This car is a project in every sense of the word, it’s the unfinished (and possibly unholy) combination of a C3 Corvette fitted to the shortened chassis of a Chevrolet Tahoe Z71 4×4.
For whatever reason the project has stalled, so it’s now being offered for sale on eBay out of Sanger, Texas. The owner notes that it comes with enough fiberglass mat, resin, mixing cups, and brushes to complete the body.
If this vehicle was completed to a high level it would be the star of any Cars & Coffee event it attended. That said, it’s clear that there’s a lot of work yet to be done.
The body is a 1981 Corvette, as is well-known these had fiberglass bodies from the factory that were fitted to steel chassis. As a result, the Corvette is an ideal donor body for a projects like this and we’ve seen more than a few Corvette 4x4s over the years.
In order to keep it all in the family, this Corvette was mated to a 2003 Chevy Tahoe Z71 4×4 chassis powered by the 5.3 liter Vortech V8 sending power to the wheels via a GM 4L60-E 4-speed automatic transmission with overdrive.
The 5.3 liter Vortech is a member of the fourth generation small block V8 family and in the Tahoe it offered 285 bhp. The Z71 Tahoe package was the most off-road oriented, which makes it a good platform for a project like the one shown here.
In the listing the seller notes that the air conditioning is working and it blows cold air, and that the car is now ready for bodywork and the fitment of the interior. It’s clear the body is still going to need plenty of effort before it gets to the painting stage, but the fact that it’s all fiberglass should make this a little easier.
The seller explains that the car comes with almost all of the original interior parts (that will need to be refurbished) as well as exterior window trim, door handles, gas cap lid, passenger seat, and there’s a Bose speaker box in the car already.
The vehicle is currently unregistered, but this listing says that it comes with clear titles to both donor vehicles. This would be a point worth double-checking before any money changes hands as the completed vehicle would be next to impossible to register without them in hand.
The vehicle is powered by the 5.3 liter Vortech V8, the fourth generation of the small block V8 family. In 2003 Tahoe Z71 trim it would have been producing 285 bhp when new.
The engine is said to be running and showing no OBD codes, which is a good sign, and the transmission is said to be in good condition also. It looks to be in largely original condition with the exception of that hefty cold air intake on the side.
If you’d like to read more about this unusual Corvette/Tahoe chimera you can visit the eBay listing here. As mentioned further up it’s being sold out of Sanger, Texas with a Buy It Now price of $4,250 USD.
Images courtesy of eBay Motors
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
