MIKE MUSTO: If you were to take a poll and ask people
what beauty is, you'd probably wind up with a host of
different answers.
Some people, for instance, would look at beauty as
something that's only attractive from a different
visual perspective.
For others, it comes by way of how an object or time period
affects them on an emotional level.
For us, it was when we opened the garage at Brian Hobaugh's
house and saw this jaw-dropping 1965 Corvette
Stingray staring back at us.
My name is Mike Musto.
Each week, I travel the country with the goal of
showcasing the best and baddest muscle cars and hot
rods around.
Every car has a past, and every owner a story.
Welcome to the world of "Big Muscle."
[CAR ENGINES]
BRIAN HOBAUGH: I got into cars because of my
dad, plain and simple.
As a little kid, I was growing up, of course, playing with
Hot Wheels and with cars and stuff.
But when I was six-years-old, my dad took me out to the
local autocross in Pleasanton.
My dad said, that's cool.
I want to do that.
So one day he got the nerve to go back there, and he got
hooked on autocross.
And six-years-old until now, I've been out in the parking
lot, racing autocross.
The first car my dad took me out was my
mom's 1970 Ford Camaro.
My mom, that was her daily driver.
And it was the perfect autocross car to start at, so
my dad just kind of took the car over.
He got tired of that.
He wanted to go a little faster.
So he sold that, and bought a 1972 Camaro Z28.
He ran that for another three or four years.
There was a new class that was forming in the SCCA in the
early '80s, 1983.
And the Camaro was a good, fast car, but in that class
were the Corvettes.
They were legal in that class.
So my dad wanted to be
ultra-competitive in that class.
So he sold the Camaro and bought this '65 Corvette.
[ENGINE REVVING]
MIKE MUSTO: That sound never, ever gets old.
With every car we drive, that first start up is one of the
sweetest sounds that I hear during my day.
So ladies and gentlemen, welcome to one hell of a cool
automobile.
This is Brian Hobaugh's 1965 Corvette Stingray, and it is
simply a riot.
Look at the specs on this car.
It's got a 364 cubic inch small block that pumps out 500
horsepower and 500 [INAUDIBLE] feet of torque.
Stroker motor-- all low-end [INAUDIBLE], it revs to 7,500,
and handles like it's on a rail.
Got 315s all around--
315 30 18s in this car-- those are steamroller-sized tires.
You can pitch it into the corner.
And it's like any other car, right?
When you first get in and you start driving it, it takes a
few minutes for you to get used to it because you have to
figure out exactly what the car's capable of.
Now, for me behind this, we're just really playing.
We're not doing anything that's out of
the ordinary or crazy.
But I can tell because I've been behind the wheel of so
many different cars that this thing is set up to a point
that is just unbelievable.
The other cool part is this car has been in Brian's family
for 30 years--
1983 his dad bought this car.
And the only reason he bought it was to run it at autocross.
There has not been one year since this car was actually
purchased in '65 that this car hasn't been run on an
autocross and in some kind of competition.
How many other cars can say that that are this old?
Maybe a handful.
Just the looks point of view, he nailed it.
I mean, look at the fender flares on this car--
they're monstrous.
But yet, it looks so right.
It was done so tastefully, and in a manner that every other
'63, '64, '65 Corvette that you're going to see, from now
on, you're going to look at and go, ah, I kind of wish I
had those fender flares on it.
At least I know that's what I'm going to do.
BRIAN HOBAUGH: Back when this car was purchased by the
original owner, he purchased it with the
sole purpose of autocross.
He did a little show with it, but it was autocross.
So in 1965, when he picked it up, he took it home, and he
cut the fenders off.
He immediately put the big race tires on it.
And then he built the flares in the front--
those were done in '65-'66, when it was relatively new.
It had rear flares, but not this big, because they didn't
have tires that big.
The third owner that had it, Larry Park in the '70s, he
made the flares bigger in the back, which is really close to
what you got.
I recently just had the car painted at my shop.
And I slightly modified it just to make it a little
cleaner on the edges.
Other than that, this car, the way you see it, it's been like
this for well over 30 years.
The body hasn't changed.
So this car has been this cool for that long.
MIKE MUSTO: Right now we're doing, I think, 20.
So if we run up through the gears and just roll, I mean,
it revs to 7,500.
Oh, man.
It's just--
this car is so good.
First off, the original owner didn't see a need to improve
on what is perhaps one of the coolest interiors of that era.
Brian's dad didn't see a need to improve on it.
Brian did not see a need to improve on it.
What that meant was that we have stock gauges.
These aren't after-market--
these are stock '65 gauges.
And it really, really lends to the car.
Everything works as it should.
Information is presented clear as day because the gauges are
that big, and it just doesn't take away from the car.
I mean, its interior is a stock '65 bed--
that's what it is.
No bells and whistles because the car doesn't need them.
Even underneath the car, the suspension--
yes, it's been modified, but it's fairly original.
Meaning spring purchase and everything like that are
exactly at the same spots that they were when the car came
off the line in '65.
Upper control arms, stock '65.
Now, you guys might notice right now that I'm stuffed
into this racing seat, and I have a five-point harness on.
And there's a reason for that.
The handling of this car is such that it will toss you
around like you can't believe, and that's not a criticism.
Not a criticism at all--
it sticks like glue.
I mean, you come into a corner, throw it in, and
there's no lack of confidence.
You just kind of know where the car is going to stick.
A lot of that is due to the suspension tuning that Brian
has given it.
It's due to these big 315 series
tires on 18-inch wheels.
It's unbelievable.
I mean, I've driven--
and you guys know this, and I apologize if I say it again,
but I've driven a lot of cars.
And I'm always amazed, when we drive these pro-touring cars,
of how good they, and how good the owners have
gotten them to be.
And the fact that it can go out and go toe-to-toe with a
Porsche, or a Ferrari, or a Corvette--
that's a massive achievement.
A massive achievement.
Look at this.
This is [BLEEP]
outstanding.
Are you kidding me?
Oh my god.
This is so good.
BRIAN HOBAUGH: My daughter, she's 15 right now.
And she gets her permit actually next month.
And she's excited to get in this car, and I'm excited.
My dad is, too.
We'll have three generations driving this
car at the same time.
For many years, I thought this car was the
ultimate street car.
And this year, it will be at the OPTIMA Ultimate Streetcar
Invitational.
And I'm super excited about getting out there and showing
what this old car can do.
People know this car and love this car.
And the cool thing about this car is, not only locally but
since we did travel, a lot of people around the
country know this car.
And I get so many people say that this is their favorite
autocross car.
And they've said it for 20 years.
MIKE MUSTO: Do I wish there was a
little more ground clearance?
Yeah, I do.
But it's not my car, so what the hell?
It really doesn't matter.
And you've got to remember that Brian autocrosses the
crap out of this thing.
And because of that, he knows the ride height at which to
set this car at.
He knows how it should handle, what it should feel like.
And what he needs to get is those winning
results, and he does.
Brian's one of the guys that shows up at the autocross and
everybody goes, ah, [BLEEP].
Because they know if he's there, they're in trouble.
The fact that it looks like this, drives like this, and
handles like this, obviously, it's just an added bonus.
It's one of those cars that when we show up and we see the
car in person, we realize just how much we love our jobs.
We realize that, my god, there are still people out there
that have the vision to take a chance on a car and not build
it for somebody else.
But build it for themselves and their family, and they use
it just to make stories.
If this car could talk, think about the stories it would
give you about Brian's dad, about Brian, about the future
stories that are going to be presented to his daughter
because of it.
They're wonderful.
They're just simply wonderful.
And it's hard for me not to get emotional, because these
will never be duplicated-- ever.
BRIAN HOBAUGH: What I love about this car is the history
of the car, the thing, the bond between my dad and I.
This car is going to stay in the family.
I just can't see selling it.
My dad and I have talked about, oh, it'd be cool to
have a new Corvette, because they're so cool.
But they're not like this car.
This is never going to happen.
I won't let him sell it.
I'm not going to sell it.
Yeah, there's just too much in life to get rid of something
that's such a part of you.
MIKE MUSTO: I want everybody to pause for a moment and
really look at this car.
Think about its organic shape, the flowing of lines, and the
powerful stance.
Understand that it was not crafted at some high-end
Italian factory, but instead built on an assembly line at
St. Louis, Missouri.
It featured fuel injection, a fully independent suspension
system, and had the name Sting Ray grafted onto the front
dash panel.
It was uniquely American.
And to this day, it is still one of the most beautiful cars
to ever have emerged from the General Motors design studios.
To Brian, we say thank you for letting us drive this car.
And we look forward to checking in with you again
soon to see what your daughter thinks of it.