Starting my Kellison build

[john chesnut]

A few years ago I purchased Kellison J5 coupe. Kellison's were sold as body/frame kits beginning in the 50's through part of the 60's. Several models were sold. The most popular were the J4, J5, J6 coupes and X-300gt. They featured swoopy styling with a low roof height. (39 inches tall with 5 inch ride height), Chevy engines were used and a number of them were built with early Corvette frames and drive train.

I'm just finishing a Miata based project and am anxious to start on the Kellison. It's right up my ally because of the Corvette link. I have built a number of cars with C4 and C5 parts. My Cobra tribute uses C5 parts, including drive train. Some Cobra guys are accepting of my Cobra. Others, understandably are not.

I'm going to attempt to us a C4 Corvette that I have as a donor. Essentially 'll strip the body off and fit the body to the frame. The C4 has a 96.2 inch wheelbase. The body as shown is set up for 102 inch wheelbase. I'll be taking 8 inches out of the body just in front of the windshield. The interesting thing is that if you purchased a frame for the J4 from the factory it had a 96 inch wheelbase. I prefer the look of the car with the shorter wheelbase.

I'm partial to roadsters so I'm thinking of chopping the top off. A few Kellisons were converted to roadsters and in my opinion look pretty good.

If there is any interest I'll post pictures. I understand that this is a Cobra forum but I thought that some of you would be interested in other cars as well. This is about having fun and keeping from being bored during the winter!