New Federal Law Allows Turn-Key Renditions of Classic Cars

Photo Credit: Hillbank Motorsports

Classic Corvettes like the original Grand Sports are amazing automobiles, but half a century of technological progress has definitely left them lacking in some ways.

But what if you could buy a brand new Grand Sport that looks like the 1963 model but has the modern suspension, steering, and powertrain of the modern era for much less than the original five classics would set you back some 53 years later?

Well, recently passed federal legislation has made it possible for low-volume motor vehicle manufacturers to offer new, turn-key renditions of classic cars within certain guidelines.

Superformance LLC is one such specialty car builder and they showed off several such cars during the most recent Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, including a new Corvette Grand Sport that is licensed by GM. That car had a 427 Chevy V8 under the hood that had been revved up to 600 horsepower by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering.

But customers can choose from a wide variety of powerplants for their own dream car, all the way up to 800 horsepower.

“It’s dependent on what the buyer of the car really wants,” said Ken Lingenfelter, owner of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, who noted that everything from old-school carburetors to the most modern fuel injection and supercharger systems are available.

He says the new Grand Sports can be customized according to the owner’s planned uses, whether on the track, for show, or as a daily driver – with modern options like air conditioning and power windows.

“That’s one of the really cool things about the project,” he said. “The car is built for all of that.”

Interestingly, the cars are assembled in South Africa minus engines and transmissions, which allows Superformance to custom-tune each vehicle according to the person buying it.

Here’s feature we ran about Superformance LLC’s replica Corvette Grand Sport in 2012:

Source:
Detroit News
Photo Credit: Hillbank Motorsports

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