If you’re going to build a cool car, you’d better give it a cool name.

There’s so much to love about hot rodders. The can-do-will-do, belt-it-until-it-breaks attitude they have towards building and racing cars, the sense of community that encourages the wild and ingenious, and of course, the badass names they give their creations.

I recently met up with lifelong ‘rodder Kaoru Koshimizu to check out his Evolution Ray, a C1 Chevrolet Corvette with a fully reworked powertrain and running gear, plus a few party tricks up its sleeves.

Tucked away in a suburban area of Yokohama, Koshimizu-san runs a bar and a taiyaki shop alongside his automotive interests. At the bottom of the hill is his first garage-turned-workshop, which houses Koshimizu-san’s original-condition C2 Stingray.

Inside Koshimizu-san’s taiyaki shop, you’ll find delicious fish-shaped sweets filled with sweet red beans. Take the stairs, and you end up in his cosy speakeasy, which extends over the new garage.

The aircraft hangar-style kit was shipped over from the States and built by Koshimizu-san himself. His background in interior design, specialising in shop displays, is obvious. There’s a lot packed into a small space, but none of the areas feel cramped.

Koshimizu-san’s first car – a 1969 C3 Corvette that he purchased when he was just 20 – is parked next to the C1. He can’t explain where the desire to drive an American car came from, but it wasn’t from his family or friends. I guess for a kid in Japan during the 1970s and ’80s, a Corvette was the AC/DC to a Nissan Fairlady’s Air Supply. It was shoulder pads versus elbow patches. In a time of excess, the ‘Vette was king.

Inspired by the race cars built by Greenwood Corvettes and the like, Koshimizu-san has widened the C3 with a modified kit from the US to accommodate 13-inch Halibrand wheels in the rear. It’s powered by a 427ci big block V8 with four Weber carbs mated to a Doug Nash 4+1 transmission.

The C3 is feature-worthy in itself, but as it’s not currently registered, we couldn’t terrorise the neighbourhood in it. Koshimizu-san did fire it up for me, though, and, yes, it’s got more chop than Jackie Chan.

This is what I’d come to see: Koshimizu-san’s C1 Corvette.

The C1 is muscle car royalty. It’s the grandfather of two-seater American sports coupes, and every Corvette shares its DNA, right up to the current twin-turbo 1,064hp ZR1. That said, the first run of hand-built, fibreglass-bodied C1 Corvettes were about as sporty as a sloth in a swimming pool. Their anaemic 235ci straight-six engines were far from exciting, and rudimentary drum brakes made them hard to stop quickly from speed. Handling was nothing to write home about either, no surprise considering the driveline was a parts bin collection from various passenger cars.

In 1957, a 265ci small block V8 and 3-speed manual transmission saved the Corvette from extinction, but it wasn’t until ’65 that disc brakes became standard. Probably a good thing because, by that time, the C2 was making 425hp.

What the C1 did have was its looks. Petite proportions and delicate details like the rear fins made its shortcomings somewhat forgivable, especially after the newer models had redeemed the Corvette name.

So there’s a need to touch the body. Unless, of course, you’re a slightly eccentric interior designer who runs a bar and a taiyaki shop. In that case, a hydraulically operated clamshell front end and a boot with an electric motor might be a nice little project.

The C1’s bonnet originally hinged forwards, but Koshimizu-san has taken that further and turned the whole front end of the car’s fibreglass body into a single piece. The boot is opened with an electric motor, revealing the first of many performance upgrades for the Evolution Ray. Replacing the rear leaf springs and solid axle is a fully custom pushrod suspension system, all designed in-house.

Because the C1 never had mounting points for independent suspension in the rear, Koshimizu-san was able to start with a blank slate. He also wanted to create some kind of party piece in the rear to match the party in the front, which he designed and built too. The front end features a custom-mounted C3 chassis frame with bespoke control arms, Koni shocks, Swift springs, and C3 hub assemblies.

The new suspension components would have little meaning if left to their own devices, so Koshimizu-san has tied the front and rear together with a hidden roll bar. That’s the handling taken care of.

Press a button on the dash, and the clamshell opens to reveal a 383ci big block Chevy V8 fed by twin Demon 650cfm carbs that sends 500hp to a Richmond 5-speed transmission and C3 diff.

After cruising down the road, slung right down onto the floorplan with the chopped glass windshield not shielding any of the wind, I don’t think this car is winning any prizes on any autocross days. The engine torque makes the car feel like it’s ripping itself apart at even the lightest of throttle. But maybe that’s the beauty, the raw visceral energy of hot rodding – living on the edge and enjoying every oil-soaked minute of it.

Toby Thyer
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