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Automotive Traveler Magazine: Vol 3 Iss 1 Page 50

A good director is always sensitive to the needs and feelings of his subject. I certainly blew that one.

We returned to the Corvette Specialty of California facility the following week to document the installation of the supercharger. As we had been led to believe by Vic Edelbrock, it was indeed an easy thing to do. Again, it went in without any problems.

Cliff did a terrific job, and Dan was by his side the entire time, helping speed the process along.

Since neither Cliff nor Dan had ever installed this particular supercharger on a Corvette before, they did have to refer to the enclosed assembly instructions. We teased them about this, even though it was completely unfair of us.

We took a break from the dust and grease to record the reupholstering of the seats and re-covering of the door panels.

Laurent and Mike simply were not satisfied with the drab interior of the Corvette as it was. They planned to give it a facelift with the use of gray and black leather and suede, detailed with fancy blue stitching.

There would be no vinyl or plastic left visible once they finished their work. The amount of meticulous effort that went into every stage of this car was exhausting... for them as well, I imagine.

One of the many things I learned on this shoot is that the wheels really can make a car. Mike and Laurent contracted Jason Rushforth of Rushforth Wheels to supply the wheels for the GS. Although Mike had planned to have custom wheels fabricated for the GS, once he saw Jason's Rated X wheel, he knew it would be the wheel for this car.

Our crew took a trip to the Rushforth factory in Huntington Beach. There, Jason gave us an on-camera guided tour and walked us through the wheel-fabrication process.

I found it remarkable how a large chunk of unformed metal--aluminum, in the case of the Rated X--passes through multiple steps during its transformation into a work of art. Interestingly, Jason studied the fine arts.

Over the next several months, our crew would arrive at the CSOC facility to record the making of the fiberglass molds, installation of the Sony audio and navigation system, spray painting, cutting and buffing, and, of course, the installation of the split window, the signature of the CSOC GS.

Each time, we would marvel at the progress Laurent was making with the

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