Vintage Corvettes

[Zeeman28a]

Cool video from Jay Leno's Garage.

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Try to watch it in 1080P

And here's Santa's new sleigh.

 

[CaledoniaBrian]

Great video....... wouldn't it be nice to be able to bid on that 58.......
And can you imagine guys buying a 63 back in the day, and then cutting out the rear window post to improve the visablity......

 

[CCO]

OOOh Brian, no cutting, just buy a '64 or later... I'd gladly put up with the post to drive a '63 fuelie.

Great vids and pics Zeeman ...... J Leno is the man for all his survivor rides.

C.

 

[Woodstock Car Guy]

Loved the vid. '63 has always been on my bucket list and a fuelie would make just that sweeter.

 

[CCO]

That '54 is a sweet lookin' ride too. Love it.

 

[67HEAVEN]

That '54 is a sweet lookin' ride too. Love it.

No kidding. Imagine what went through people's minds when the following example is the cars they were used to seeing on the streets.

 

[CCO]

Talk about futuristic and advanced for the day. WOW.
A real prize now too.

 

[buckhorn76]

after the depression and ww2 folks were ready for some pizzazz. ike's interstate projects helped things along too. the timing seems like it was just right for some fun vehicles like the corvette and the early t-birds.

 

[67HEAVEN]

the timing seems like it was just right for some fun vehicles like the corvette and the early t-birds.

Ironic how GM beat Ford by two years (with the Corvette), but then Ford beat GM by two years with the Mustang ahead of the Camaro / Firebird.

 

[Zeeman28a]

Great video....... wouldn't it be nice to be able to bid on that 58.......
And can you imagine guys buying a 63 back in the day, and then cutting out the rear window post to improve the visablity......

Just think, if it wasn't for those '63 buyers, the split window '63 wouldn't be the car it is now.

 

[Case75]

Good video. Love the older Vettes and how far advanced they were for their times.

A couple of mistakes in the video; '63 fuelies only had 360HP, same as in '62. It wasn't until they added the 2.02/1.60 heads and the bigger cam in '64 that power went to 375HP.

Also; '53 production was 300 cars, all with the 150HP 235 cid six and powerglide. No six was offered with a manual. '55 was the first year with a manual and out of the 693 V8's produced that year, it's estimated that only 75 got the 3 speed manual. All others including 7 sixes got the powerglide.

Some interesting trivia on the Stingray racer. The car was built on a leftover Corvette SS chassis. Larry Shinoda designed the body foretelling the future Sting Ray. The car originally had an aluminum head 283 fuelie rated at 280HP and a prototype aluminum Harrison radiator. The car was financed and campaigned by Bill Mitchell himself and had originally been painted red. The car was intended to win an SCCA championship in 1959 but the brakes were a problem and the body was too heavy. A new lighter body was installed in the late summer of '59 and was painted silver along with better brakes. The car won the SCCA C-modified division in 1960 and then went on the show circuit after that. Soon after, Mitchell had it painted red again and began driving it to work. In later years, he had a weber carbed 427 installed and had it painted silver again. Can you imagine driving that car to work!! And another tidbit; Zora Duntov despised this car and would never acknowledge its existance as it had taken away from the purity of his original SS racer.

 

[CCO]

Some good info there too Greg......thanks for posting.

C.

 

[67HEAVEN]

Some interesting trivia on the Stingray racer.....Can you imagine driving that car...

Yes. I've driven it....on public streets with a police escort.

 

[Case75]

Yes. I've driven it....on public streets with a police escort.

Do tell please!!

 

[buckhorn76]

but aren't the cops supposed to be in front of you bob ? tell us more :coolgleam:

 

[67HEAVEN]

Tomorrow. Gotta get up early to shovel. She's coming, boys.

 

[67HEAVEN]

Thirty years ago, this past summer at the CCCC (ER) Corvette Convention in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

General Motors loaned us Bill Mitchell's Stingray Racer and the Aerovette. They were shipped to us in a semi. We had to deposit them in the hotel ballroom for the Saturday evening banquet/dance....a ballroom that is situated on the 2nd floor of the hotel. I'll post some photos later showing how we did that.

I chaired the event. We pretty much owned the two largest hotels in town - the Sheraton Brock and Sheraton Foxhead, as they were named at the time, with about 700 in attendance.

As part of the festivities, we decided to display eight Corvettes in the ballroom, including a 1966 Corvette 427 convertible that we raffled off for Spina Bifida and the two experimental cars mentioned above.

Sooooooooooooo, late Saturday afternoon, after blasting around Niagara Falls with a police escort, we did just that.

Photos showing how later.

 

[buckhorn76]

verrry neat, experience of a lifetime eh !!!:coolgleam:

 

[CCO]

Cool story. Waiting for pics.

C.

 

[Case75]

:agree: That would be an event to remember!