Motion Maco

I've owned this 1973 Motion Maco Corvette (C3) since October of 1997. This car has been in storage in Augusta GA since 2006.

History

Carmon Peterson of Corvette Ltd. Sales in NC bought the Mako Shark II kit from Motion Performance. The kit consisted of the one-piece tilt front-end, the one-piece rear end (all the way back from the rear of the doors), grill & headlight components, and racing-style gas cap. Carmon modified the hood so that the headlights where recessed and mounted in a more standard position (the kit had them installed in the lower grill area). He also raised the hood scoop three inches. The slots for the louvers had to be cut out---Carmon said that if he had to do that portion over again he would have made it so the back window louver area was hinged at the top allowing access to the rear window. The tail light portion of the rear-end was a blank panel, leaving the style of tail lights up to the builder. Carmon decided to install the tail lights of a 1969 Firebird. The positioning of the gas filler was also optional, some builders would put it on the left side like in the real Mako Shark II, but Carmon decided to place it in the center. The donor car was a 1973 Corvette. The interior was out of a wrecked 1980 Corvette. The engine is a 1970 Corvette 350 built as the 1970 LT-1. The heads have since been replaced with L-82 heads in order to lower the compression ratio so the engine could run on pump gas. The car was painted black lacquer, with all the trim parts also blacked out. The car was pinstriped in burgundy. The car was sold by Star Carter Motors Inc of SC to Raymond Groomes of North Augusta on 10/9/1985. The odometer read 11,375. The first time I saw the car it was covered in a thick layer of dust. I asked Raymond if he could wash it up so that we could see what it really looked like. I was disappointed when I inspected the car. The black lacquer was spider-webbed with many stress cracks. The body also had a few cracks in the fiberglass. There were a number of ripples in the body. I ended up telling Raymond that we wouldn't take it after all. The very next day I called Raymond back and said that I would go ahead and buy it. These are the pictures I took the day we inspected the car.

Project Timeline

October 25, 1997 - Saturday

Purchased

I bought the car from Raymond Groomes on 10/25/1997. The odometer read 14,080.

November 9, 1997 - Sunday

Hooter's Car Show

Augusta GA Hooter's car show

November 9, 1997 - Sunday

Laquer

Garage pictures

November 12, 1997 - Wednesday

Evans Field Photo Shoot

Photo shoot in a large field in Evans, GA. This is when the car still had its black laquer paint and pin striping.

February 13, 1998 - Friday

Body Work - Start

On 2/13/98 I brought the car to David McClearen of Fiberglass Specialties for the car to be stripped, resurfaced and painted.

March 2, 1998 - Monday

Body Work - Update

March 19, 1998 - Thursday

Body Work - Update

April 2, 1998 - Thursday

Body Work - Update

April 16, 1998 - Thursday

Body Work - Update

May 7, 1998 - Thursday

Body Work - Complete

Body Work - Complete — Video Short

May 9, 1998 - Saturday

Washington GA Cruise-In on the Square

Held by the Memory Lane Cruisers Georgia.

Washington GA Cruise-In on the Square — Video Short

August 21, 1998 - Friday

Bubba and the Cats

This is when Jan & Genie Holley and Arlene & I drove up to Athens for a day. No idea what the actual date for this was.

March 11, 1999 - Thursday

Back in Black

Can't find the date for this either... There was a problem with one of the chemicals used that ended up causing issues at the joints with the paint. So the car had to have the paint removed again. Decided to just go back to black instead of trying to recreate the blue/white fade again.

June 1, 2000 - Thursday

Augusta Mall

No idea what the actual date for this was, it was while I was out in California working on-site for Microsoft. One of my friends from the Corvette Club of Augusta drove it there, set it up and drove it back home. I wonder who has that sign? I sure didn't get it.

September 13, 2002 - Friday

Buddies

November 8, 2002 - Friday

Buddies

December 16, 2002 - Monday

Back View

December 19, 2002 - Thursday

Hood Hinge & Other Fun

Looks like some evidence that I must have had a set of Randy Hinges. I must have them in a box with the Maco in storage. Don't recall seeing them there though.