Duntov considered all Corvette customers to be “his” customers and wanted them to “drive and enjoy” their cars. While survivor Corvettes such as Larry’s shouldn’t be used as daily drivers, his are indeed driven and enjoyed regularly. Larry drives all of his performance Corvettes about once a month and feeds them high-octane racing fuel. They like it that way.
While the DeBold’s 1960 Fuelie Corvette has won every award there is in the arena of the Corvette hobby, there’s always more. Tom explained that what’s ahead for their Corvette is the Concours D’Elegance circuit and plans to do two or three shows per year.
In the summer of 1960, Zora Arkus-Duntov took a lucky guy with a recorder for a test drive in a new 1961 Fuelie Corvette. After a brief introduction, Duntov says,… “I have a ‘61 Corvette ready to go. This one is equipped with our new 315-horsepower, high-lift cam, and fuel-injection. Let’s get in. Is your safety belt fastened? Alright, let’s go…” And OFF THEY GO with Duntov rowing through the gears! Sounds WONDERFUL!
Sebring, Florida resident Rick Weigand swaps out his tired old ’63 Split-Window Coupe for a modernized C1 classic! Dateline: 11.13.20 This story was first published...
Larry Shinoda was Mitchell’s preferred, go-to stylist guy and seemed to be the best at pulling Bill’s ideas into reality. According to Peter Brock (National Corvette Museum 2017 Hall of Fame inductee), Mitchell was just as tough as Earl, but more jovial and at times profane. Bill just wanted to be “one of the guys”, but he knew what he wanted. (Brock’s book, “Corvette Sting Ray: Genesis of an American Icon” is a MUST READ for all second generation Corvette fans.) Since Larry Shinoda worked out the translation of Brock’s Q-Corvette design into the Stingray Racer, Larry was tasked to do the XP-755, “Mako Shark”. Larry was also working on the XP-720, the 1963 Sting Ray, in its development phase.
Begin the Corvette chassis history series with the C1 generation (1953–1962). Discover how Chevrolet’s first sports car evolved from simple beginnings into a performance contender, with key frame, suspension and engineering developments that laid the foundation for every Corvette that followed.
The XP-700 was built on a 1958 283 Fuelie Corvette. In 1950s excess style, everything is “bigger and better”. The front was pure “custom car design” with an elongated, elliptical nose and a scoop under it. Mitchell wanted to break away from the Earl driven, big toothy grille, towards something slim and lightweight. The now-classic Dayton Knock-Off Wire Wheels were part of the effort to make the car look lighter. The Lucas spotlight headlights are moved forward and also had scoops under them. The recessed hood vents showed up on the 1963 Corvette, but with fake grille inserts, and the 1964 Corvette, sans the grilles. The front fender scoops were shorter versions of the production 1956-1957 fender scoops.
Meet Zora Arkus-Duntov, the “Godfather of Corvette.” From engineering breakthroughs to performance innovation, uncover how his vision transformed the Corvette into a high-performance icon.
