This is JILL’S 1959 Corvette!
Jill & Jay Jahn, A Unique Car Couple
This story was first published in the June 2021 issue of Vette Vues Magazine.
People love cars. Most have cars they have always admired, but from afar. Many go out and get the car they have always longed for, and they then drive and enjoy it. It’s more fun going to a car show or a race with a unique car. The wonderful thing is that you can enter the car scene at any level.
Our local car club has expensive custom-built Corvette restomods, vintage muscle cars, home-built rat rods and trucks, Corvettes of every generation, classic cars from the 1930s and 1940s, as well as survivor cars.
An Old Car is Like a Box of Chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get!
There’s a special group of car people that love nothing more than finding rough cars that are a few steps away from the junk yard. “Barn Find” stories are like Forrest Gump’s Box of Chocolates, “You never know what you might get”. Some barn finds are covered with dirt and junk and just need a bath and some TLC.
Depending on how the car is stored, if the critters get into the car, they will eat everything but the metal parts and do their business everywhere. Those are the kinds of barn finds that most of us just say, “Forget it! Too far gone!”
Others say, “Hold on there, I think I see something here.” Now to be that person, you need either deep pockets, or you don’t mind dirty, nasty work, and doing as much of the work as you can; the more the better. This is mostly a “guy thing,” as we guys typically like getting dirty. Well, guess what, Jill Jahn isn’t “that guy”, she’s “that gal”!
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Jill Did a Lot of the Dirty Work
Our story is titled, “This is JILL’s 1959 Corvette!” because not only is Jill the owner, she also did more than her share of the dirty work. It was Jill who saw something that wasn’t obvious to the guys who were all shaking their heads, back-and-forth, saying, “No, no, no…” This car is her vision, inspired by her Mom.
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Jill did not arrive at this place on a whim, with no background. Jill and Jay Jahn have been married for over 30 years and are a true power couple when it comes to vehicles.
The Jahns have a passion for old military vehicles and own eleven refurbished Uncle Sam vehicles that include; a 1943 M-20 Armored Car (a movie set vehicle from the TV series “Rat Patrol”); five WW-II Jeeps; a Half-Track; a Mighty Mite mini-Jeep; a Ford GPA Amphibious Vehicle; and Jay built a 1987 Hummer that Jill says is a blast to drive.
And then, there are the “cars” that include: a trio of 1964-1/2, 1971, and 2009 Mustangs; a 1989 Firebird; and a 1984 Ferrari 308 GTSi. And then there are the Corvettes: a 1967 327 Convertible; a 1980; a 2016 Coupe; and the latest addition to the Jahn’s family, Jill’s 1959 Corvette.
No Deep Pockets, Lots of Sweat Equity
Now I know what you might be thinking, “They must have deep pockets”. Jill says, “We’re doing alright, but we’re able to do this because we do almost all of the work ourselves”. Now I know what you might be thinking, “Oh, a Jay Leno kind of shop”. Not really. Jill explains, “We have pretty good weather where we are in Texas, so we do as much of our work outside, and we work around the weather.” I call that “American Ingenuity”! Where there’s a Will, there’s a Way. Here’s how Jill’s 1959 Corvette rolled into her life.
Back in 2012-2013, while Jill’s Mom was ill, she restored a 1976 CJ-5 Jeep that she wanted to sell so she could get her dream car, a 1958 Corvette. In March 2013, Jay found a trailered, ratty 1959 Corvette hulk at a local car show with a FOR SALE sign. The car looked like an ancient relic from the 1960s custom car scene, or perhaps someone was trying to make a Gasser out of the car.
Regardless, the hulk of a car was drawing a crowd of curious onlookers. Jill says, “I looked at the car four or five times while my pals all weighed in, ‘Looks like it needs a lot of work, ‘ which was an understatement. The next day, I couldn’t stop thinking about the ’59 Corvette. I had the seller’s phone number, called him, and left three messages that day. He must have thought I was a nut. We finally connected, I looked at the car again, and we made a deal. The “a lot of work” car was mine!” Jill and Jay carefully documented the eight years of work on the car, so we will let the photos and captions walk you through the restoration.
Jill’s 1959 Corvette was only completed in the spring of 2021. Vette Vues discovered Jill’s Corvette at the Chevy Expo in Galveston, Texas. Jill shared a bundle of thoughts and feelings about her Corvette. “I just love this car and am so happy how it turned out. The Chevy Expo was the car’s first time out, and so far, I have only driven the car three times (as of mid-April 2021). I have a few small projects to complete. I have to tidy up some wires under the dash and complete a cardboard panel in the trunk, then we are going to go for some NCRS Awards.”
Tons of Missing Parts!
Jill elaborated on the condition of the car after they had the car at home. “When we bought the car, it did not have an engine, transmission, no bumpers, and a ton of other parts were missing. The front end was cracked, and we had to replace it. The good parts of the body needed work, too, so I had to teach myself how to do fiberglass work. Then we had to research the correct engine and transmission and learned that a 283/270 (RPO 469C, a $182 option) with T-10 4-speed transmission with a cast and aluminum case was needed. We also found some interesting discoveries as well.”
Restoration projects are all about discovery. Jill shared a few interesting finds, “We learned that this was an Auxiliary Top car (the bolt-on hardtop was a $236 option in 1959), with a power top option (186 models had that option) so we got a replacement top and added an original hydraulic system to power the top. The car had an old orange-ish overspray paint job. As I was stripping the car, I discovered “blue” down there that turned out to be Crown Sapphire, which happened to be the rarest of all the colors offered in 1959. Ours was one of 888 Crown Sapphire ’59 Corvettes. We also found an old, partly deteriorated FOR SALE sign down inside the door panel.”
The car’s interior, simply stated, needed everything. Jill explains, “The interior was turquoise blue, the rarest of the three interior colors offered that year (1,181). All of the gauges, upholstery, panels, and trim needed to be replaced or repaired. Oh, and we found out that the car was #143 that year, so it was an early ’59 car. I thought that was pretty neat! I love everything about this car!”
Prolific car people are like prolific writers or artists; they typically have another project in the works. I asked Jill, “Do you have any other projects to do next?” She answered, “Oh yes. Now that the Corvette is almost completed, we can focus on one of Jay’s military vehicle projects.” So the passion rolls on.
Jill and Jay are unique car people and are proof that you don’t need mega-bucks to be deep into car culture. Men and women enjoy the car scene in many ways, but it is indeed a rare thing that a husband and wife both have their own cars that they built. But best of all, they did it together. – Scott
This story was first published in the June 2021 issue of Vette Vues Magazine.
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