Double Life: Bob Larson’s Twin Turbo Widebody Corvette Resurrected

In the mid Seventies, more was more. Big engines, big amps, and big platform shoes. Nowhere did that appetite for excess hit harder than in the Corvette world, where innovative builders turned C3s into rolling sculptures with swollen fenders and swirling graphics.

The trend spread like wildfire from the racetrack. John Greenwood’s brutal widebody Corvettes stunned fans at Road Atlanta in 1974 and shocked the public at the Detroit Auto Show later that fall. Greenwood, Motion Performance and Eckler’s brought the look to mainstream America with their fiberglass kits and conversions. By the end of the decade, Corvette shows looked like alternate universe race grids filled with IMSA GT fantasies.

John Greenwood helped define the modified widebody Corvette movement during the mid-Seventies before the aftermarket and enthusiast magazines carried the look nationwide. Known as both a kindhearted guy and ferocious competitor, Greenwood left a permanent mark on Corvette culture before his passing in 2015. Photo Credit: Wallup

“CC Vett,” built from a wrecked 1968 model with a Greenwood kit, gained attention in Petersen publications throughout 1975 and 1976. Eckler’s kits are recognized by their six-taillight design. The Barris-built “Foxy ‘Vette” for Farrah Fawcett featured Monza taillights, pillar-to-pillar shag carpeting, and a rotary phone. Photos: Left – Car Craft Magazine’s “CC Vett,” middle – Eckler’s, right – Barrett-Jackson

Most of these custom ‘Vettes have long since disappeared. The whims of automotive fashion can be abrupt and brutal, and after their moment in the spotlight, many widebody Corvettes were put out to pasture, returned to stock, or simply scrapped altogether.

A few survived.

This is one of them.

This jet black, twin-turbocharged ‘Vette began life as a wrecked 1974 model purchased in 1977 by Bob “Bondo” Larson, a respected Michigan fabricator whose name still echoes in Corvette circles today. Opinionated and brilliant, he was meticulous and demanded excellence from himself and anyone he worked with.

Photos: Bob Larson Estate

Bob Larson’s fabrication work was both functional and beautiful. His turbo systems, headers, and handmade components reflected a level of craftsmanship that made him a trusted figure among Detroit-area builders, including racers working in Indy and NASCAR circles. Photos: Bob Larson Estate

Larson’s plan was ahead of its time: create an aftermarket small-block turbo kit, single or twin, that could fit under a factory Corvette hood, then use it as a rolling demonstration car to promote to Chevrolet dealers. This idea was years before boutique builders like Callaway Corvettes became well known. Photo: Bob Larson Estate

Larson Engineering marketing materials show a single AiResearch turbo kit priced at $2,000 in the 1970s. In one memorable sales line, Bob wrote that malaise-era L82 and L48 Corvettes were “real pigs,” and that “a turbo or two” was the answer. Photo: Bob Larson Estate

Larson’s turbo kits could be adapted to other automakers engines too, but it is unclear how many were sold.

A balanced and blueprinted 350 cid small block built by Carl Holbrook Racing of Redford, Michigan, became the foundation of the powerplant, allowing Larson to focus on engineering the system without permanently altering the host car or turning it into a temperamental science project.

This March 1980 article gives a deeper look at Larson’s turbo engineering, carburetor and all. Photos: Super Stock Magazine

Bob drives a development mule, now believed to be in Munich, Germany. How many turnkey cars were built remains a mystery today. Lafferty’s car and this car may be the only survivors. Photos: Keepin’ Track of Corvettes

Then, the project changed course.

Larson decided a twin turbo Corvette wasn’t enough. He wanted a widebody machine that captured the Greenwood bling of the era. To make it happen, he brought in noted fabricator and paint man Dave Schilk, future owner of famed Kar Kraft Industries in Dearborn.

A Greenwood kit was first purchased and fitted, but Larson felt it looked too close to other widebody Stingrays of the day. Schilk pushed the design further, reshaping the car into the dramatic one off form it still wears, while preserving the factory hood concept. According to the car’s history, the molds made for this car were destroyed in 1980, ensuring a duplicate could never be made.

Photos: Bob Larson Estate

Long-lost images of the body’s evolution show the one-off rear flare molds and the care that went into the final shape. Schilk’s design retained the stock Corvette’s horizontal body line as it flowed into the widened rear fenders, giving the car a more integrated look than many slab-sided kits of the era.

At this point, Larson’s widebody Corvette disappeared from public view.

For decades, the car sat quietly inside Larson’s garage, largely forgotten outside a small circle of Corvette diehards. Following Larson’s passing in 2012, ownership transferred to Clyde Hensley of Canton, Michigan as payment toward settling his estate.

Hensley brothers: Larry (L) and Clyde (R) Photos: David Lafferty

Hensley, well known among collectors for his cars, motorcycles, petrol memorabilia and his appearance on American Pickers, prepared the Corvette for sale alongside his brother Larry. Larry’s background includes years of drag racing and funny-car crew-chief experience working with legends including Shirley Muldowney and Connie Kalitta. Despite the car’s uniqueness, finding the right buyer proved difficult.

Meanwhile, in Ventura, California, David Lafferty saw the Corvette on American Pickers and instantly sensed something special about it. What began as curiosity quickly turned into infatuation. After tracking the car to Jackson, Michigan, Lafferty contacted Hensley, and a deal came together almost immediately. As Lafferty recalled, “Viewing the car on television was one thing, but in person, it really knocked me out.” Once the Corvette arrived in California, its next chapter began.

After his military duty, Lafferty built his career in promotional displays and packaging, a world where presentation, proportion, and visual impact matter. That background helps explain why Larson’s widebody Corvette caught his eye so quickly. Beyond the car’s wild shape and turbocharged history, Lafferty saw the design discipline behind it and understood that it deserved to be preserved with care. A lifelong car enthusiast, he has balanced that passion with a family alongside his wife, Sally. Together they have two sons and are nearing their 50th wedding anniversary.

David Lafferty, Point Mugu, California, April 2026

Right off the bat, Lafferty upgraded the suspension with RideTech coil-overs and a MuscleBar sway-bar setup to the stock frame, painted purple no less, significantly reducing body roll and sharpening up handling.

From there, David entrusted the car to the crew at Full Scale Hot Rods and Customs of Santa Paula, California. They successfully upgraded a 52-year-old twin-turbo custom and avoided the obligatory LS swap. David said, “Swapping out the engine was suggested, but it was never a viable option as far as I was concerned. I wanted to keep the car close to Bob’s original vision.”

From left: The Full Scale Hot Rods and Customs guys: Jimmy Data, Troy Martin (owner), and Dave Blanchard. Photo: David Lafferty

Larson’s original concept was modernized using Precision 62 mm turbochargers, a FiTech Go EFI system, and tuning by Kenny Duttweiler. The result retains Larson’s fingerprints but now has the reliability and control to match the power.

Running a conservative 6 psi on 93-octane gas, Lafferty estimates output at approximately 600 horsepower with 750 lb-ft of torque. Boost arrives around 2,500 to 3,000 rpm, delivering instant response and brutal midrange pull.

Backing up the mill is a TH400 automatic with a shift kit and race converter. Wilwood brakes, upgraded cooling, twin electric fans, oil coolers, and 15×10-inch Western 32-fin turbine rims wrapped in BFGoodrich rubber at all four corners help make the package usable in the real world. Performance is estimated at 0 to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds, with quarter-mile times in the mid-10s at over 130 mph.

The shapely curves of the car are still the star of the show, and the hand built fiberglass widebody still looks outrageous decades later. A new carbon fiber hood designed by Lafferty to clear the new induction system adds a fresh touch, while powder coated gold trim keeps the car tied to its flamboyant roots.

Inside, the cabin features leather-wrapped surfaces, diamond-pattern seating, remote door openers, and custom convex mirrors for improved visibility. The interior shows how a Shark cockpit can be updated for modern use without cutting up the interior.

What makes this Corvette special is not rarity alone. It carries DNA from three eras: Larson’s original vision, the Hensley brothers’ stewardship, and Lafferty’s modern refinement. It is part survivor, part time capsule, and part street machine.

Best of all, despite being the only one like it, David drives it every day.

License plate UATHUIL, pronounced “Oooh-ah-hool,” is Irish Gaelic for “unique.”

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

They say a person lives as long as someone remembers them.

As I sifted through the flotsam and jetsam of Bob Larson’s life, I realized this story was about more than a one-off Corvette.

It was about preserving the memory of the man who imagined it into existence. Left untouched, these breadcrumbs of Bob’s life might have remained hidden away in a cigar box, buried in an attic, or eventually lost to time altogether.

Even though I never met Bob, I began to feel an unexpected responsibility to preserve his memory. Bob was more than a fabricator. He was a craftsman from another era, a brilliant hands-on artisan working long before CAD design, CNC machining, and computer modeling changed the landscape forever.

He belonged to that fading generation of postwar American dreamers who built extraordinary things with instinct, imagination, and seat-of-the-pants ability. By telling this story, a part of Bob lives on every time someone sees this Corvette or reads these words.

This old widebody ‘Vette lucked out when David Lafferty became its current shepherd. If this car had fallen into the wrong hands, it might have been LS-swapped, “restored,” or Bob’s personality wiped clean.

Having said all that, when I came upon this photograph of Bob as a teenager, standing there in the full bloom of youth and possibility, it stopped me cold.

We remember you, Bob. Thank you for what you created and what you left behind. Rest in peace.

Long before the turbo Corvettes, Bob Larson had already made his name with a hand-built Track T roadster. Built around 1952 when Larson was still a teenager, the car became a local legend in Michigan hot rod circles for its knee-high stance, inverted front suspension, brass flame-thrower headers, and doors that flipped up and out to clear the exhaust. Decades later, it was still being remembered by Detroit-area rodders and reportedly appeared at the 2005 Detroit Autorama.

Source:
Location Photography: Dave Cruikshank

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