS] This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler

The Stingray was then handed over to Steve Ray at Airbrush, Inc. in Owensboro, KY., and it was his artistry that turned the Time Traveler theme into reality.

All the panels on the car were pulled except for the doors and red and black accents were added to the Arctic White exterior and even the words “Time Traveler” were put on the hood. Custom rocker panels and a front splitter was added, red LEDs glow through the Stingray’s vents and a custom front black grill replaced the stock Stingray’s grill. The final touch was the white-barreled custom Forgiato wheels which were just added.

Under the hood, Steve Ray went to work where he was able to turn the steampunk fantasy into a believable reality. Throughout the engine bay, Steve replicated clockworks, gear movements and other assorted steampunk elements that completely transformed the Stingray into the “Time Traveler” theme. Einstein’s famous Theory of Relativity “E=mc2” is even there at the front of the engine bay.

[PICS] This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler

The hood liner was also airbrushed and it continues the fabulous steampunk design with everything from a 1953 Corvette’s dash to a nixie clock featuring the historic date of 06-30-1953. That’s the date the first 1953 Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, MI. If a Corvette enthusiast could travel back in time, wouldn’t that be one of the first destinations?

Check out this gallery featuring Steve and Lou Ann Pond’s “Time Traveler” C7 Corvette Stingray:

This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler
This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler
This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler
This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler
This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler
This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler
This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler

So did Steve reach his goal of blending the wonderful world of Steampunk with elements of time travel and fantasy? We think the car is a real winner and I would hate to be judge at a Corvette show with both Steve and Lou Ann’s Corvettes in attendance because both show how stock Corvettes can be turned into car show masterpieces.

[PICS] This Corvette Stingray with a Steampunk Engine Bay is a Real Time Traveler

And speaking of Corvette shows, the steampunked “Time Traveler” Corvette Stingray and its C6 sibling the Yellow “Tweety Bird” Corvette will be shown among 400 other Corvettes at the 1st Annual Corvettes Cruisin Galveston to be held the weekend of May 29-31, 2015. For details on the show, visit www.corvettescruisingalveston.com for more information.

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