[VIDEO] Midyear Monday: Jeff Hayes on Building Custom Corvette Restomods

There’s a thing that people are doing on the internet these days where they show a photo and then the initials “IYKYK” which stands for “If you know, you know!” For those who love the style and performance of Corvette restomods, I simply have to drop the name “Jeff Hayes Customs” because “those that know” his work need no other introduction. But if you don’t know who Jeff Hayes is, then let me introduce you to a master craftsman who has created some of the best custom Corvettes ever to be offered for sale.

In this video from Classic Auto Insurance from January 2024, they sit down with Jeff to hear his story. Jeff is based out of Bloomington, Indiana and says his love of both new and classic Corvettes and combining the best of both just sort of came together, and soon after a whole new market for older, non-matching Corvettes was born. Interestingly, it wasn’t a classic Corvette that got him started on this journey but an old 1955 Chevrolet pickup truck that he restored in 2001. He says his focal point for the truck was an LS1 V8 out of a crashed 1997 Corvette and he ended up winning the Good Guys show with it. He says he didn’t build it to sell it, but the offers kept coming in. After throwing what he thought was a crazy number out there, the truck was sold and that got him started on building his next ride, which would be a Corvette.

He actually started with several C1 Corvettes, building and selling them, and in 2008 he had for sale a 1958 Corvette he built and was showing at the Good Guys show in Bowling Green. It was at that show that Jeff says he met a guy who asked him if he ever tried taking one out to Barrett-Jackson and selling it at the no reserve auction. “I’m a working-class guy. I couldn’t never take the risk of that no reserve, and he said, ‘well I can tell you, that with your quality you would have no problems at all. You would do well.'” Jeff said that conversation ended up planting a seed and he took his first restomod to Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach in April 2009. Hoping to get around $120K for it during what was a bad economy, Jeff ended up selling it for $135K.

From that first auction experience, Jeff says, “This is what I am supposed to be doing.” So, he bought a wrecked 1966 Corvette and worked on that all summer of 2009 and then put the car in Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale sale in January 2010. Once again, the no reserve format had him scared to death, and the economy was still bad. Hoping for $150K out of the sale, the restomod was sold for $180K. He says it really took off from there.

He found over the years that the more he could put into the classics like ice-cold air, Bluetooth stereos, and backup cameras, the more people liked them. He says about the engines that you really don’t have to do much work on them, and they come with GM harnesses with diagnostic ports. It’s the body work that is the most brutal and they have got to be perfect when you put down the paint on top of it because any imperfections will show through. Another key for him as been building a network of people for doing the things he can’t, like upholstery. “Nobody can do it all themselves, but if you can get a good group together…a good team…they’re worth their weight in gold for sure.”

Jeff’s most recent Corvette restomod build was the one featured throughout this video. It’s a 1967 Convertible with an LS3 and an automatic transmission. Offered for sale at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2024, it set a record price for a custom ’67 Corvette as it was hammered sold for $1 million! Jeff was on the stage while the car was being sold, and simply said “amazing” when asked about the record selling price of the car.

Source:
Classic Auto Insurance / YouTube

Related:
[VIDEO] Watch This Jeff Hayes Custom 1967 Corvette Restomod Sell for $1.1 Million at Barrett-Jackson
[VIDEO] Barrett-Jackson Explores ‘The Hayes Effect’ with Latest 1967 Corvette from Restomod Builder Jeff Hayes
[VIDEO] Midyear Monday: Jeff Hayes Restomods and the Top Corvette Sale at Barrett-Jackson

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