There are some people who have been blessed with the do-it-yourself gene and then there’s Corvette Forum member ?Mewn? who has taken the art of custom fabrication to a new level. Mewn’s 1981 Corvette was already a head turner with its huge high-rise 505 big block sticking out of the custom hood. Mewn had been working on the interior and already had installed a custom stereo controlled by a touch screen DVD player, but that quite wasn’t good enough and so he decided to install an Apple iPad2 instead.

Mewn first removed his previous DVD touch screen and head unit and then cut a giant whole in the dash to test fit the iPad. Removing the dash, he then fabricated the new doghouse out of 95% MDF wood which required hours and hours of shaping and sanding to get it just right. Mewn also used an aluminum plate to create the bezel surrounding the iPad and from the left-over material, created an aluminum bezel around his TKO 600 shifter.

The car is still a work in progress and Mewn will be putting the carpet and windshield back in after he makes a few more adjustments. In addition to the entertainment center, the ?81 Corvette also features seats from a C5, custom white-faced gauges from Jegs and a Momo steering wheel.

Mewn estimates that he spent 100 hours to get the project done at a cost of around $2,000. Having an iPad2 installed in his 1981 Corvette allows Mewn to access to all his music plus the added benefits of a bluetooth phone/facetime/email/web browsing. Plus, maps are just a touch away.

Head over to the Forum to see the original thread and see what other members are saying about Mewn’s handiwork!