epiphany for him. So he ordered his
car in Admiral Blue with yellow stitch-
ing and steering wheel paddles, and the
same hue for the brake calipers.
After taking delivery at the Corvette
Museum in September 2016, he imme-
diately began customizing it as a
“Tribute” car. Over the next five months,
he installed an impressive array of after-
market upgrades. Rather than ordering
them in yellow, however, “I had Steve
Ray of Airbrush, Inc., paint all of the
yellow parts of the car instead of order-
ing some parts that were already painted
yellow,” Jeremy notes. Why not use the
factory colors?
“Yellow is a difficult color to match,”
he explains. “And the yellow on the
skirts, splitter, and wheels didn’t quite
match the yellow Steve Ray used, even
though the paint codes were the same.”
The aftermarket parts that were
painted in a screaming-yellow hue
included Track Function CS wheels
from ADV.1 (measuring 19x10 front
and 20x12 rear), shod with Continental
ExtremeContact DW tires (285/30R
and 335/25R20, respectively). They also
feature carbon flash inners with tita-
nium hardware.
In addition, ACS Composite sup-
plied a set of enhanced front mud flaps
and rear diffuser fins, also sanded and
painted by Steve Ray. Normally the
Grand Sport comes with a flat-finished
front grille, “But I wanted one that was
high gloss finished in carbon flash paint,
like the Z06 grille,” Jeremy notes. “So I
ordered a Z06 front grille from Cultrag
Performance, and Steve Ray added the
yellow accents.”
Matching the colors of those items
are RPI Designs’ side skirts, front split-
ter and various engine covers. American
Car Craft supplied several stainless cov-
ers in the engine bay that were sanded
and painted as well.
In the cockpit, Jeremy wanted an
extra special treatment so he asked Auto
Dynamics West to fabricate a rim that
simulates the Corvette Racing’s C7.R
steering wheel. And had Apsis USA
create a custom horn pad cover. To
drive home the inspiration for the color
scheme he had a custom airbrushed
shade made for the rear cargo area that
depicts the famous Penske Grand Sport.
Steve personally handled the major-
ity of the paintwork on the car, both
inside and out, including the engine bayand mural under the hood. Every body
panel, with the exception of the lower
rocker panels, was removed from the
car for this meticulous process.
After that, Jeremy trailered it
to Esoteric Auto Detailing in the
Columbus, Ohio, area where the shop
installed SunTek paint protection film
and Kamikazi Ceramic Coating as a
final finish.
Once done, one of Jeremy’s most
memorable experiences with the car was
a coast-to-coast trip in August 2017. “I
put almost 9,000 miles on the car dur-
ing that month alone, and a total of
18,000 miles on it from March through
October 2017,” he recalls. That epic trip
consisted of a trip from Oklahoma to
Southern Colorado, then onto Moab,
Utah, and finally to the Portland,
Oregon, area to spend time with friendsVETTEWEB.COM 17