“Win on Sunday, Promote on Monday” was a generally heard factor in terms of racing, and within the Fifties by means of Nineteen Eighties America, it just about labored precisely like that. Win a race over the weekend in a automobile that’s considerably linked to at least one accessible in a showroom, and gross sales would enhance virtually in a single day! That notion is one thing Zora Arkus Duntov, nicknamed the “Father of the Corvette” for very apparent causes, picked up on as nicely. Within the late Fifties, he hatched a plan to take the Corvette racing, with this fabulous Corvette SS XP-64 because the outcome! But it surely wasn’t meant to be, because the challenge was canned after only one race. Nonetheless, it turned a legend in its personal proper, and now certainly one of solely two ever constructed could be yours!
Together with maybe the Ford Mustang (though technically a Muscle Automotive) and the Shelby Cobra, the Corvette might be probably the most prolific American sports activities automobile ever to be placed on the street. The rationale for the Corvette’s creation lies in the truth that troopers coming back from Europe after WWII, have been bringing over compact European sports activities vehicles from the likes of MG, Healey, Alfa Romeo and so forth. GM’s Head of Styling Part, Harley Earl, acknowledged the business potential and green-lit the development of a compact 2-seater below the codename Undertaking Opel (After carmaker Opel, owned by GM on the time) in some unspecified time in the future within the early Fifties. The outcome was the EX-122 prototype, which made its public debut on the 1953 Normal Motors Motorama in New York and entered manufacturing later that very same 12 months.
Though the curvy fibreglass physique was model new and fairly revolutionary for Chevrolet, the chosen model to place it to market, the Corvette used principally off-the-shelf GM parts in an effort to maintain costs down. Initially, it was fitted with a 235 cubic inch (3.85-litre) inline six-cylinder engine producing round 150 horsepower, which was fed by means of a two-speed Powerglide computerized transmission. Preliminary opinions weren’t very constructive although, because the automobile was deemed underpowered and sluggish, regardless of the sporty appears. The small block V8 definitely made an impression by bettering its sportscar-like picture, however gross sales weren’t booming. Via small tweaks right here and there, the first-gen Corvette (referred to as the C1) was up to date virtually on a yearly foundation, earlier than its C2 substitute made its look in 1962.
By then the automobile had gained reputation, and gross sales have been on the rise. The C2 technology is generally recognized for the 1963 Break up-Window Corvette, which had two rear home windows damaged up by a ‘backbone’ operating from nostril to tail. Produced for just one 12 months, it stays probably the most sought-after fashions. Others embody high-performance ZR-1, ZL1 or Z06 designated variations, produced over numerous generations. Regardless of common upgrades and evolutions, the Corvette had at all times remained a front-engine two-seater sports activities automobile, till the C8 technology was launched in 2020. It has additionally gained a fame for being a efficiency cut price, providing energy and pace akin to Europe’s most interesting sports activities vehicles, but at a significantly lower cost. The C8 technology, launched in 2020, moved the engine to the again and is accessible with numerous ranges of efficiency. The highest-spec C8 Corvette is the ZR1, fitted with a 5.5-litre twin-turbocharged V8 producing a monstrous 1,064bhp!
Duntov’s Corvette legacy
Now that we’ve coated the fundamentals in over 70 years of Corvette historical past, let’s take a look at Zora Arkus Duntov’s impression on what’s affectionately referred to as “America’s Sports activities Automotive”. Duntov was born in 1909 in Brussels, Belgium, to a Jewish Russian mom and father. The household moved round a few instances and settled in Berlin, Germany in 1927. There he met his spouse, which he married in 1939, and shortly thereafter he joined the French Air Pressure. When France surrendered to Germany in 1942, Duntov and his spouse, together with a number of different relations, fled to the USA and settled in Manhattan, New York.
From a younger age, Duntov beloved vehicles and bikes, and he and his brother would arrange a stamping firm within the US, machining elements for plane and ammunition to profit the battle efforts. After WWII was over, the 2 would change to manufacturing aftermarket automobile elements, together with cylinder heads for Ford engines. The corporate grew to be fairly a longtime identify, however monetary turmoil due to a 3rd enterprise companion pressured the Duntov brothers to shut store. Zora Arkus Duntov additionally pursued a racing profession, collaborating within the Le Mans 24 Hours from 1952 to 1955, with a category win in 1954 and 1955 with a Porsche 550 RS Spyder.
Duntov joined Normal Motors in 1953, after he wrote a letter to Ed Cole, Chief Engineer for Chevrolet on the time, stating that whereas the brand new Corvette appeared gorgeous, he wasn’t impressed by the engineering beneath. In truth, he added a technical paper on how the automobile may very well be improved, which ended up touchdown him a job as an Assistant Workers Engineer at GM. Shortly after becoming a member of the corporate, he laid out the plans to his superiors on how one can enhance the model’s success and efficiency, primarily within the racing applications. By 1957, he had labored his manner as much as Director of Excessive-Efficiency Automobiles at Chevrolet, which was concerning the time when the Corvette SS XP-64 got here into the image.
The Corvette SS XP-64
Inbuilt 1957, the Corvette SS XP-64 was Duntov’s imaginative and prescient and private challenge of what a correct racing Corvette. The automobile had been utilized in racing earlier than, however primarily in production-based inventory automobile kind. A 12 months earlier than the SS XP-64 would hit the observe, Duntov campaigned and drove a sequence of inventory and evenly modified Corvettes all through 1956, proving the automobile’s capabilities in just about each race it entered. The SS XP-64 nonetheless, would flip issues on their head, because it was the primary purpose-built GM racecar, made doable by Duntov, Cole and Earl. GM’s intentions have been to take the automobile to Le Mans, and use different races as proving floor and shakedown occasions in preparation for the legendary endurance race in France. A Mercedes-Benz 300 SL was sourced to make use of as a place to begin for the chassis, however ultimately, a light-weight customized tubular chrome-molybdenum body was constructed by Duntov’s and Earl’s group.
GM put in impartial entrance suspension, with a De Dion rear suspension setup. The automobile acquired a drum brake system throughout, with wheel-mounted brakes up entrance and inboard-mounted ones within the again, just like the Mercedes-Benz W196R. The system used an unconventional twin vacuum system (one for the entrance, and one for the rear brakes) operated by a single pedal. It will show to be a problem the drivers needed to work round within the early days of the automobile’s racing profession, inflicting locking if not used appropriately.
Energy got here from a 283 cubic-inch (4.6-litre) Chevrolet small block V8 fitted with high-performance elements that might up the facility and decrease the load. Numerous experimental parts have been used, resembling an aluminium water pump, radiator core and clutch housing, in addition to a magnesium oil pan. It was additionally fitted with Chevrolet’s Ramjet gas injection system, akin to prime European race vehicles on the time. The engine’s output was about 310bhp, which was fed by means of a four-speed close-ration gearbox and breathed by means of side-exit exhausts.
The Corvette SS XP-64 acquired a correct coachbuilt physique in settlement with Harley Earl and Ed Cole. The preliminary physique was constructed out of fibreglass, with the second physique being fabricated from light-weight (however extremely flammable!) magnesium. The low-slung design options simply a few Corvette references however was primarily designed to be as aerodynamic as doable. The toothed entrance grill and facet coves have been probably the most stand-out styling parts carried over from the manufacturing vehicles.
The remaining is a slightly traditional case of form-follows-function, with an extended swooping entrance part, a low-cut window that curves into the doorways, an built-in streamlined rollbar to higher information airflow coming off the driving force’s head, and a uniquely formed rear finish with six tail lights. The cockpit incorporates two seats, racing devices, and a wood steering wheel. The wheels have been solid magnesium, with quick-change knockoff hubs and particular racing tyres.
Each vehicles have been delivered to Sebring for the 1957 version of the 12 Hours, with John Fitch and Piero Taruffi changing Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio who initially signed as much as drive it. Operating the fibreglass automobile first, the duo clocked in cheap instances in follow. With Duntov insisting on driving the magnesium automobile as nicely, lap instances dropped significantly! In the course of the early phases of the race, overheating points induced technical issues with the automobile, forcing it to retire after simply 23 laps (out of what ended up as a 197-lap race for the winner, Juan Guide Fangio in a Maserati 450S). Shortly thereafter, the Vehicle Producers Affiliation voted to ban all racing applications for its member corporations, which included Normal Motors and thus Chevrolet. That rendered the promising Corvette SS XP-64 out of date, and it by no means raced once more.
A complete of two vehicles have been constructed, with three extra chassis being constructed however by no means accomplished. The one that’s now arising for public sale is the unique magnesium-bodied automobile pushed by Fitch and Taruffi. The automobile itself has undergone in depth restoration and is completed in period-correct blue and silver paint. It’s going to come throughout the public sale block in RM Sotheby’s Miami 2025 public sale occasion, on Thursday, February twenty seventh. The estimate is USD 5,000,000 to USD 7,000,000 which might simply make it the most costly Corvette ever to be bought if it will hit even the low finish of that.
For extra data, please go to RMSothebys.com.
Editorial Be aware: The pictures and data used for this text are sourced from and used with permission of RM Sotheby’s except said in any other case.
