[VIDEO] Dennis Collins Rescues a Rough 1960 Corvette Roadster in Texas

Apr 30, 2026

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[VIDEO] Dennis Collins Rescues a Rough 1960 Corvette Roadster in Texas

Dennis Collins has rescued a lot of forgotten machines on Coffee Walk, but his latest find in Baytown, Texas, might be one of the roughest — and most entertaining — recoveries he’s filmed in a while.

What began as a simple Corvette pickup quickly turned into a morning of missing parts, friendly neighborhood banter, and a surprise barbecue feast that nearly stole the show.

Collins and the crew rolled into a quiet Baytown neighborhood where the garages are almost as big as the houses — the way it should be in Texas, Dennis joked. Their mission: retrieve a 1960 Corvette that had been sitting since 1982, wearing decades of dust and a few questionable modifications, looking “rougher than a Stucco bathtub.” The owner, Rick Shelton, greeted them with a grin and a “beer 30” attitude that set the tone for the day.

The Corvette itself was a time capsule of mismatched history. The original engine was long gone, replaced by a 1968 327. The transmission traced back to the mid ’60s, and the rear end appeared to be from a ’63 full size Chevy. Inside, the dash was rusty, the seats covered in crud, and the car carried the scars of what looked like a past life as a street raced hot rod — traction bars, a reverse pattern shifter, even an old CB radio.

Still, the bones were there. The Texas frame was solid, the birdcage looked promising, and hidden in the trunk were several fiberglass pieces the crew didn’t expect to find. “It’s rough,” Dennis said, “but we’ll rescue any ’53 to ’67 Corvette in any condition.”

The only real snag came when it was time to load the car. The winch cable — the one that should have been on the trailer — was nowhere to be found. After a few minutes of head scratching, the crew discovered it stuffed under the backseat of the truck. “Who took the winch cable and why?” Dennis asked, half laughing, half baffled. With no time to waste, they improvised with a forklift and got the Corvette loaded the old school way.

Once the deal was done, Rick pointed the crew toward his favorite local spot: Daniel’s Barbecue and Meat Market, a Baytown institution since 1963. What followed was a full blown Coffee Walk food segment — brisket, turkey, jalapeño cheese sausage, mashed potatoes with gravy, bread pudding, and a cinnamon roll the size of a steering wheel. Dennis attacked the plate with the enthusiasm of a man who’d earned it.

Back at the shop, the post purchase inspection confirmed what everyone suspected: the Corvette was a patchwork of parts – he called it a “bitsa” 1960, with a bit of this and a bit of that, like a ’68 motor, ’65 transmission, ’63 rear diff. Fortunately, the foundation remained solid enough. “We’re not going to build it,” Dennis said, “so if you guys want one for a resto-mod, that’s probably the best use for this car, right?”

For Collins, it was another successful rescue — a dusty, mismatched, wonderfully imperfect Corvette saved from disappearing forever. And for Coffee Walk fans, it was another reminder of why these hunts never get old: the cars are cool, but the characters and chaos along the way are even better.