Learn how the Corvette was born
Ok guys lets talk a little about the driving force behind the
restoration business; it happens to be T. V. With all of the
shows running on Discovery and the other channels the
restoration business is on the rise in this country, and it's
about time, we need to pay more attention to our old American
cars they are an American icon.
I realize that restoration is not cheap, but neither is a new
car, and will it be with you for thirty years or more, or just a
fart in the wind with in five years or less.
I'm not bashing on the new stuff, I'm just making a point,
people will go out and spend 50K or more on a BMW, but whine
when it come time to fix up a piece of American history, and
why, it cost too much WA, it's worth it.
But if your building your car just to sell it, don't, you'll
never make a profit, if you want to sell them, sell them as
project cars, or buy cars that have already been restored to
sell.
You should restore a car because you love it, and it hold
memories of the fun times in life, it should be a part of you,
it's not just a car, it's your car, and that makes it special.
It couldn't matter less what kind of car it is, as long as you
love it and it's special to you, everybody likes different cars,
and they are all cool to the person that owns them.
I know this is a little off the normal subject, but it deserves
a mentioning. We'll get back to the norm next month.
I feel that Mr. Duntov has given so much to the car world that
he should be paid some homage, respect if you will, after all he
did design one of the biggest baddest meanest cars ever built by
man kind.
You may be a Ford freak or a Mopar freak, but I'm here to tell
you this car on any given day could roast any Ford or Mopar that
you care to mention, an L-88 Corvette was truly an American icon
in the car world.
If you were to go out to race in the 1960's and you just
happened to run in to one of these, and you were racing stock
for stock, then you probably know what it feels like to lose a
race, they didn't always win, but I'd say it's a good bet that
most of the time you'd lose to one of these.
Being as how Chevrolet is the most winning engine in all of
racing, if you don't believe me, then spend a little time
searching the net, and you'll most certainly learn something new
today.
Since Chevrolet is the most winning engine in racing history,
and with out question the Corvette is their most winning car,
well you add it up, a Corvette was nothing to laugh at, and if
you did, you may be laughing out the other side of your mouth
very soon.
The Corvette is one of the most beautiful cars ever built by
Chevrolet, or any car company as far as I'm concerned, since
it's inception in 1953 it has been one of the most highly sought
after cars ever built.
The Corvette has without a doubt had it's bad moments, but the
good far out weighs the bad, as a matter of fact the Ford Cobra
was built to put the Corvette down, but as you see it never did.
The Corvette commands respect where ever it goes, don't be
thinking in the you infinite wisdom that you stock muscle car
can put the Vette down to rest, this is a very stupid idea, as
not very many cars could do it, including the Hemi Mopar's, a
Corvette is a truly wicked sports / muscle car and should never
be taken lightly.
This car would put its mark on the world forever.
I'm going to add a little history on the Corvette that I have
borrowed from the Corvette action Center; all rights to this
article belong to them.
Zora Arkus-Duntov December 25, 1909 - April 21, 1996. "The
Corvette was no dog anymore." - Zora speaking about the Corvette
after setting a 150 mph top-speed record at Daytona, December
1955. Biography Born: "Zachary Arkus" on December 25, 1909 to
Russian parents near Brussels, Belgium.
During his teens, Zora's parents divorced and his mother later
remarried, hence the name "Arkus-Duntov".
During his early years in Berlin, Germany, Zora worked at a
motorcycle shop and soon after, started racing motorcycles.
Due to the danger of motorcycle racing and his parents'
request, he stopped motorcycle racing and turned his attention
towards cars.
In December of 1934, Zora graduated with a degree in Mechanical
Engineering from the Institute of Charlottenburg in Berlin where
he specialized in engine development and supercharging.
Due to a paper he wrote on supercharging and his many
affiliations with auto racing teams, he won a consulting
contract with the Mercedes Grand Prix racing team. In 1938, Zora
wrote another paper, this time on the benefits of four-wheel
drive and steering for high performance vehicles.
The German Auto Club magazine published this particular paper.
In 1939, Zora married Elfi Wolff, a 17 year old, German native
and dancer in the Folies-Bergere in Paris.
It was also at this time that Zora joined the French Air Force
and served in the military through 1940.
Zora eventually moved to the United States with his brother
"Yuri" and started a successful manufacturing company called,
"Ardun Power Products" where they manufactured aluminum overhead
valve heads for the flathead Ford engine.
These special aluminum heads enabled the engine to produce 300+
horsepower. Several cars equipped with these heads went on to
set records and helped to establish Zora's engineering
capabilities in the U.S. # In early 1950, Zora moved to England
and helped Sydney Allard with his racing operation and drove the
Allard J2 in LeMans in 1952 and 1953. It was also at this time
that he worked for Daimler-Benz and Porsche as a consultant.
In 1952, Zora came back to the United States and joined
Fairchild Aviation. Shortly after his arrival at F.A., he
spotted the Corvette at the GM Motorama Show, which was held at
the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. # After seeing the 1953
Corvette for the first time, Zora wrote a letter to Chevrolet
Chief Engineer, Ed Cole outlining his ideas for improving the
Corvette.
Ed Cole and another engineer, Maurice Olley, were so impressed
with Zora's letter that they invited him to meet with them in
Detroit. He was hired on May 1, 1953 as an assistant staff
engineer. On December 16, 1953, he outlined a letter entitled:
"Thoughts Pertaining to Youth, Hot Rodders and Chevrolet".
In this letter, Duntov outlined the importance of the V8 engine
and the importance of promoting the Chevrolet nameplate to the
youth of America. (View this Memo) # Even though the Corvette's
styling was popular, the engineering that went into the car was
lacking. The Blue Flame 6-cylinder engine and automatic
transmission did not provide the performance that owners and
sports-car enthusiasts expected.
As a result, sales gradually fell off and the fate of the
Corvette was far from promising. There were however, several
people within Chevrolet that wanted to see the Corvette succeed
and Zora led the way as seen in his now famous memo written to
Ed Cole and Maurice Olley on October 15, 1954.
Zora's memo outlined what he saw wrong with Corvette and
Chevrolet's marketing and the changes he felt necessary to turn
the Corvette around and shape it into the world-class sports car
it was meant to be.
As a result, Chevrolet management agreed, Zora worked his
magic, and Corvette sales escalated.
Accomplishments * The 1956 Corvette received a 210-hp, 265 ci
V8, a 225-hp, dual 4-barrel 265ci engine and a special 265ci
engine sporting the infamous "Duntov Cam" resulting in 240-hp.
The 1957 Corvette received the 283 ci V8 and fuel injection.
This marked the first year that fuel injection was available on
a Corvette.
The idea of fuel injection was Zora's and Zora was responsible
for encouraging Chevrolet management to undertake this costly
joint venture with Rochester Products, however, the system was
ultimately designed and built by John Dolza, another engineer.
The 283-ci engine combined with fuel injection now had an output
of 283 hp.
The Corvette won the honors of being the first production-based
passenger vehicle in the world to sport one horsepower per cubic
inch.
* Zora with the 1963 Corvette. Zora started to build the
Corvette SS (Project XP-64) around the end of 1957. After the SS
came the Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicles (CERV) I and
II, the legendary Grand Sport Corvettes which gave Carroll
Shelby's Cobra's a run for their money, the XP-880, XP-882 and
many others.
Along with all of these special one-off creations, Zora
continued to push the Corvette's envelope of performance by
releasing various racing packages as Regular Production Options
(RPOs) for the Corvette.
The legendary 1963 Z06 Corvette was born. This special
performance equipment package consisted of a 327 ci, 360 hp fuel
injected V8 with 4 speed manual transmission, posi traction
rear-end, 36-gallon fuel tank, heavy duty shocks, springs, power
brakes with finned drums and much more.