August 30, 2002 – National Corvette Museum, inducts James Jeffords, Myron E. Scott, and John A. Cafaro into the Hall of Fame.
Dateline: 8.30.15 – The Corvette has lasted longer than Harley Earl, Ed Cole, Zora Arkus-Duntov, and Bill Mitchell ever imagined back in the 1950s, thanks to the continuing passion of men and women that understand the soul of the Corvette. The National Corvette Museum’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony has become a much-anticipated annual event in the Corvette community, as a “Thank You” to those that have carried the flame forward.
James “Jim” Jeffords was two-time SCCA B-production champion and pioneered the successful use of Duntov’s first “racer kit” the RPO 684 that helped him be unbeatable in 1958 and 1959 driving the Nickey Chevrolet “Purple People Eater” 1958 Corvette.. Jeffords also drove Jerry Earl’s 1956 SR-2, as well as some of the top sports cars of the day including a Scarab, a Maserrati Birdcage, and Jaguar.
Myron E. “Scotty” Scott was an artist, photographer, creator of The Soapbox Derby, and worked in the Chevrolet’s Public Relations department. While Myron never designed a single piece of hardware for the Corvette, he did something equally important – he came up with the name, “Corvette” for Harley Earl’s sports car.
In the early days of Harley Earl’s design and development of his two-seater sports car, the car’s working name was “Project Opel.” (Aren’t we all glad he didn’t stick with that?!) The name for the car had to start with the letter “C” and over 300 names were considered. (Now THAT would be an interesting list to read!) After none of the names were approved, Scott went home, looked in the dictionary and saw the word, “Corvette,” which means, “a speedy pursuit ship in the British Navy.” PERFECT! And the rest is history.
John Cafaro was the Chief Designer of the C5 Corvette. Designing a new generation Corvette is one of the most challenging tasks in Detroit. The new car has to look “new” but still look like a “Corvette.” From 1992 to 1999 John was responsible for bodywork designs, graphics packages, and worked on the body design for the C5-R. He was awarded for Motor Trend Car of the Year – 1984 Corvette, Autoweek Magazine Award – 1997 Corvette Coupe, North American International Auto Show, Car of the Year – 1998 Corvette Convertible and Motor Trend Car of the Year – 1998 Corvette Convertible. – Scott
It all began HERE!
