$7.7 Million ;57 Corvette SS Technical Deep Dive PDF Article
Raced only once, the 1957 Corvette SS Racer had champion potential!
To read the Sports Cars Illustrated, August 1957 cover feature story about the 1957 Corvette SS Racer, CLICK HERE to download the PDF version.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway made big news on February 28, 2025, when the one-and-only 1957 Corvette SS Racer sold at RM Sotheby’s Miami Auction for a record-setting $7.7 million dollars! This was almost double the previous record sale set in 2014 when 1 of only 20 produced 1967 L88 Corvettes sold for $3.85 million at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction. How did this happen?
It’s a numbers game. Supply and demand. Chevrolet has sold millions of Corvettes since 1953. The high production numbers are why Corvettes are affordable compared to other performance cars that are made in the hundreds or dozens instead of millions. It’s also why you can still buy a twenty-year-old Corvette for under $20,000 and still have a car that’s a blast to drive.
Below is a brief version of the 1957 Corvette SS story. Technically, TWO Corvette SS race cars were built. The car that just sold for $7.7 million was the completed “pretty” version, that car that raced at the 1957 12 Hours of Sebring but dropped out after 23 laps. The development mule Corvette SS was also at the Sebring race.
During testing the mule ran better than the finished SS because the mule had more track time for development. Sterling Moss drove the mule Corvette SS and was impressed. The finished SS was being worked on while in the transport truck from Detroit! The plan was to build a team of Corvette SS cars to race at the 24 Hours of Sebring. Within weeks of the Sebring debacle, GM decided to fully embrace the 1957 AMA Racing Ban that brought the Corvette SS to a screeching halt. Even if the SS had received more track and development time, it would not have mattered.
The Corvette SS never raced again and was pressed into duty as an exotic Corvette show car. The mule SS was relieved of its heavy, crude fiberglass body (the finished SS body was magnesium) and put into storage.
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A year or so later, new Chief of Styling, Bill Mitchell, bought the SS mule chassis for a small amount of money (some say for $1, or $100 dollars), and had stylist Larry Shinoda take the Peter Brock Q-Corvette fastback body shape and make it into what became the open roadster 1959 Stingray Racer. Mitchell campaigned the car out of his own pocket and in 1960, won the SCCA C/Modified Championship with his Stingray Racer.
But, what if there had been no AMA Racing Ban? The Corvette SS would have had more development and racing for perhaps two seasons of racing. If the Corvette SS had racked up a string of high profile wins (Sebring, Le Mans, etc), establishing some serious racing pedigree, the car would likely sold for double the $7.7 million.
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Regardless, $7.7 million for a one-of-a-kind Corvette that never won any races is mighty impressive. Sports Cars Illustrated August 1957 issue featured the Corvette SS, along with the 1956 SR-2 Corvette and a race-prepared 1957 Fuelie Corvette on the cover. The feature article even had a cut-away technical illustration.
The 1957 Corvette didn’t fulfill Chevrolet’s dreams of racing vistory, but it sure was juicy stuff for the fledgling Corvette in 1957. – Scott
PS – To read the Sports Cars Illustrated, August 1957 cover feature story about the 1957 Corvette SS Racer, CLICK HERE to download the PDF version.
