7/3/03 - I walked in to see how things were starting, and this was what I saw. My $50,000 car, the car I have wanted for most of my life, was in pieces in the corner of the shop and was totally gutted. I was ready to cry. This was the first of many times that Gil said "dude, don't worry, it's all good".

Ever wonder what the interior of a vette looks like on the exterior?

My seats, and the stealth box that will be installed.

This is the view that welcomed me to the drivers side. I almost shit myself.

Another view.

This further reinforced the "what in the fuck" feeling I was having.

And this finalized it.

7/8/03 - Swung by with hopes that it didn't look as torn apart as it did on the 3rd. Thankfully, it didn't. Still, there was a long haul in front of us. It's kind of funny, I thought he would be done in a few days.

This is the infamous neon gill mod.

For those from corvetteforum.com, I know, I know, it looks rice.

 Rice my ass. It look friggin wicked.

This is some of the best work Gil did. Those are the tweeters from the 6.53's. When he first told me about it, I had this vision of a big round tweeter in the crossbar.

I could not have been more wrong. It is molded so perfectly that it looks stock. In fact, I didn't even know he had redone the leather and that it wasn't stock. Bet you didn't either. :-)

7/10/03 - Swung in to see what was going on and for the first time started to see what he was planning for the custom work. I also got the unexpected surprise of the head unit being in place and functional as well as most of the speakers being installed. Good stuff.

This is a shot from the trunk. That is the edge of the amp rack. The sub is taped up in the middle to protect it

The vettes have little cubbies in each corner of the trunk. He stashed the XM receiver in the drivers side one.

Those are the amps. At first I had no idea why he was taping everything down. I found out later. Have I mentioned that Gil is a bad ass at this stuff?

There is the head unit. I'm playing some tunes from MP3's I burned. Yes, I have the CDs you legal hounds.

I like the colors. There is a bezel kit that I can buy that matches the fluorescent purple. All in due time.

7/15/03 - This was the first time that I saw the amp rack and rear compartment work coming together. I shook my head and said "yeah, I see what you are going to do" as Gil explained it all to me, but the truth is I had no idea just how wicked he was going to make everything. Essentially he is replacing the entire rear compartment with a custom molded enclosure. Words won't do it justice.

This is the left cubby. The wood on top covers the hole that exposes the cubby.

Here it is with the cubby exposed. Notice the blue edges... he is molding it to fit perfectly with the curves of the interior.

This is a shot right down the trunk opening. The sub is under the circle in the middle.

This is a shot of the amp rack from the trunk.

Another shot of the amp rack. This is the framing of what eventually will be the cover to the amps

Here is a shot of the amp rack frame from the passenger side.

This gives a good view of the skeleton. Notice how the contours match the interior contours.

Another shot. Notice the contours on the right.

7/19/03 - These are the latest pics I have. They were taken out in the sun (he has to work on other stuff from time to time <g>) so some shadows get in the way. I watched him doing the sanding and such for a few days, but kept forgetting to bring the camera. These pictures finally start to show exactly what the level of detail he is doing is. The whole thing can be disassembled and  pulled out of the vette in 3-4 pieces. I can not wait to see it as it starts to get the final touches.

Check out the curves of the amp rack. He wound up doing it in fiberglass.

Here's another cubby shot.

This gives a feel for the contours of the trunk area. The level of detail is immense.

Here is the centerpiece, the sub. He is building this up and really making it eye catching.

Here is the passenger side. The "bridge" connects the amp rack to the rear custom work.

Here is the drivers side.

Of course, it wouldn't be right without the Z06 logo somewhere. I still don't know what else he is doing to it. Actually, I do, I just couldn't explain it to save my life.

This really shows how much work he put into sanding and molding the shape so that it flows with the lines of the vette.

Another shot of just how tightly he is making everything fit. The rack will be painted electron blue to match the vette. Considering that it is fiberglass, it should be a perfect match.

Yet another shot of how he is custom molding everything. Look at how narrow the tolerance is and how tight the fit is. Like I said, Gil is an artist.

7/23/03 - Swung by to find that he had put down the cover for the sub enclosure that we was building, as well as having painted all of the wood. This was also the first time that I had seen it without everything being covered in tape. This was also the first time I got to listen to it without tape covering all the speakers in the rear. Let me tell you, it friggin' rocks. I could feel the air moving past my face when the sub was hitting. All this time I was worried that the single 10 would be too small. It hits harder and tighter than the 12 I have in the truck.

Shot of the neon around the sub taken from the drivers side.

Another shot with the flash.

Here is a good shot of the neon from the top down.

This is a shot of the neon lighting up the amps. It will look better when the amp rack is in place. It also gives a good like at the vinyl cover and the contours

Here is a shot of the neon from the front.

All the neon in the car is powered from here. The vette is a Z06, so it doesn't have fog lamps. Instead of putting in some funky aftermarket switch I had him use a standard vette switch to keep it looking "normal"

Shot of the amps. The base looks like polished onyx to me

Here is a shot of the amps from the trunk looking right down the cooling ridges

Shot of the amps from the front

Another shot of the amps

Shot of the sub

A little dark, but this shows the vinyl again as well as the cubby covers in place. They are covered in speaker cloth to add some texture

This is a really good shot from the side. It really shows the cubby covers good, as well as the contours and vinyl cover

7/24/03 - We are starting to get to the final stretch. He has painted everything and it is now a matter of going back and wet sanding, taking out the imperfections and getting everything connected. It's looking like Saturday will be the day. That means that they will have had the vette for about 1 month. Maybe I should see if they want to make my July payment.

Here is a shot into the trunk from the drivers seat area. You can just make out the sub enclosure

Another one, with the flash

This is the sub enclosure. It is a perfect match of the color of the vette (electron blue metallic).

Here is a shot of the bridges that will connect to the amp rack and the sub enclosure. He is actually going to need to sand it down some to get it to fit, there are so many coats of paint and clearcoat.

Shot from straight down

Another shot of the trunk area

Here are some shots with the flash. It drowned out some of the color.

Another one

Another one from straight down on it

Final shot