Wow. That’s all we could say when we first arrived at the Gearbox Magazine showcasing Keith Stegath’s crazy C3 project. What started life as a basic 1976 Corvette is in the process of being converted into an electric powered street machine.

Stegath moved to Florida after spending 40-some years in the working in the auto industry outside metro Detroit. Keith holds a Bachelor of Science degree as well as a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. We can’t think of a better way to research battery and electric technology than to build an all-electric classic Corvette.

Keith had a 1976 Corvette a sitting around which he had been restoring and personalizing. After about 10 years of collecting dust he was preparing to part it out when he a better idea – create a battery powered C3. His decision to make an EV simply had to do with quality and making one of the best cars out there. According to Keith, ??the challenge is making a quality conversion that is on par with a well designed a new car. A quality conversion does not have wires strewn around in a rat’s nest? A quality conversion does not use wood 2x4s. So I decided to build a quality electric car.? Take a look at the photos below and you can see Keith’s attention to detail, especially on the motor’s cross member. Also check out how he packaged the 1,200lbs of batteries in a tight C3 body.

In addition to the obvious drivetrain mods, Keith has added aluminum coil overs, tubular control arms, LED gauge lighting, and a LCD touch screen system monitor. Other modifications are just way too numerous to list them all here, but you can check them all out here.

Performance-wise, Keith estimates that he can get 50-60 miles per charge if he takes it easy on the loud pedal (pun intended!). Runs down the quarter mile should take less than 15 seconds thanks to the 5,000 rpm NetGain WarP 11 series wound DC motor. Follow the progress of this amazing build at Advanced Electric Vehicles.

See what members are saying about this build over in the Forum!