Category: Corvette Timeline Tales

Corvette Timeline Tales: September 4, 1956 – The second Corvette SR-2, for VP of Design, Bill Mitchell, is completed

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Bill Mitchell launches a purpose-built 1956 Corvette race car

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As Director of Styling under Harley Earl and the appointed heir to the Earl throne, Bill Mitchell enjoyed some sweet perks – one being that he could have custom cars built by the Chevrolet styling department. Harley Earl’s son, Jerry caused some upper management concern when it was discovered that he was racing a Jaguar. Management felt Master Jerry should at least be racing a GM car, preferably a Corvette – thus the SR-2 was created. The car was a little heavy, but looked cool with its extended nose, fairing cones over the headlights, Halibrand racing wheels, door scoops, twin windshields and a short fin off the rear deck.

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Mitchell liked what he saw, but took his a few steps farther by adding a fairing behind the driver with a tall fin attached. Mitchell’s SR-2 went through several incarnations. Continue reading “

Corvette Timeline Tales: September 4, 1956 – The second Corvette SR-2, for VP of Design, Bill Mitchell, is completed” →

Corvette Timeline Tales: September 2, 1965 – Production of the ’66 Corvette Begins

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The Mark IV Chevy Big-Block Becomes a 427!

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Dateline: 9.2.15 – The year 1966 was a banner year for Corvettes for several reasons. It was the best sales year for the short, five-year run of the C2 Sting Ray with 27,720 cars built, and convertibles outsold coupes -17,762 convertibles (64%) and 9,958 coupes (36%). This was back in the days when convertible Corvettes actually cost LESS than coupes. The coupe’s base price was $4,295, while the convertible’s base price was $211 less, at $4,084. My, how things have changed! Not only was 1966 the best sales year of the C2 Corvettes, it was the best year ever for Corvettes to that date. The car had come a long way from its breakout year in 1956 when 3,467 Corvettes were sold.

427_Turbo_JetBut the big news was under the hood. The Mark IV big-block arrived mid-year in ’65 as a 396 and the 327 Rochester Fuelie was phased out. For 1966, the Mark-IV big-block was opened up to its intended size, the magical 427-cubic-inches. Continue reading “

Corvette Timeline Tales: September 2, 1965 – Production of the ’66 Corvette Begins” →

Corvette Timeline Tales: Sept 2, 1994 – The National Corvette Museum Officially Opens

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Dan Gale & Zora Arkus-Duntov’s Dream Comes True, After a TON of Work

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Dateline: 9.2.15 – There are many car museums in the world but nothing like the National Corvette Museum. Located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, just a quarter-mile from where Corvettes are built, customers can not only tour the assembly plant, they can take in Corvette history at the museum. Starting in 2001, Corvette customers could take delivery of their new car at the museum (option RPO R8C) and get the full royal treatment. The museum was the dream of the late Dan Gale and Zora Arkus-Duntov. In 1986 the Library, Archives, and Museum Committee was formed and Gale was one of the charter members. Duntov wanted a place to store the artifacts of Corvette history.

Duntov-Gale Obviously, a lot of money needed to be raised and in 1991 Gale was elected as president of the NCM’s board of directors and headed up the “Capital Campaign” Continue reading “

Corvette Timeline Tales: Sept 2, 1994 – The National Corvette Museum Officially Opens” →

Corvette Timeline Tales: NCM inducts James Jeffords, Myron E. Scott, & John A. Cafaro to the Hall of Fame

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August 30, 2002 – National Corvette Museum, inducts James Jeffords, Myron E. Scott, and John A. Cafaro into the Hall of Fame.

7-2002-NCM-Hall-of-Fame-TNDateline: 8.30.15 – The Corvette has lasted longer than Harley Earl, Ed Cole, Zora Arkus-Duntov, and Bill Mitchell ever imagined back in the 1950s, thanks to the continuing passion of men and women that understand the soul of the Corvette. The National Corvette Museum’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony has become a much-anticipated annual event in the Corvette community, as a “Thank You” to those that have carried the flame forward.

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James “Jim” Jeffords was two-time SCCA B-production champion and pioneered the successful use of Duntov’s first “racer kit” the RPO 684 that helped him be unbeatable in 1958 and 1959 driving the Nickey Chevrolet “Purple People Eater” 1958 Corvette.. Jeffords also drove Jerry Earl’s 1956 SR-2, as well as some of the top sports cars of the day including a Scarab, a Maserrati Birdcage, and Jaguar. Continue reading “

Corvette Timeline Tales: NCM inducts James Jeffords, Myron E. Scott, & John A. Cafaro to the Hall of Fame” →

Corvette Timeline Tales: August 20, 1954 – Chevrolet races 1953 Corvette at a NASCAR-sanctioned Raleigh Speedway.

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The Corvette was a race car almost from the very beginning!

5A-Oldest-Corvette-Racer-1953 Yes, these were the first Chevrolet-built Corvette race cars. They don’t look familiar because in this promotion photograph the cars had yet to be decorated. The young man to the left and in the back is Bill France, Jr. in 1953 Corvette VIN #211 and the man on the right and in front is Joe Hawkins in 1955 Corvette VIN #1399. The names of the bathing beauties are not known. Back in the NASCAR’s early days they had a “Sports Car Series,” sometimes called the “International Class” that ran as support races for the Grand National races.

Terry Michaelis, owner of ProTeam Corvette has fully restored the 1953 version and meticulously researched the two cars, stitching together the history of these two forgotten Corvette racecars. Back in the day, working under the direction of three-time Indy 500 winner, Mauri Rose and Chevrolet chief engineer, Ed Cole, the Chevrolet Engineering Department did an admirable job turning the struggling Corvette into a racer. Continue reading “

Corvette Timeline Tales: August 20, 1954 – Chevrolet races 1953 Corvette at a NASCAR-sanctioned Raleigh Speedway.” →

Corvette Timeline Tales: Aug 16, 1969, Astoria-Chas 1967 L88 Corvette Sets A/Sports Production Nat’l Record

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August 16, 1969 – AHRA Summer Nationals, at the New York National Speedway, John Mahler drives the Astoria-Chas 1967 L88 Corvette to a A/Sports Production class record.

Dateline: 8.16.15 – Charlie Snyder was a car crazy Long Island teenager who came of age when Joel Rosen and Marty Schorr launched their Baldwin-Motion Phase III Supercars. Schorr was also editor of CARS Magazine, so the enterprise also got plenty of ink via road tests, how-to tech features, and advertising. Snyder bought a new Marlboro Maroon ’67 427/435 Roadster and quickly turned in into a street racer, then a drag car.

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Unfortunately, Charlie was drafted and killed in Vietnam, but his friends back home fulfilled his dream by setting a national record with his “Ko-Motion Astoria-Chas” Corvette, with an 11.04 @ 129-mph run. Later, John Mahler ran a 10.47 et at a local track. Then the car was trailered to Chas’ sister’s house, garaged, and covered for the next 31 years! The car was eventually sold to businessman Glen Spielberg who was just a wee lad living on Long Island when Charlie’s car was spending lots of time at the Motion performance shop. Spielberg bought the car from the Snyder family with the promise that he would never restore or race the car. Continue reading “

Corvette Timeline Tales: Aug 16, 1969, Astoria-Chas 1967 L88 Corvette Sets A/Sports Production Nat’l Record” →

July 12, 1967 – The Last C2 Sting Ray Rolls Off the St. Louis Assembly Line.

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Obviously there’s a first-and-last of C1 through C6 Corvettes and a “first” C7. But up until the last C3 rolled off the St. Louis assembly line, no one paid attention to these cars. The VIN number indicates that this was the last C2 Sting Ray to ever be built, Terry Michaelis, owner of ProTeam Corvette, in Napoleon, Illinois bought the rough Corvette and gave it what it deserved – the full resto treatment. When completed, the “Silver Bullet” sold for $660,000 at the Barrett-Jackson 2007 Scottsdale, Arizona Auction. Continue reading “

July 12, 1967 – The Last C2 Sting Ray Rolls Off the St. Louis Assembly Line.” →

July 8, 1955 – Norm Brown Helps Destroy One of 1954 Corvette Nomad Show Cars

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July 8, 1955 – Norm Brown Helps Destroy One of Five 1954 Corvette Nomad Show Cars on His First Day at Chevrolet!

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. Continue reading “

July 8, 1955 – Norm Brown Helps Destroy One of 1954 Corvette Nomad Show Cars” →

Roger Judski Buys One of Two Official 1969 ZL-1 Corvettes

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Roger Judski’s SUPER RARE 1969 ZL-1 Corvette

 

Dateline: 10.11.14 – Twenty-three years ago today, October 11, 1991, at of all places, The Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Roger Judski, owner of Judski’s Corvette Center in Maitland, Florida became the owner of what is arguably the rarest of all high performance Corvettes, a 1969 ZL-1 Corvette. When this car was announced to the world in the fall of 1968 as an option on the ’69 Corvette, it became an instant legend for numerous reasons. Judski paid what was then considered a stunningly HUGE amount of money for the ZL-1, $300,000! Roger had been trying to buy the ZL-1 for 12 years. Continue reading “Roger Judski Buys One of Two Official 1969 ZL-1 Corvettes” →

Corvette History:10-4-73 – The 4-Rotor Experimental Corvette Debuts In Paris!

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The 4-Rotor Experimental Corvette Makes It’s Grand Debut 41 Years Ago In Paris!

 4-Rotor-Corvette-Photo Oui! Oui! Thanks to Zora Arkus-Duntov, Corvette fans were treated to a series of mid-engine Corvette through the ‘60s and ‘70s. But XP-882 was no “ordinary” experimental mid-engine Corvette. Behind the driver was a honk’n 390 cubic-inch Wankel rotary engine. Ed Cole was President of General Motors at the time and was hot on the smooth-running rotary engine design. So what better a hallo car to present the then-exotic engine that under a stunning Corvette.

Although VP of Design Bill Mitchell was the official “designer” of the body shape, Chuck Jordan supervised the project. The car had wrap-around glass and hidden A-pillars. The doors weren’t just gull-wing, they were bi-fold gull wings. The look was fresh, edgy, exciting, and definitely CORVETTE. Continue reading “Corvette History:10-4-73 – The 4-Rotor Experimental Corvette Debuts In Paris!” →

Corvette Legends: The Great, Dave MacDonald, Part 2

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Dateline: 4.14.12

Dave MacDonald: Corvette Racer… Corvette Man… Family Man

You can catch Part 1 of this story HERE.

Being hired by Shelby made the MacDonald’s life almost as fast as the cars he drove. In the 17 months between the beginning of ‘63 through to the ‘64 Indy race, MacDonald raced in 44 events. The ‘64 Indy crash was the first time the 500 had ever been stopped because of an accident. The media at the time, would regularly make big headlines over any auto racing mishap, and were all over the crash. While Indy officials quickly concluded that there was no driver error, the race was hotly debated for decades.

“After Indy, I was hurting so, I needed to change my life, so I moved a few miles away, but stayed close to  my in-laws. From Indy on, I didn’t follow racing. My interest in racing was basically ONE RACE DRIVER.” It wouldn’t be until the early ‘90s when Corvette fans started recovering and restoring old Corvette race cars that MacDonald’s all too short racing career began to get attention. “It is so gratifying and nice to meet people that raced with Dave and hear how much they admired him, not only for his skill as a driver, but for being a really nice guy.” Today Sherry MacDonald is retired and as busy as ever with volunteer projects and her large family. Continue reading “Corvette Legends: The Great, Dave MacDonald, Part 2” →

Corvette Timeline Tales: Happy 82nd Birthday Larry Shinoda

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Dateline: 3.26.12

The next time you see a mid-year Sting Ray or Shark Corvette, think of Larry Shinoda.

He was born “Lawrence Kiyoshi Shinoda” but the automotive and Corvette world knew him as Larry Shinoda – Corvette designer and all-around carguy! Growing up in Southern California, Larry was steeped in the car culture and like many SoCal young men, was into the burgeoning sport of drag racing. In addition to his Corvette accomplishments, Larry also participated in an won his class at the very first NHRA national event in Great Bend, Kansas in 1955.

Larry was only 25-years old when after not completing his studies at Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles, he landed his first job with Ford in 1955. A year later, he briefly went to work at Studebaker/Packard, then went to General Motors late in 1956. Larry not only had an impressive portfolio, he had an intuitive sense of styling. If didn’t take long before his talent caught the keen eye of GM’s Bill Mitchell. But it wasn’t just Larry’s skill at wielding a pen and airbrush that helped acquaint him with Mitchell – it was drag racing.

The story goes that one day Shinoda and Mitchell had a chance encounter at a traffic light. Since both men had what Mitchell called, “gasoline in their veins,” neither man needed much goading to initiate a little stoplight grand prix. The light turned green and Larry put a whoop’n Bill, which may have been one of his best career moves. Mitchell drafted Shinoda into his special forces of car design, headquartered deep inside GM’s guarded facilities in a place called, “Studio X.” (sounds like a ‘50s sci-fi b-grade movie, doesn’t it”?) Continue reading “Corvette Timeline Tales: Happy 82nd Birthday Larry Shinoda” →