Category: Videos – C1 Corvettes

Riding Shotgun With Zora Arkus Duntov in a 1961 Fuelie Corvette – VIDEO

Published on by Scott

Imagine having Zora Arkus-Duntov give you a test drive in a new 1961 Fuelie Corvette! WOW!

 

Dateline: 3.18.21 – 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. He was in for an E-Ticket ride! 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! – Scott

Signed & Numbered 11″ x 17″ prints of this 1961 Fuel Injected Corvette –

America’s “Old Glory” Sports Car!

are available in our Etsy Store.

$29.92 + $7.95 S&H

Our Etsy Store has America’s “Old Glory” Sports Car prints of every Corvette from 1953 to 2020. You can find the year you are looking for by looking into the Corvette generation sections on the left side of the home page, HERE.

Take a Few Laps around Daytona in a ’56/’57 Corvette – 2 Videos

Published on by Scott

Watch some old school fun in this ride-along video from the passenger-side seat of this racing 1956/1957 Corvette.

Dateline: 11.13.18 – Corvette racecars from the 1950s look absolutely prehistoric from our modern perspective. They were 100-percent mechanical beasts. This video beautifully captures the sights and sounds of this old world racing Corvette.

Back in the day, just like today, Corvettes had plenty of grunt and only needed improved suspension and brakes. That’s what Chevy’s RPO racing parts program was all about. Chevrolet general manager, Ed Cole, charged engineers Zora Arkus-Duntov and three-time Indy 500 winner Mauri Rose, with running the program.

Duntov oversaw the engineering in Detroit and tested the special parts at the GM Proving Ground, and Rose was the field engineer that worked with Smokey Yunick and various racers to field test and improve the parts. By the end of the 1959s, Corvettes were winning championships and were beginning to dominate.

Just for some contrast, I’ve included an in-car video from one of the C7.R Corvettes. Here’s Tommy Milner in the C7.R at Daytona in 2014.

WOW! What a contrast! Enjoy! – Scott

 

Corvette Odd-Ball – 1958 Fiberfab “Centurion” Sells at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction for $91,000! – 2 VIDEOS

Published on by Scott

One-of-six Fiberfab Centurion (1959 Stingray Racer), fully-functional, period-correct kit cars – sells for $91,000!

Dateline: 1.19.18, Images Barrett-Jackson – The “build your own car” trend was HOT in the 1960s. Most were never finished and many were badly completed. What is arguably one of the nicest-finished kit cars ever, SOLD today for an impressive $91,000! Bidding was brisk and the auctioneer really worked the car. Check out the above video.

What is surprising to me is that according to the auctioneer, the car is eligible for the Monterrey Historic Races events! How about that?

Below is a video about the real 1959 Stingray Racer.
Continue reading “

Corvette Odd-Ball – 1958 Fiberfab “Centurion” Sells at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction for $91,000! – 2 VIDEOS” →

Corvette Timeline Tales: Happy 65th Birthday to America’s Only True Sports Car, the Corvette! – VIDEOS

Published on by Scott

On this date in 1953, GM officials never imagined their little fiberglass concept car would one day become a world-class sports car and GM’s technological flagship automobile!

Dateline: 1.17.18 – Story by Mike Waal, Images GM Archives – On this date in Corvette History, Harley Earl‘s prototype Corvette (EX-122) was introduced to the public at the GM Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, in Manhattan, NYC, on January 17, 1953.

I was born and raised in Manhattan. My Dad was working for Cadillac at their show room dealership on 57th Street and Broadway, in Manhattan. Dad had access to all the car shows. While I didn’t attend this event with him, I was about to turn 6, some time between this date and 1955 I attended my first car show with my Dad. What a thrill!

My Mom got me dressed in a suit with a white shirt and tie, and put me on the subway train to meet my Dad, who was waiting for me. This is how I saw, in person, my first Corvette!

Here’s a fun Promotional film for the 1953 Corvette. Continue reading “

Corvette Timeline Tales: Happy 65th Birthday to America’s Only True Sports Car, the Corvette! – VIDEOS” →

9-27-52 – General Motors officially begins using the name “Corvette” for its new sports car

Published on by Scott

Three and one half months before the 1953 GM Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria, GM officially begins to use the word “Corvette” for its new 2-seater sports car. – Videos

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Timeline: 9.27.15 – Last month we told you about Chevrolet PR-man Myron “Scotty” Scott’s induction into the National Corvette Museum’s Hall of Fame. Mr. Scott was the man responsible for coming up with the name “Corvette” for Harley Earl’s “American sports car” show car concept. The working name for the two-seater had been “Opel.” How uninspiring! (Hey Man! Did you see the new Op?”) Over 300 names were rejected before Myron Scott found the word, “Corvette” in the dictionary. I wonder if a copy of that list is still around.

“By the books” the American flag, in its entirety, is not supposed to be used for anything but the American flag, and thus cannot be used as part of a logo or trademark. This “rule of the flag” is pretty much ignored these days, but back in 1952, GM’s lawyers nixed Harley Earl’s first Corvette logo design because Earl wanted to use the American flag. (How cool would that have been?!) Continue reading “

9-27-52 – General Motors officially begins using the name “Corvette” for its new sports car” →

1956 SR-2 Corvette, Chevrolet’s Purpose-Built Corvette Racer – VIDEO

Published on by Scott

 

EXP-4-1956-SR-2

Corvette Mike’s Beautiful Video Presentation of the 1956 SR-2 Corvette Racer

Dateline: 7.21.15 “Corvette Mike” of Anaheim, California, the car dealer that ONLY sells used, refurbished, and restored Corvettes, produced this beautiful video of the stunning 1956 SR-2 Corvette Racer. I covered this car in Part 2 of my Vette Magazine “Corvette Experimental, Prototype, Concept, and Show Car Corvettes” series that ran in the December 2014 issue. That article is republished in its entirety at the bottom of this post.

VIDEO HERE: Continue reading “

1956 SR-2 Corvette, Chevrolet’s Purpose-Built Corvette Racer – VIDEO” →

Car Club USA: Corvette Homecoming – Video

Published on by Scott

Here’s What Corvettes Mean To People

CorvetteHomecoming-600

The other day Joe Pruitt, the Event Coordinator/Owner of the National Corvette Homecoming event contacted me to tell me about their new event video by Efran Films that covered the National Corvette Homecoming 2014 event. This is a very touching video that captures what Corvettes mean to people. As we know, they’re not just “car” they’re something else. Actually, the people in the video say it perfectly. This video has heart! Enjoy! – Scott

www.corvettehomecoming.com
www.twitter.com/bgcorvette
www.facebook.com/bgcorvette

Vette Videos: Larry Shinoda and Peter M. De Lorenzo Talk About Corvette Design Legend, Bill Mitchell

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 4.1.12

Shinoda shares his Mitchell “fish story” and De Lorenzo shares his “”neighborhood kid on a bike” Mitchell story!

Here's Bill Mitchell with his two favorite fish - the 1959 Stingray Racer and the 1961 Mako Shark-I. Snappy coat, Bill!

Here’s one for the Kawinkydink Department. I thought we were all done with our look back and the life and career of Larry Shinoda – wrong! This morning while surfing around the net, I found a video about Bill Mitchell. Before I knew it, there’s Larry Shinoda telling stories about his former boss, Bill Mitchell!

Most of us in the Corvette community are very familiar with the unique “shark” paint style used on the Mako Shark-I, Mako Shark-II, and the Manta Ray concept/show cars. Larry shared a wonderful story about how the guys in the painting department perfected that distinctive paint scheme.

Also interviewed in the video is the late David E. Davis, former Campbell-Ewald Advertising man, former editor of Car and Driver, and founder and former editor of Automobile Magazine. Here’s the video…

The second video is hosted by Peter M. De Lorenzo, editor and chief of AutoExtremist.com and son of former GM VP of Public Relations Anthony De Lorenzo. Continue reading “Vette Videos: Larry Shinoda and Peter M. De Lorenzo Talk About Corvette Design Legend, Bill Mitchell” →

Vette Video: 1960 Mako Shark-I Corvette At The Georgia Aquarium

Published on by Scott3 Comments

Dateline: 3.5.12

What A Better Place To Show Off the Mako Shark-I

Lucky for us, GM design chief, Bill Mitchell had a fish fetish. Or should we say, a shark obsession. I once read an amusing story about Mitchell and his “shark thing.” He was talking with someone about the Mako Shark-I show car and he said, (sorry for the paraphrasing) “Look at the open mouth in that grille area. You can just see the blood dripping from the opening!” Yea, he was “into it.”

The story goes that Mitchell caught a big shark off the coast of Bimini and had it stuffed and mounted. It must have been his muse because he obviously picked up on three design elements.

1. The real shark’s side gills. On the car they show up just ahead of the front wheel wells and just behind the rear wheel wells.
2.  The real shark’s open mouth snout. Gee Bill, no teeth for the car? I think over the years, a few show car Corvettes have been seen with shark’s teeth.
3. The real shark’s light underbelly and dark blue top. This became the signature “Mako Shark” paint job with lots of variations.

Continue reading “Vette Video: 1960 Mako Shark-I Corvette At The Georgia Aquarium” →

Vette Videos: The STUNNING Corvette Classic 1959 Stingray Racer

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 3.2.12 –

A Timeless Corvette Beauty

Every so often a car design comes along that is “perfect.” It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you end up stopped dead in your tracks. You find yourself almost unable to STOP looking at the car’s shape. For me, the 1959 Stingray Racer is such a car. The 1959 Stingray Racer was an outgrowth of the dead-on-arrival 1957 Q-Corvette, which never made it past the full-size clay model stage. But the pint-sized concept had a nuclear-powered punch because it set in motion a design process that is still with us today. Consider the lineage…

Q-Corvette leads to…
1959 Stingray Racer leads to…
Mako Shark I show car leads to…
1963-1967 Sting Ray leads to…
Mako Shark-II-inspired C3 “shark” Corvette… that leads to…
C6 Corvette (look closely at the front and rear fenders of the C6 – there’s a C2 Sting Ray in there).

 

Back to the timeless ‘59 Stingray. Clearly, Bill Mitchell wasn’t done with the design of the proposed Q-Corvette. So, with a borrowed chassis from the aborted ‘57 Corvette SS racer (1957 was a VERY GOOD year for the Corvette!), Mitchell designed a roadster version of the interesting Q-Corvette around the small, lightweight birdcage tube chassis from the mule version of the Corvette SS project. Continue reading “Vette Videos: The STUNNING Corvette Classic 1959 Stingray Racer” →

Vette Videos: The Life & Times of The Father of the Corvette, Harley Earl

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 11.23.11

Harley Earl gave us much more than the Corvette. He could have also been called, “The King of the Razzle-Dazzle!”

Three Harley Earl Videos!

Yesterday we shared with you a brief overview of the life and career of General Motors’ first chief of design, Harley Earl. When it comes to Corvettes,  it’s easy in retrospect to say that GM should have done this and done that. But it’s essential to remember that when Earl first showed his sports car renderings of what they were calling the “Project Opel,” there were no sports cars being made in Detroit. And no one even knew if there was an American market for the little machines. And on top of that, no one in Detroit really knew “how” to build a true sports car. But, everything has a beginning. And lucky for the Corvette, it skimmed by for a time, just on its good looks.

So much of what Earl pioneered  in his career at GM is now commonplace practices in the automobile industry. Two of the best examples of Earl innovations were the “design studio” and “annual model changes.” Today all of the major car companies have their own private facility where ideas and concepts are thrashed out. Before Earl’s Technical Center was officially christened in 1956, there were no such places where ideas could be securely developed in private. Continue reading “Vette Videos: The Life & Times of The Father of the Corvette, Harley Earl” →

Special Interest Autos’ – SIA – 1957 SS Corvette Feature Story

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 11.2.11
Hemmings Motor News old sister publication takes a look back at the first special-built Corvette race car, the SS Corvette

Special thanks to Hemmings Blog for the image. For more very cool car stories, visit http://blog.hemmings.com/. I go there every day!

(Be sure to check out the SS Corvette video at the bottom of this post!)

Back in the early ‘80s there was a new trend in the car magazine biz – specialty publications. Marty Schorr’s VETTE Magazine was ahead of the curve when it came out in ‘76. VETTE was the first “Corvette-only” news stand magazine ever published. By the early ‘80s there was a specialty publication for most brand cars. Hemmings Motor News branched out with a unique magazine called, “SIA – Special Interest Automobiles.” While I remember seeing the magazine on the news stands it wasn’t something I was interested in back then, as it featured many pre-WW II “classic” cars, and I was interested in other things at the time.

Fast forward to today and the wonderful world of blogging, Hemmings has one of my favorite car blogs. It’s the preverbal “box of chocolates” because “you never know what you’re going to get.” (thank you Forrest Gump!) Recently at http://blog.hemmings.com/ they posted an interesting and detailed story about the 1957 SS Corvette race car from the October 1988 issue of SIA magazine.

Don’t let the rather scathing introduction put you off, “…the SS was little more than a poorly executed and slapdash affair, deserving of its failure at Sebring and merely spared the pain of further embarrassment… “ The actual article from SIA is very good with lots of pictures, statistics, and some nice technical illustrations of the SS Corvette.

Special thanks to Hemmings Blog for the image. For more very cool car stories, visit http://blog.hemmings.com/. I go there every day!

This is just my opinion, but I think that the introduction was a little unjust for the following reasons. While it is true that Duntov and his team copied the Mercedes 300SL race car’s birdcage frame and chassis, so did many other cars. The design was the standard road racing layout of the day. General Motors of the mid-’50s was arguably the least prepared auto company to even take on such a project, as they had NO experience what-so-ever in building race cars. The only part of the car Chevrolet engineers were familiar with was the 283 Fuelie engine. Plus, the small-block was only in its third year of production and F.I. unit was brand new. Continue reading “Special Interest Autos’ – SIA – 1957 SS Corvette Feature Story” →