First-time Corvette Buyer Scored a Piece of Corvette History!

This story was first published in the June 2023 issue of Vette Vues Magazine.

Bob Bondurant started his racing career riding motorcycles on oval dirt tracks in the early 1950s. Southern California was the epicenter of the new post-WW-II car culture, customizing, hot rodding, drag racing, dry lake bed speed racing, and sports car racing. Driving fast around a road racing course quickly became very popular, attracting guys that loved threading sports cars around tracks with twists, ups and downs, and right and left-hand turns.

These young lions included; Bob Bondurant, Dave McDonald, Dick Guldstrand, Bill Krause, Ken Miles, Roger Penske, Jim Hall, Dan Gurney, Chuck Daigh, Parnelli Jones, and many others.

A Brief Overview of Bob Bondurant’s Career

We will have a feature story about Bob Bondurant’s life and career next month. In his later years, Bob summed up his life in this statement, “I have lived my life in two halves. The first half was becoming a world champion. And the second half was teaching the world to become champions.”

In the late ’50s and early ’60s, the Corvette battles between Bob Bondurant and Dave McDonald were epic. Both drivers were naturals and thrilled spectators with their tail-out driving style. While the cars were race-prepared, they were essentially stock and used the best of Zora Arkus-Duntov and Mauri Rose’s RPO “Racer Kit” suspension and brake options.

They were the road racing equivalent of NHRA Super Stock drag racing. The cars were not “Showroom Stock” and were far from the exotic tube frame Mercedes, Maserati cars, or Max and Ida Balchowsky’s purpose-built race cars.

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Before joining Carroll Shelby’s Ford Cobra Racing Team in 1963, Bob was nearly unbeatable racing Corvettes. Racing Cobras took Bob to the World Champion level. Driving Shelby’s Cobra, Bob won the 1963 L.A. Times Grand Prix. At the 1964 12 Hours of Sebring, Bob drove his Cobra to a 2^nd in the GT Class win.

A few months later, Bob and Dan Gurney won the GT Class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving the Peter Brock-designed Shelby Daytona Coupe. In 1965, Bob won the FIA Manufacturers’ World Championship for Shelby American and Ford.

In 1966, Bob took on a side job as a “consultant” for filmmaker John Frankenheimer’s movie “Grand Prix”, starring actor James Garner. Bob trained Garner how to be a race car driver. Garner was so taken with race car driving that he formed “American International Racers” (A.I.R.) and raced at Sebring, Daytona, Le Mans, and Baja.

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What I’m sure Bondurant didn’t realize at the time was that a seed had been planted in his mind that would take root a few years later after a very bad racing accident.

In 1967 Bob co-drove a 1967 L88 Corvette with Dick Guldstrand at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car dropped out after fifteen hours due to a broken wrist-pin. Bob was also driving McLaren Can-Am cars. A few weeks after Le Mans, while racing a McLaren at Watkins Glen, the steering arm broke at 150 mph, causing the car to flip eight times! Bob seriously injured his foot, leg, several ribs, and his back. His doctors told him he would most likely never walk again.

Fortunately, Bob didn’t take his doctors too seriously and eventually was back behind the wheel of race cars. But while recuperating, he started thinking about his “consulting” gig with James Garner and John Frankenheimer.

The following year, in 1968, Bob opened the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving at Orange County International Raceway. Over the years, Bob and his team of qualified race car driving instructors trained thousands of men and women how to become racers.

Along the way, the Bondurant school had several high-profile celebrity students that included; Paul Newman and Robert Wagner (for their film “Winning”), Clint Eastwood, Tim Allen, Tom Cruise (“Days of Thunder”), Christian Bale (Ford v Ferrari), and no doubt, many others.

The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving was renamed in 2020 in what can best be described as a hostile take-cover from within the Bondurant family. It’s a very messy story. Bob’s racing school started at Orange County International Raceway, then moved to Ontario Motor Speedway, and finally to Phoenix, Arizona.

Over the years, we can only speculate how many cars the school used, but the brands included: Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, Dodge Vipers, Dodge Challengers and Chargers, Miatas, Cadillac CTS-Vs, various open-wheel race cars, and even racing karts.

Typically, the cars don’t rack up big numbers on their odometers, but one can only imagine how hard the cars were driven. Typically, after a few years, the cars are sold off, replaced, and pretty much forgotten. A Google image search of “Bob Bondurant cars” shows that the school cars typically have race car-like liveries that splash “Bondurant”.

With as many cars as Bob’s school has gone through, you’d think that we’d see these cars here and there or at the big auctions, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Bob Bondurant died on November 11, 2021, at 88 years of age in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and is survived by his wife, Pat. Fourteen months later, Bob Bondurant’s personal teaching 2004 Corvette (note the #01 on the door, that means “Bob’s Corvette”) popped up on the list of cars up for auction at the Mecum Kissimmee Auction, in Kissimmee, Florida.

Kelly Meiste Gets His First Corvette

Kelly and his wife Deb, are from northern Illinois, and like many baby boomers in their retirement years, they like to spend the winter in warm, sunny Florida. Kelly has been a car guy all his life and over the years has enjoyed a variety of cars and has raced several “Legends” spec race cars.

The Legends cars are 5/8’s 5/8-scale fiberglass replicas of 1930s and 1940s dirt track-style cars that use Yamaha FJ 1200cc engines. The racing is fast, fun, and budget-friendly. It’s competitive racing without the big bucks. The Allison Legacy car Kelly and his son race used the Mazda 4 cyl engine & quick-change rear end.

Kelly explains, “We love the winters in Sebring, but after a few years, I was missing my fun cars in Illinois. In December 2022, I thought, since Sebring, Florida, isn’t far from Kissimmee, Florida, I’d check out what’s available at the Mecum Kissimmee Auction for January 2023. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, just something interesting.”

What Kelly found was Bob Bondurant’s personal 2004 Corvette Coupe with a few unique features and was listed as “No Reserve”, meaning the car WILL sell. We’ll never know for sure, but it appeared that Bob opted for a regular Corvette and not the performance Z06, possibly to prove to students how much a regular Vette is capable of.

Let’s Look at What’s Unique About This 2004 Corvette

As delivered from Bowling Green, the 2004 Corvette Coupe was Arctic White with the Light Oak two-tone interior, the 6-speed manual transmission ($915), and Dual Removable Roof Panels ($1,400). One creature comfort indulgence was the DC 12-Disc Changer ($600). Oriented towards performance, the Corvette was ordered with 3.42 Z06 rear axle. The standard rear is 2.73, and the optional performance rear is 3.15. The Z06 rear takes it up a notch or two!

Notice the unusual colored five-spoke wheels. 2004 Corvettes came standard with aluminum wheels. The polished aluminum wheels were a $1,295 option. But the trick setup for reduced unsprung weight was RPO N73, the $995 genuine magnesium wheels. When the magnesium wheels option arrived in 2001, they cost $2,000! Only 1,022 2001 Corvettes were ordered with magnesium wheels.

In 2002, the price was reduced to $1,500 with only 114 takers and 293 in 2003. As 2004 was the last year for the C5, the magnesium wheels were price reduced to $995. Buyers liked that price, and 1,110 2004 Corvettes were ordered with the lightweight wheels. The bottom line price for the Bondurant car, including Destination Charge, was $48,560

After taking delivery of the 2004 Coupe, the Bondurant team made a few enhancements. The first thing you can not miss is the Millennium Yellow paint and the Bob Bondurant race car-like livery, complete with racing stripes, the number “01” (Bob’s car!), the Chevy bow tie on the hood and front bumper cover, and sponsor logos.

When it comes to racing, powerful brakes are essential for maximum braking as deep into a curve as possible. Stock C5 Corvette brakes are great, but knowing that he was going to push the Corvette’s braking to the max, Bondurant opted for Baer calipers and rotors for some extra brake bite. Also note the C5 Z06 rear brake scoops. No, the car is not a Z06, and the scoops were not an option for non-Z06 Corvettes. But the scoops and ducts were available through the Chevrolet Parts Department.

And only die-hard C5 fans would notice that the front fog lights have been removed. Kelly speculates that as the car worked at the Bondurant School in hot Arizona, perhaps the fog lights were removed to enhance the car’s cooling.

Looking at the interior, the most obvious change is the racing Simpson 4-Point Harness Seat Belts. And to lock the belts in place, there’s a Harness Bar that’s bolted into the car’s B-pillars. This secures the harness and adds a little stiffness to the coupe’s overall structure. Also note the Hobbs Meter mounted to the Harness Bar. Hobbs Meters are typically used in aircraft to measure “time used” in rented airplanes.

While the car’s odometer reads, “10,036” miles (when it was up for auction), the Bondurant crew knew exactly how many miles and how much time the car had been driven. Kelly keeps finding quirky features that were added to the car.

Note the little red button in front of the shifter. The gas filler door button on all C5 Corvettes is located in the front of the closed console between the seats. The stock gas filler door button has been disabled and replaced with the red button in front of the shifter.

And while we were looking at the driver’s side foot well, Kelly pointed out that he recently installed the embroidered Corvette floor mats. He pulled back the driver’s side mat to show me just how flogged this car was. Bondurant managed to wear the carpet right through to the subfloor from heel-and-toe downshifting!

There are three other hidden special features. First, the trunk of all C5 Corvettes has a large center storage compartment and two smaller compartments on the left and right sides. Mounted on a bracket on the driver’s side compartment is an on/off switch for, of all things, the fuel gauge. Kelly speculates that for training purposes, Bondurant students need to be aware of how long they’ve been out on the track (getting not very good mileage) and about how much fuel they still have without relying on a gauge.

Part of successful driving is thinking ahead about everything. Second, to keep things interesting and fun for students, under the hood on the right side of the engine, there’s an on/off switch for the car’s standard traction control. Bondurant wanted students to learn how to hang the tail out.

And third, the standard air conditioning has been disabled. Kelly speculates that, as this car was a training car for men and women who wanted to learn the basics of race car driving, Bondurant wanted students to get the full race car experience. Race cars are typically hot, so students need to get used to driving in a “hot” car.

Another possibility is that as the car worked in the Arizona heat, the A/C might have been disabled to keep the engine temperature down and to add a little more grunt. As this car is now nearly twenty years old and the Bob Bondurant School has been disbanded, we may never really know. As of this writing, in mid-April 2023, Kelly and Deb have only owned the car for three months.

While people flock to Florida in the winter because of the perfect weather, we do occasionally get winter days when the temperature can get into the low 90s. Kelly reports that even on hot days, the coolant temperature stays around 180 degrees, which is a little low. And lastly, the “Bob Bondurant” signature on the dash definitely adds to the car’s Cool Factor!

So, What’s it Like Owning Such a Unique Corvette?

Owning Bob Bondurant’s personal teaching Corvette has been a fun experience. Kelly recalls, “I was looking for something fun that I could take to Sebring International Raceway on track days and special events. When I saw the Mecum Kissimmee listing, it looked interesting. The Mecum sales estimate was between $10,000 and $15,000. I checked out the car, and aside from the clear coat, the car looked clean and well-maintained. Besides, there was “No Reserve”, so I decided to go for it. I actually placed my winning bid of $20,000 over the phone, plus the Mecum 10% buyer’s fee.

“The next day, we drove to Kissimmee, paid for the car, and drove it home. A funny thing happened on the way home that I didn’t expect. I pulled into a gas station and before I knew it, I had a crowd around the car, “Ooing-and-awwing, what’s THAT?” I wasn’t expecting that!” (Get used to it, Kelly!)

“Another thing is that I keep looking around the car, I find unusual little things, such as the fuel filler door, the off switch for the fuel gauge, and the anti-lock brake off switch. I recently noticed what looks like a towing bar attached to the back of the frame. My guess is that the bar was installed in the days before mounted towing hooks for track cars became common.”

So far, the only thing Kelly has done to the car is to get a new set of floor mats, change the oil, keep the car clean, and answer a lot of questions.

Kelly and Deb Meiste’s Bob Bondurant 2004 Corvette Coupe is a great example of just how inherently capable Corvettes are. I’m certain that Bondurant drove the car like he stole it and probably frightened the tar out of a few unsuspecting students! We tend to elevate the Z06 and ZR1 performance Corvettes to the highest level. But this Bob Bondurant 2004 Corvette is proof that a standard Corvette, with just a few specific options, can yield a track beast.

Kelly’s plans for the Bondurant car are to have some track fun and go to some car shows. One thing is guaranteed: there’s no inconspicuous driving around with a Corvette like this! – Scott

This story was first published in the June 2023 issue of Vette Vues Magazine.

 

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