L ike most long running cars, the Corvette seems to be a hate it or love it ride. Of course, I love all cars and various members of the NSRA staff have had or currently drive what Chevrolet refers to as “America’s Sports Car.” The C3 Corvette was pro- duced for over 14 years (1968 to 1982) and changed quite a bit, but none of them ever looked as cool as Mitch Townsand’s ’72 wide-body Chevy Corvette out of Bakersfield, California. Mitch is a retired oil field worker who finds already-built cars that fit the bill and then does what he thinks they need to be perfect. This ’72 came out of Paso Robles, California, and that’s about all I know about
its origins (I searched the Internet with no result), and now Mitch has made the already unique Vette his own. The Corvette is meant to be a sports car, and this one has been modified to keep on outperforming other cars right into the 21st Century. The front sus- pension is a Van Steel coilover conversion with Wilwood brakes, Van Steel tubular control arms, QA1 coilovers, an extra-large Van Steel anti-roll bar, and Borgeson power steering. The rear suspension is the detail that drew me in. The regular Corvette rear sus- pension has been updated with a Shark Bite inboard coilover conversion that eliminates the leaf spring
86 JULY 2025
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