By Nick Licata – Images by Chadly Johnson
Back in 2005 Domenic Ruffatto and his business partner came across a couple of barn- find Corvettes in Kentucky—one a ’67 and the other a ’59. Domenic mentions there were about 25 other Corvettes stored there, but he was interested in the ’59 over all the others, as he preferred collecting cars from the year he was born.
“When I bought the ’59, it was a mess, and not much to look at,” Domenic recalls. “The body was beat up, the interior was missing, the chassis was rusty, and the car barely rolled. The engine and transmission didn’t match, so they weren’t worth keeping. But the hard top was there, and that was something.”
Domenic hauled the car to a shop in Georgia mainly as convenience as it was nearby a place he was doing business. He laid out a monthly budget and gave the shop’s owner the green light to perform the restoration to his specifications. Three years later, he came from his home in Eugene, Oregon, to see the finished product, only to find the car painted the wrong color, riddled with stress cracks in the body, and to make things worse, the shop was closing down and moving to another state, so he was pretty much stuck with poorly restored Corvette.
Domenic’s Corvette restoration continued as a decade-long tale of stops and starts by numerous shops overpromising and underdelivering. Fast-forward to 2015 and the car is just a shell with many of the parts missing due to another shop’s poor management and outright negligence. Domenic could write a novel on this Corvette and how many failed shops the car has been through. Not ready to give up, in 2018 Domenic made one final attempt to find a reputable shop to take over the restoration of his Corvette—he rang up Jon Mannila at MetalWorks Speed Shop in Eugene, and after a short discussion he brought the car and what pieces were left to have the MetalWorks crew rebuild his dream car.
“MetalWorks has a great reputation for performing some of the finest restorations in the Pacific Northwest, so after many years of working with shady people, I finally felt the car was in the right hands,” Domenic confidently says. “[Mannila] told me the car would have to be built from the ground up to eliminate all the poor work performed by the prior shops, and by mid-summer 2022 MetalWorks delivered the car I had always wanted from day one.”
Underhood sits a Chevrolet Performance LS7—a 427ci beast putting down 505 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque. It’s a high-revving, naturally aspirated homage to American muscle. All that power is routed through a TREMEC T56 six-speed transmission mated to a McLeod twin-disc clutch. A 9-inch rearend with 4.10 gears, an Eaton Truetrac posi, and Strange 31-spline axles ensure pavement-gripping performance.
The Corvette rides on an Art Morrison GT Sport chassis using cutting-edge suspension that includes C6 Corvette spindles up front with Strange Ultra Series double-adjustable coilovers and Detroit Speed rack-and-pinion steering system. Out back, an AME triangulated four-bar setup with matching coilovers delivers a tight, responsive ride. Wilwood brakes with massive 14-inch rotors and six-piston calipers up front and four-piston calipers out back provide excellent stopping power.
The stance is aggressive, courtesy of 18×10 and 19×11 Forgeline RB3C wheels, wrapped in Michelin Pilot Super Sport rubber.
Inside, the car is just as meticulously thought out. Coach Industries leather in mocha with chocolate highlights cover custom door panels, a tailored console, and modified stock seats. Daytona weave carpet adds a vintage touch, while Jon Lind Interiors of Springfield, Oregon, handled installation with show-quality craftsmanship. A Budnik steering wheel, custom shifter, and Dakota Digital instrumentation provide the perfect blend of modern tech and classic vibe.
Creature comforts weren’t left behind, either. A Vintage Air system keeps the cabin cool, and a full Alpine audio system—head unit, amplifier, speakers, combined with a JL 8-inch subwoofer—makes sure Domenic has just a great audio experience while behind the wheel. All wiring was done with an American Autowire system and every component was integrated flawlessly by the team at MetalWorks.
The MetalWorks crew repaired the less-than-perfect prior attempts of bodyworking by meticulously prepping the shell and refining the body lines to perfection before laying down a brilliant coating of Sikkens Zeus Bronze and Champagne Metallic, merging the car with classic style and modern aesthetics. The car retains stock bumpers, grille, and signature Corvette curves, combined with a gas door taillight for a custom touch. It’s the classic 1959 Corvette you know that now stops, steers, and screams like a high-performance, modern-day hot rod.
After all the starts and stops Domenic and this Corvette have been through, he now has a car with immense power and the utmost reliability. “What the crew at MetalWorks did with my car far exceeded my expectations,” Domenic excitedly says. “After so many years of disappointment, just looking at it brings me joy, and driving it is absolutely amazing. The power and handling are far and above anything I could have imagined. It’s a car I have a love/hate relationship with, but today it’s a car I’m absolutely in love with and look forward to driving every chance I get.”
Sometimes it takes longer than expected to get a car just right, but when you do, the payoff is pure gold, or in this case, Zeus Bronze.
Check out this story in our digital edition here.
Tech Specs
Owner: Domenic Ruffatto, Eugene, Oregon
Vehicle: 1959 Chevrolet Corvette
Engine
Type: Chevrolet Performance LS7
Displacement: 427 ci
Compression Ratio: 11:1
Bore: 4.125
Stroke: 4.00
Builder: GM
Rotating Assembly: Forged 4140 crankshaft, I-beam connecting rods, cast-aluminum flat-top pistons
Valvetrain: Hydraulic roller lifters, Beehive LS7-specific valvesprings, 1.8 die-cast roller fulcrum rockers
Camshaft: 0.593/0.589 lift, 210/230 duration, 120 degrees LSA
Cylinder Heads: 356-T6 aluminum
Induction: GM LS7
Fuel Injection: GM 41.74 lb/hr at 58 psi
Exhaust: Ultimate Headers 1/7/8-inch, stainless 2.5-inch exhaust, Flowmaster mufflers
Accessory Drive: Wegner Motorsports
Ancillaries: Ron Davis aluminum radiator, K&N air cleaner
Output: 505 hp, 470 lb-ft
Drivetrain
Transmission: TREMEC T56
Clutch: McLeod twin-disc
Rear Axle: 9-inch rearend housing, 4.10 gears, Detroit Eaton Truetrac posi, Strange 31-spline axles
Chassis
Chassis: Art Morrison Enterprises GT Sport
Front Suspension: C6 Corvette spindles, Strange Ultra Series double-adjustable coilover shocks, Detroit Speed rack-and-pinion steering
Rear Suspension: AME triangulated four-bar, Strange Ultra Series double-adjustable coilover shocks,
Brakes: Wilwood 14-inch rotors, six-piston calipers front, Wilwood, 14-inch rotors, four-piston calipers rear, Wilwood 7/8-inch master cylinder, Wilwood proportioning valve
Wheels & Tires
Wheels: Forgeline RB3C 18×10 front, 19×11 rear
Tires: Michelin, Pilot Super Sport 275/35R18 front, 305/35R19 rear
Interior
Upholstery: Coach Industries Leather, Mocha with chocolate highlights
Carpet: Daytona weave
Door Panels: Custom
Console: Custom
Dash: Custom
Installation: Jon Lind Interiors (Marcola, OR)
Seats: Stock modified
Steering: Budnik steering wheel
Pedals: Lokar
Instrumentation: Dakota Digital
Wiring: American Autowire by MetalWorks (Eugene, OR)
HVAC: Vintage Air
Head Unit: Alpine head unit, amplifier, and speakers; JL 8-inch sub
Installation: MetalWorks
Exterior
Bodywork and Paint: MetalWorks
Paint By: Aaron Walker
Paint: Sikkens Zeus Bronze and Champagne Metallic
Plating: Ogden Chrome
Body Mods: Tubbed rear wheelwells, cowl vent deleted, dash speaker deleted, gas door deleted and moved to driver side taillight
