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Here's
the story:
Illustrated Corvette Series No. 7 - 1957 SS Corvette Racer
The
Corvette SS was the first in a long line of great "what
if" cars from Chevrolet. The idea of using racing to inspire sales was
relatively new to Detroit in the '50s. After great press with the SR-2,
it was
time to take on Europe's finest and race at Le Mans.
The
D-type Jaguar was "the" car to beat in '56. Harley
Earl shook up everyone by bringing in the No. 3 '56 Sebring winner, a
D-type
Jaguar, with the intention of fitting it with a Chevy engine and a
modified
body, and calling it a Corvette!
Zora
Arkus-Duntov was outraged and began his own plan for a Le Mans
racer. Duntov's plan was quickly approved and the Corvette SS racer was
born.
But time was not on their side.
It
was summer of '56 and a Sebring debut was only nine months away.
Duntov hand picked his crew and began working day and night. Since his
crew had
never built such a car, Duntov bought a Mercedes 300SL tube frame to
use as a
model for the chassis.
When
the car arrived at Sebring it was still being worked on in the
transporter. Although not as refined as it looked due to little track
development time, the car was stunning.
The
steel blue racer looked like an exotic European. Although most
of the parts were off the shelf or bought, the entire car was handmade.
Parts
were cast in aluminum where possible. The body was even made out of
ultralight
magnesium! The Corvette SS weighed in at 1850, 100 pounds less that the
D-type
Jag.
Things
went badly on the track due to a lack of time. Duntov had a
sister "mule" car that was used for testing. The mule actually ran
better than the finished car. The new braking system never got sorted
out and
the magnesium body made the interior very hot.
The
untested car had many problems and only ran 23 laps before it
had to retire. In June of '57 GM decided to adhere to the AMA ban on
factory-supported racing, thus ending the Corvette SS project. As a
last hurrah
in December of '58 at the Phoenix test track, the car ran 183 mph! If
only...
The
Corvette SS was the first in a long line of great "what
if" cars from Chevrolet. The idea of using racing to inspire sales was
relatively new to Detroit in the '50s. After great press with the SR-2,
it was
time to take on Europe's finest and race at Le Mans.
The
D-type Jaguar was "the" car to beat in '56. Harley
Earl shook up everyone by bringing in the No. 3 '56 Sebring winner, a
D-type
Jaguar, with the intention of fitting it with a Chevy engine and a
modified
body, and calling it a Corvette!
Zora
Arkus-Duntov was outraged and began his own plan for a Le Mans
racer. Duntov's plan was quickly approved and the Corvette SS racer was
born.
But time was not on their side.
It
was summer of '56 and a Sebring debut was only nine months away.
Duntov hand picked his crew and began working day and night. Since his
crew had
never built such a car, Duntov bought a Mercedes 300SL tube frame to
use as a
model for the chassis.
When
the car arrived at Sebring it was still being worked on in the
transporter. Although not as refined as it looked due to little track
development time, the car was stunning.
The
steel blue racer looked like an exotic European. Although most
of the parts were off the shelf or bought, the entire car was handmade.
Parts
were cast in aluminum where possible. The body was even made out of
ultralight
magnesium! The Corvette SS weighed in at 1850, 100 pounds less that the
D-type
Jag.
Things
went badly on the track due to a lack of time. Duntov had a
sister "mule" car that was used for testing. The mule actually ran
better than the finished car. The new braking system never got sorted
out and
the magnesium body made the interior very hot.
The
untested car had many problems and only ran 23 laps before it
had to retire. In June of '57 GM decided to adhere to the AMA ban on
factory-supported racing, thus ending the Corvette SS project. As a
last hurrah
in December of '58 at the Phoenix test track, the car ran 183 mph! If
only...
Here's
the story:
Illustrated Corvette Series No. 10 - 1957 Q Corvette
In
light of the new C5
Corvette, the 1957 Q-Corvette is not only the most forgotten Corvette,
but the
most profound of all concept Corvettes! Mechanical designs for the C5
were
actually laid out in this very unique 1957 prototype.
Early in 1957, Chevrolet was in the beginning stages of developing a
completely
new small car concept that would eventually become the Corvair.
Corvette
designers saw that the transaxle and independent rear suspension from
the
Corvair could be used to develop a totally new and revolutionary
Corvette. With
this exotic piece of hardware, Zora Arkus-Duntov and his designers saw
this as
a golden opportunity for a new and very different Corvette for 1960.
The rear mounted transmission/axle helped balance the weight of the
Corvette.
Drum brakes were mounted inboard to reduce unsprung weight. Even the
starter
motor was on the transaxle for weight balancing. The transaxle case was
aluminum and could be offered as either a 4-speed manual or automatic.
Up front an all-aluminum, fuel-injected 283 engine with a dry-sump oil
system
was proposed. There were to be no steel valve guides, valve seats or
piston
sleeves. This was to help achieve the target weight of 2,225 pounds.
The proposed structure of the Q-Corvette was a steel platform similar
to the
356 Porsche. Because of the transmission location, the interior would
have been
larger, even though the length and height were smaller than
the production Corvette. The fastback roof had a permanent arch behind
the
cockpit and removable roof panels. At the leading edge of the
windshield, there
were no A-pillars.
Bill Mitchell suggested to stylists Bob Veryzer and Pete Brock that the
styling
should come from the slimness of the Pininfarina / Abarth cars with a
strong
horizontal line and bulges over the wheels in the upper surfaces. The
pointed
nose had driving lights in the grille opening and manually operated
pop-up
headlights. Mitchell's Sting Ray Racer used most of the same styling
ideas.
By the late 50's the economy was in bad shape, so GM killed the
expensive
Q-Corvette. As it was, Corvettes were hardly profitable. So the
Q-Corvette was
an on-paper and clay-only prototype with some great ideas that took 30
years to
produce.
Here's
the story:
Kit Car Profile No.
24 - 1957 Corvette
1957 was
a pivotal year for the Corvette. Chevy's little beauty queen became a brute!
America became a car-culture in the '50s. Hot rods were born and sports cars
were coming from Europe. Chevrolet got into the act with the Harley
Earl-designed, American sports car, the Corvette.
In the
early '50s, American car makers knew very little about building sports cars.
Earl's Corvette blew everyone away at the 1953 Motorama Show and it was rushed
into production, using off-the-shelf Chevy sedan parts. Because no one was sure
that the public would actually buy the Corvette, it was decided to use a new
material called "fiberglass." If the car was a flop, GM wouldn't be
out big-bucks for steel tooling.
A fiberglass body could be built from easily molded parts. Thus the Corvette
became America's first production fiberglass car.
Unfortunately,
the Corvette's performance wasn't on par with its looks. They tried, but the
little Blue Flame-Six and 2-speed Powerglide transmission weren't making it
with the sports car or hot rod crowd. Sales were dismal. In the first three
years, Chevrolet only sold 4,640 Corvettes. Ford, on the other hand, sold
16,155 Thunderbirds in 1955 alone! Clearly, the Corvette needed something big.
The best thing that Chevrolet did to ensure the Corvette's success, was to hire
Zora Arkus-Duntov, and to name him to the position of "Director of High
Performance Vehicle Design and Development." The Corvette never had a
better champion. In a few years, Duntov turned the beauty queen into a brute.
When the
new 265 V-8 small-block Chevy came out in '55, Duntov made sure there was a
juiced up version for the Corvette. As wonderful as the Motorama Corvette was,
the restyling of the '56 Corvette was better. No one noticed or cared that the
styling cues were picked up from the Mercedes 300 SL. The new Corvette was
taught, aggressive, and hot, because it now packed a dual-quad 265-cubic-inch
engine with 255 horsepower. And thanks to the back-door racing efforts of
Duntov, the Corvette was beginning to be taken seriously on the race track as
well.
When the
'57 Fuel Injected Corvette was released, it was as if the Vette was finally
"finished and complete." Fuel injection was exotic stuff in '57, and
only found on exotic race cars from Europe. It was the ticket for serious road
racers because it eliminated the problem of carburetor "slosh" that
racers would experience in hard cornering and when slowing down. The system
gave a smooth and even inflow of gas under any condition.
More
efficiency means more horsepower. The 283 '57 Fuelie engine made 283 hp at
6,200 rpm. The high-winding, high horsepower engine put the Corvette on the
performance map. Duntov also made sure that the suspension was up to handling
the extra power. One magazine tested a Fuelie and ran 0-to-60 in just 5.7
seconds, the quarter mile in 14.3 seconds, and hit a top speed of 132 mph!
Duntov
cast in stone the Corvette's racing tradition by taking four race-prepared
Corvettes to Sebring where they set records against Europe's finest. The '57
Fuelie option cost $484 and was only ordered on 1,040 of the 6,339 Corvettes
sold that year. Corvettes were now "performance cars" that were
somewhat affordable to the average person, and they make a great replicar.
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