Category: C1 Corvettes

Inside Bill Mitchell’s Secret Garage – 2 VIDEOS

ScottC1 Corvettes

My monthly column in VETTE Magazine, “The Illustrated Corvette Series” is now in its 21st year. I’m in the middle of a series I’m calling, “The Corvette’s Founding Fathers” that covers the careers of Harley Earl, Ed Cole, Bill Mitchell, Zora Arkus Duntov, Larry Shinoda, and Peter Brock. Each of these men played a foundational roll in setting the pattern and personality of the Corvette. Without them, the Corvette might not have survived the 1950s. Read More

Corvette “Timeline Tales” Nov. 16, 1956: One magnesium-bodied XP-64 (Corvette SS) would be built for the 1957 12 Hours of Sebring race

ScottC1 Corvettes

The 1957 Corvette SS Racer’s exotic body turned out to be the hot ticket to failure! Dateline: 11.16.17 (VIDEO BELOW!) – This was such a heady time! Corvettes were starting to do well in racing and the Fuelie was about to go into production. Chevy general manager Ed Cole gave Duntov the green light to… Read More

NEW!!! “America’s “Old Glory” Sports Car” Corvette Prints Series

ScottC1 Corvettes

After numerous prototype layouts I settled in on “America’s “Old Glory” Sports Car”. The first one was kind of easy, but once layout completed, I knew I had a ton of work ahead of me. What started out as a fairly simple idea turned into my Project for 2017! And now, it is ready to present.

As of this announcement, we have “America’s Old Glory” art print layouts of every year Corvette from 1953 to 2017. Soon I will be adding the 2018 Corvette, as well as the upcoming ZR1 and Mid-Engine C8 Corvette when it is released next year.

Each print measures 11×17 and is printed in full-color on mat-finished heavy card stock, and signed and numbered by yours truly. Every print is shrink wrapped on 12×18 cardboard so that your print arrives flat and clean. Price – just $24.95, plus $6.95 for USPS Priority Mail shipping. Read More

The Run-Up to the C8 Corvette – The History of Mid-Engine Corvettes, Part 1 – 1960 CERV-I

ScottC1 Corvettes

At Riverside Raceway in 1960, Duntov unveiled one of the most unusual cars of his career at GM, the CERV I. (CERV – Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle) The car’s official reason for being was, “A research tool for Chevrolet’s continuous investigations into automotive ride and handling phenomena under more realistic conditions.” (wink, wink, RACING!) But everyone knew better. Duntov first got the idea of building a rear-engine racer in ‘57 while working out the details on the SS Corvette. Since R&D work was also going on with the Corvair and its unique transaxle, a mid-engine V-8 wasn’t outside of legitimate research. This alone may have been what got the project approved. Read More

Corvette Timeline Tales: July 8, 1955 – One of Five 1954 Corvette Nomad Show Cars BURNED!

ScottC1 Corvettes

Norm Brown got a new job at Chevrolet, but little did he know that he’d be helping to send one of the five Corvette Nomad show cars built for the 1954 Motorama to the crusher. According to Mario van Ginnekin’s “Remarkable Corvettes” webpage, three of the five Nomads are known to still exist. “Why” one of the Nomads was sent to the crusher is no known. However, even though the ’56 Corvette with its updated body was about to go into production, the Corvette was not generally liked inside GM. Read More

Corvette Timeline Tales: June 26, 1958 – A 1958 Corvette becomes the 39,000,000th Chevrolet built!

ScottC1 Corvettes

In the early days of the Corvette’s existence, GM had an odd relationship with the car. Power-players such as Harley Earl, Ed Cole, and Bill Mitchell went to bat for the struggling sports car many times. And then there was the wild Russian engineer with the funny name, Zora Arkus-Duntov that pushed to make the car a successful racecar. But GM is all about sales and Chevy wasn’t selling many Corvettes. By the end of 1957 Chevy sold 14,446 Corvettes in total from 1953. In 1957 alone, Chevrolet sold 254,331 4-door Bel Air Sedans! Read More

Allan “Bunky” Garonzik’s 56-Year Affair with His 1956 Corvette

ScottC1 Corvettes

In 1961 Allan “Bunky” Garonzik was what used to be called a “Go Getter!” Then one day, he saw it – a 1956 265 Corvette “For Sale”! The price; a whopping $765! That’s just $6,232 in 2017 dollars, but heck, Corvettes were WAY simpler back then. He drove the car home and swapped out the Corvette’s 265 engine for his ’55 Chevy’s 283. After all, new Corvettes in 1961 had the 283 engine, so why keep the 283 in a ’55 Chevy sedan when it belonged under the hood of his Vette? Then, to complete the first chapter of his life with his 1956 Corvette, Bunky sold the ’55 Chevy with the 265 for $500. So after a weekend’s worth of work, he was into a 1956, 283 Corvette for only $265! Read More