That cowl does look a little longer. Any improvement in leg room is a plus in one of these. It looks like it will be a fun project. I've done my share of Corvette repair but I've never built a body from scratch so I can't say how many layers to use. My gut feeling is to make it plenty thick and strong. I remember seeing guys make wooden reinforcements for the inside of the body. Then they'd resin them in and cover them with a layer or two of heavy mat. It really stiffened things up and gave a place to attach things like interior trim.

Tom