by Scott Teeters as written for Vette Vues
Corvette Milestones: January 14, 1966 – A pre-production L88 1966 Corvette is built at the St. Louis assembly plant, destined for the Roger Penske’s shop in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, then Daytona, and Sebring

Dateline February 2016: For 1966 the new Mark IV “big-block” was offered as it was designed to be, a 427 cubic-inch beast. Duntov’s next step was to offer an all-out racing version of the Mark IV with aluminum heads, as part of what would become his legendary L88 “racer kit” package.

Penske hired the now late Dick Guldstrand to prepare the car for Daytona, but first Guldie had to pickup the car at the St. Louis Corvette assembly plant. When the line workers rolled the car off the assembly line, the experimental engine wouldn’t start! Frustrated, the workers pushed the car off to the side and told Guldstrand, “Here kid, this is all yours!”

“Mr. Corvette” got the monster Vette started, but his next problem was with the car’s heater, or lack there of! This was a pre-production L88 “package” that was designed for racing, so there was no heater. But Dick was supposed to drive the car back to the Philadelphia area in the middle of a very cold winter. But the line workers helped Dick out. They wrapped him up in moving blankets and sent him on his way!