My Corvette : Tim Cote

Tim Cote taking the long road home in restoring his classic '71 Stingray

By Claudio D'Andrea

As Corvette restorations go, few projects are as detailed as this -- or have such devoted and dedicated hands behind the work.

Tim Cote is a restorer and the man behind Corvette-Restoration.com. In 2005, he started work on restoring a classic 1971 Corvette and decided to show progress on his work on his website so people could "learn from my successes, trials and tribulations."

Twenty years later, his restoration page shows detailed breakdown of the meticulous work that Cote has put into his car. It's unclear what progress he's made since 2017.

He posted photos of his white Vette before the restoration. The "After the Restoration" tab on his website is blank except for his explanation: "I’m not quite there yet… Check back another day. Eventually I’ll finish this project!"

Cote says he's not a professional mechanic, restorer or web developer. "Instead, I'm an engineer with a love for turning wrenches and spending vast amounts of time locked away in the garage."

Like most Vette lovers, he says he was very young when he first fell in love with the car. He was in grade school and would see a black C3 Corvette every morning he took the bus to school.

"I loved its curving body lines and sleek styling, and I hoped that someday I'd be lucky enough to own such a beautiful car," he writes.

Cote purchased a '71 Stingray as his "project car" and it became his first classic car restoration. The project turned into a lot more work than he expected but Cote still says it's been enjoyable.

In photos, videos and text, he shows his progress on the car: from the body lift on Sept. 23, 2005 to work on the hood on April 21, 2017. There doesn't appear to be any updates since then.

A profile on Cote in LSX Magazine praises him for his dedication in chronicling his restoration. "The build started way back in September of 2005, so before you decide to undertake a project like this, be forewarned that it will consume your life for at least the next couple of years depending on how deep your wallet is," Jason Reiss wrote of Cote's restoration.

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