Corvettes for Sale: Tim Allen’s Former 1963 Grand Sport Replica is on Bring a Trailer

Sep 25, 2024

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Corvettes for Sale: 1963 Grand Sport Replica on Bring a Trailer

Only five “real” Grand Sports were built by Chevy back in 1963.

Fortunately, that doesn’t mean if you have enough money and desire, you can’t make your own replica, the same way this one was done in the late 1990s for actor/comedian Tim “The Toolman” Allen.

No surprise that Allen would be interested in a car like this. After all, he once had this to say about his dad in an interview: “He was a big car nut. The guy would take the manifold off my mom’s new Ford wagon and put on an aluminum high-rise manifold and four-barrel, dual exhaust, and glass-packs. … He’d do this to every one of her wagons. They’d sound like race cars. He bought his mom a Galaxie 500 with the Thunderbird engine in it, so my grandmother had a dual-exhaust, four-barrel, 390 four-door Galaxie 500 she had no business being in.”

Corvettes for Sale: Tim Allen's Former 1963 Grand Sport Replica on Bring a Trailer

But eventually, the years passed, and Allen was ready to move on from his ’63 Grand Sport replica, passing it to another enthusiast who then sold it in 2011 to the current owner Rocky Becker who explained to Rare Car Network in a 2017 interview how it all came about:

“The ’63 Grand Sport is something that fits my personality,” Rocky offered as background. “I purchased a ’63 Split Window Corvette that had been modified to race; pretty cool, however nothing compared to the ’63 Grand Sports.”

Aware that it was nearly impossible to find – and afford – one of the five original Grand Sports, Becker began checking into replicas, until he finally came across this one on the internet. “Then bam!” he told RCN. “On eBay in Gresham, Oregon, I found the tribute GS built by Tim Allen. Game over!”

Becker eventually even managed to talk briefly backstage with Allen, managing to wow the veteran Hollywood star when he showed him a two-inch-thick photo scrapbook on the car, including cool upgrades he had done like the custom-painted racing numbers and livery. According to the RCN story, Allen had a package of vinyl numbers for the car but never got around to putting them on.

But now, like Allen, Becker is ready to pass the guard to a new owner, courtesy of an auction on Bring a Trailer slated to end in five days. The early high bid has already hit $40,000, and there’s a lot of time left for that number to soar.

The car has a beautiful blue paint job with a white over-the-top stripe that widens out to include the entire front nose, along with white side exhaust pipes, racing-style decals, flared wheel arches, and a collection of four #2 roundels painted on the ventilated hood, rear deck, and both doors.

Since Allen sold the car more than a decade ago, it’s continued a gradual transformation under Becker’s ownership, including the addition of a 327 V8 engine that he modified to displace 377 cubic inches.

Other features include quadruple Weber carburetors, SCAT 3.75-inch forged crankshaft, hydraulic roller camshafts and lifters, Eagle Specialty Products H-beam connecting rods, Arias pistons, Miladon gear drive, aluminum oil pan, Meziere electric water pump, dual electric fans, Be Cool radiator, MSD ignition, custom valve covers, and electric fuel pump.

The new owner will also find a tube-frame chassis, C4 Corvette suspension, rack and pinion steering, four-wheel disc brakes, Art Morrison rear coilovers, Centerforce clutch, Dana 44 rear end, and Halibrand-style 17-inch wheels with Mickey Thompson Street Comp tires (275/40 up front and 315/35 in the back).

The racing-style interior includes blue and gray bucket seats, roll cage, passenger footwell-mounted fire extinguisher, and a collection of switches on the center stack.

More information about the car is provided in a feature article in Reincarnation magazine, but one look is probably all it will take for a Grand Sport fanatic to fall in love with this replica.

Source:
Bring A Trailer

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