Perfect Example of Built Not Bought: Corvette Goes From Stock To Show Car in 3,300 Hours

I immediately called my cousin and asked him if he knew anything about it. In a matter of minutes, I came in contact with the 44-year-old enthusiast who had designed and built the car with his own hands. In a stroke of luck, he was just about to take the 1999 'Vette out for a photo shoot, so I decided to tag along and find out more about the whole thing.

Living in a small village outside of town, the nearest tuning shop was hundreds of miles away. But that wasn't going to be an obstacle, as Mircea wanted to take matters into his own hands.

When he bought the car, it had been rotting away in a barn for almost seven years. Needless to say, it took a lot of effort and resources to get it running again. But he wasn't going to stop there. Creating a widebody kit from scratch isn't something anyone will have the skills or determination to do, but this wasn't his first rodeo.

He had built a widebody kit Chevrolet Camaro in the past, and the Corvette was going to be his next canvass. The whole project has taken up 3,300 hours in the past 15 months, but there is still some work left to do before it's finished. We haven't measured the car, but we can tell you that it's fairly wide.

You'll get a better sense of the width by looking at the photo gallery included in this story. Working with a limited budget to finish the build, the car sits on a set of 19" Japan Racing JR21 wheels. That's one thing we would probably change about it, but a set of HRE wheels won't come cheap at all.

Although the exhaust system has been modified to enhance the V8 experience, the owner has opted to install a custom-made 7,000 RMS watts sound system inside for cruising around at slow speeds. Two 18-inch subwoofers sitting right behind the driver's seat should provide enough punch for a dB Drag Racing competition, wouldn't you agree?

The 'Vette has come out of the garage just recently, but it's already proving to be a real head-turner. When project Kyncode will come to an end, Mircea will be selling the car to make way for something new.

He mentioned that he never gets too attached to his creations and that he takes just as much pleasure from customizing the cars as he does driving them. Chances are that he will soon opt to start working on a Porsche 911, and we look forward to seeing how he plans on building that one from scratch too. Question is, will it be wider than Nakai San's RWB icons?