And here’s an example of what you can turn a 1975 Chevrolet Corvette into – Bubble Ray. Unfortunately, there’s not much information about this fancy car, but I’ll share what I’ve found. So, one day, Gary Reid paid a thousand dollars for a battered C3…
Gary has been building cars since he was 11 years old. The works of Big Daddy Roth in particular and the hot rods of that era in general are not the last source of his inspiration. Bubble Ray was conceived as a tribute to the Beatnik Bandit and his ilk. And first of all, it is worth mentioning that from the very beginning the car was planned not as a show car, but as a full-fledged car for roads.
In fact, few Bubble tops are being built, not everyone ever gets a chance to drive on the road, and only a few regularly drive on the streets. And although it’s not written anywhere, it’s worth thinking that with this approach, the air conditioning system was taken care of first. At least on the video I found, I didn’t hear a single complaint about stuffiness or heat.
Technically speaking, the entire Bubble Ray – engine, transmission, brakes – everything was done in one year, and absolutely everything except the painting was done personally by Comrade Ray. The suspension remains factory-installed, the engine is still the same standard small block 350, but it has been thoroughly improved. Turbo-Hydramatic 400 transmission. The discs, judging by the photos, were very stylish at first, but later they were replaced with brutal classics from American Racing. The radiator and front lights were borrowed from the Shelby Series 1. The dashboard was made by the guys from So-Cal Speedshop.
Unfortunately, that’s all the information I could find. Most likely, the characteristics of the car remained close to the very C3, which it is. According to all the documents, it still looks like a Chevrolet Corvette, but visually, the Bubble Ray, more than many other similar customizations, resembles a piece of a parallel universe that has leaked to us.
Sources: https://lasvegasweekly.com/news/2016/may/12/corvette-rat-fink-ed-roth-bubble-ray-gary-reid / (May 12th, 2016), http://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=23760&country=us
