In a quiet corner of Milwaukee’s Haymarket Square, a small neighborhood just northwest of downtown, is tucked a global force in restoring, retrofitting and rebuilding some of the world’s rarest and most powerful cars.
Bennett Coachworks LLC is known around the world for its ability to restore and rebuild some of the world’s most exotic cars – everything from rare, historic cars to supercars to cars only legal on the racetrack. On any given day, you might find Ferraris from the ’80s that needed front end work, U.S. production cars from the ’40s in need of restoration, Datsuns from the ’70s being rebuilt for the race track and muscle cars from the ’60s that were rescued from the scrap heap.
Now, the company is preparing to launch its first line of production work – a series of Corvette conversions for the C6 model series, which are 2005 production year and newer, that it calls the Karvajal ZX-1.
Bob Bennett, the owner of Bennett Coachworks, and his company have a long history with Corvettes, so it makes perfect sense that its first foray into formal production would be with that line of cars.
“I’m a big Corvette guy. My uncles built them when I was a kid, and I paid for college by working on a Corvette collection,” Bennett said. “Bennett Coachworks has always worked on Corvettes. It’s a natural for us.”
The line was officially launched about two weeks ago. Bennett Coachworks now occupies about 9,000 square feet of space at 1500 N. 4th St. To accommodate the company’s Karvajal ZX-1 work, Bennett anticipates using another 7,500 square feet of space in the building.
The company currently has eight full-time employees. It will add another two to three workers as production of the Corvette conversions picks up, Bennett said.
The Karvajal ZX-1 conversion series begins with a completely redesigned body, made of either fiberglass or carbon fiber. Both materials are lightweight, but carbon fiber is far stronger than fiberglass. The carbon fiber body panels will be made by Glendale-based Prototype Composites, which is owned and operated by Michael Cudahy Jr., while fiberglass panels will be made at Bennett Coachworks.
“They (Prototype Composites) have some unique capabilities in carbon fiber, which has become a big trend with high end sports car collectors,” Bennett said.
The base level of the Karvajal ZX-1 conversion is a body conversion, in which almost all of the car’s panels are swapped with custom designed fiberglass or carbon fiber pieces.
“It replaces the entire body except for the lift off roof panel,” Bennett said. “They’ll get a new hood, fenders, rear deck lid. It starts there, and it goes all the way to insane.”
The base price package costs $38,000 to $40,000, Bennett said. Additional options include custom interior that looks very similar to those of Italian supercars like Lamborghini or Ferrari, new custom wheels and tires, upgraded suspension and brakes, and an Eaton/Magnuson turbocharger that increases the Corvette’s standard 450 horsepower by 100 to 150 hp.
When completed, the Karvajal ZX-1s have a dramatically different look, much closer to a European designed supercar.
“When you park one of these next to a regular C6, it makes it look pretty lame,” Bennett said. “This looks like a UFO compared to one of those.”
