If you happened to see this 1981 Greenwood Daytona Turbo out in the wild, at first glance, you might shrug it off as another gaudy, outlandish body kit cobbled together by some 70s-era shade-tree wanna-be designer who just finished binge-watching the classic “Corvette Summer” hit with Mark Hamill. You wouldn’t be alone if you fell into this trap.
These fiberglass creations from Burt and John Greenwood walked the fine line between a punchline for 70s-era styling and an iconic design that would be appreciated for decades. Have the over-the-top Greenwood designs aged like fine wine, or are they like bell bottoms trying to be cool in 2024? As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I’ve always appreciated the cool lines and look of the Greenwood body kits for the C4, but many may forget just how special and rare the original and authentic Greenwood Corvettes were. Between 1975 and 1981, the Greenwood Brothers built just five different cars, including the GT/Sebring GT, the Sportwagon, the Turbo GT, the GTO, and the Daytona. After this time, the brothers also built other Corvettes using licensed body kits manufactured by Eckler’s of Titusville, Florida.
The relationship between the Greenwoods and Ecklers tends to water down the exclusivity of these first five vehicles and their standing in the collector world. In fact, after Ralph Eckler licensed the rights from the Greenwood brothers to build the CamAm Kits, the resulting product resembled the original Greenwoods so closely that the “kit cars” were sometimes mistaken for authentic Greenwood Corvettes.
