Some fun Corvette history

There was a relatively small run of 50 Corvettes assembled at the Flint MI location. Here the staff had to train the workers who would go back to the new Corvette plant in St. Louis MO and train the workers who would build the production Corvettes. The training took one week and then with their new Corvette knowledge the workers went back to St. Louis. The location chosen to build new Corvettes was the Mill Building. The old wood working mill that Fisher Body had used to assemble wooden bodies in earlier years was converted to an assembly area for the new Corvettes. When the workers started the roof wasn't finished and the was snow falling as the worked building cars on the new Corvette assembly line. The assembly was slow starting with only one Corvette built per day. Eventually as everyone learned their new jobs the Corvette rate of production increased to three cars per day. There were four main parts to the Corvette assembly area: the body shop, paint, chassis and trim. While the Flint Corvettes had all been painted Polo White the St. Louis built Corvettes offered three more paint colors. There was Pennant Blue, Sportsman Red and Black paint plus beige for the interior color to match with the blue paint. All the 1954 Corvettes were delivered with a beige convertible top instead of the Flint cars black convertible top.
Ed Cole the head engineer at Chevrolet noted that dies for a steel Corvette body would have cost $4.5million compared with the $400K spend on the fiberglas bodies they utilized. Chevrolet also controlled the building of the grp bodies themselves as a bid from Fisher Body had been rejected by Chevrolet Motor Division.

While Corvette production rolled along there was a continued emphasis by Chevrolet Motor Division that this new Corvette was only for their most important customers. This was borne out by the attitude of William E. Fish the General Sales Manager of Chevrolet. Supplies of the new Corvette he announced would be tightly controlled from the General Motors Central Office in Detroit. With all the free publicity Chevrolet didn't even make any Corvettes available to the press until late very late in September of 1954. Even then less than fifty newsmen were invited to the Milford MI proving grounds to test drive the new Corvette. There were 11 of the 1954 Corvettes that were provided for publicity that day. Mauri Rose the famous multi time Indianapolis 500 winner was there as well. He gave a few of the news people a ride around the track so they could truly experience the performance of the new Corvette.

The perception of a restricted supply of Corvettes would greatly hurt future Corvette sales. From the modest success of 3640 Corvettes sold in the 1954 model year the sales would tumble the following year. With a mere 700 cars sold for 1955 the future for Corvette did not look good....

1954 Pennant Blue >

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Some views of the 1954 Corvette production location after the move to St. Louis MO.
Also the new Corvette brochure illustration >

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The Corvette was entering 1955 with a now familiar design but some new colors like Harvest Gold and Corvette Copper appeared for the first time. Two more changes were the introduction of a V8 with 265 cubic inches producing 195 horsepower. This new V8 was backed with a new standard 3 speed manual transmission. The old 2 speed Powerglide transmission became an option and was only chosen by 75 customers. Those customers were quick to take advantage of the sporting potential offered by the new V8 plus the now standard manual transmission. Zora Duntov was working on more new ways to promote Corvette as a sports car. Help was certainly needed with a total production of only 700 Corvettes for the 1955 model year.

The old Sportsman Red was replaced by Gypsy Red and Pennant Blue was only available until April 1st of 1955. Black paint was not offered for the 1955 Corvettes.
This Gypsy Red 1955 Corvette features a bubbletop that was a rare aftermarket option.
The bubbletop when combined with a rare 1955 paint color would make for an even more rare Corvette...

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The Pennant Blue paint option was only chosen by 45 customers for the 1955 Corvette. Polo White remained the most popular with 325 customers ordering the traditional Corvette color.

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When you want to buy an old Corvette there are today any number of ways to find the one special Corvette that fits with what you are looking for. People will travel far and wide to get their perfect specification Corvette.
Years ago Corvette buyers typically only shopped locally and that limited the selection. One knowledgeable California Corvette owner Roy Braatz found a 1955 Corvette listed for sale in his local newspaper. The seller had owned the Corvette for thirty years and it had been taken apart but was undamaged and mostly complete. What made this car rare was that only 15 cars were painted it's unique Corvette Copper color. This paint choice was a one year option that was only offered to 1955 Corvette customers.
As can be seen below the rare Corvette was restored to perfection and with many General Motors accessories added that were often available from Chevrolet dealers. The wire wheels were a rare General Motors dealer accessory option. Also perhaps the most unique feature on this 1955 Corvette beyond the paint color is a green tinted transparent plexiglas bubbletop. This style of top was originally designed by William Chaffee of Model Builders of Chicago Ill. for a General Motors executive to use on his own Corvette. However there were only 20 of the tops completed with just 5 featuring the green tint. Never offered as a factory option the top remains an elusive find today. As does the rare Corvette Copper paint option.

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Another of the one year only paint colors for 1955 was Harvest Gold. This paint option was chosen by only 120 customers. Among them was Elfi Duntov as seen in the picture below.

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There seems to have been a discussion about who was going to drive her Corvette on that occasion!

With a color change to silver and the addition of a black racing stripe all done by Chevrolet Motor Division she was back at the controls in this picture >

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The racing stripe can be clearly seen in this second view below>

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Sold and resold over the years this Corvette was restored to the original color combination and sold at auction in 2007.

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While Harvest Gold is not for everyone some buyers seek out this color and will pay a premium when they find 'their' 1955 Corvette.
Harvest Gold was matched with a green top.

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With the need for improved Corvette sales it was Zora Duntov who felt that the Corvette required more of a performance image if this model was to remain Chevrolet's sports car. With that in mind he obtained a 1954 Corvette had been readied with some modifications to improve performance and given the internal tracking number 5951. First requirement was a more powerful engine. When Zora received the Corvette from Chevrolet Engineering a bigger 307 cubic inch engine had been installed. The engine ordered by head engineer Mauri Rose had been built by Smokey Yunick, famed NASCAR engine builder. For this engine Zora requested a special camshaft manufactured to his own specification for the engine. Though it was with some reluctance that Chevrolet Engineering completed this order.
With more power the Corvette's body was also modified with a smaller windshield and a fiberglas headrest - tail fin for greater stability at speed. Even the passenger side of the cockpit was modified with a fiberglas tonneau cover. With some further modifications and tuning Zora's new 'mule' was now ready for testing in Mesa AZ at the General Motors Proving Grounds. Once properly prepared this 'mule' known as EX-87 was clocked at an amazing 163 MPH. Even the special order camshaft had played it's role in the Corvette speed program and became known as the 'Duntov Cam'. Zora had shown the speed potential of the Corvette and there would be further speed runs at Daytona Beach in FL to follow later.
Zora driving his 'mule' at the Proving Grounds >

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The 'mule' Corvette EX-87 now restored with it's Smokey Yunick record run 307 cubic inch engine back in the modified 1955 Corvette EX-87. Interestingly it was the Smokey Yunick engine that was found first in his shop and then EX-87 was tracked down later. The result was the first true hi-performance Corvette >

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I had a brush with some Corvette history when I bought a 1971 LS6 Corvette. One of 188 built, it had aluminum heads, and was Zora's last hurrah for high hp Vette's for a while. It was an original Dallas Texas car, owned by a Veternarian. He had a trailer built with fenders just like the vette's to haul his Jet Boat up to Lake Dallas. It had sat outside in the elements for 10 years, and was in need of a restoration. He had thrown a rod through the block in 1977, hauling the boat, and had a replacement block installed at that time, so no matching number block unless I restamped the1977 replacement block. I had owned several Vette's by that time, and felt the rareness and the story on the car made it worth a frame off restoration. There was a folder of 2-3" of receipts for everything ever done to the car. The motor was rebuilt by Mike Burkhardt, a shop owner who had been a Funny Car driver in the late 60's for Doran Chevrolet locally.

A shop in Wylie Texas, Gary's Vette stop, did the frame off, which we documented with photos along the way. Did all the correct frame markings, etc, and it turned out just like a new one. I was the featured car and centerfold in the 1992 April Edition of Corvette Fever Magazine. It made it into a card collection called MuscleCards, and was later in a Super Chevy Magazine article about one of their Show's in Dallas, and my 4 car collection at that point. 1970 Chevelle LS6, 1971 LS6 Corvette, 1971 454 Vette Convertible, and 1966 396 Vette. At that time, the only other 2 LS6 Model owners was Otis Chandler out in LA.

I moved from my hobby business, Cullum's Classic Cars, to a 1990 911 Convertible, then a 1995 355 Spider, followed by 1996 TT 911, 2005 Ford GT, 2009 ZR1 Vette, 2013 California, and now a 2018 Hellcat Charger.

It has been a fun ride.
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Philip - many thanks for sharing your 'Corvette Adventures' here with some great stories and those historic photographs to. That LS6 1971 Corvette was indeed rare and the Nassau Blue 396 is rather rare to as the first big block Corvette. Very nice Corvettes there.
I remember Mike Burkhart when he came up to Toronto International Dragway in Georgetown Ontario Canada for a match race. Mike let me sit in the funny car and back it off the trailer. We even stood behind his funny car when he competed. Standing on the track behind the Christmas Tree gave a whole new perspective to funny car racing! Mike was a real gentleman. The Doran Camaro waiting for the action to start below >

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This thread is interesting to me as a long time corvette fan/owner it brings back a lot of memories I have owned corvettes since 1975 when I bought a used 1972 targa blue small block t-top.. that car stayed in my care for 10 years or so from there I have owned to many to talk about but some of the very interesting were my 1968 L88...Duntov car, 1970 ZR1 convertible and former race car (one of 25 ZR1s made one of 8 convertibles), and my 1971 LS6 conv. Duntov car....I was lucky enough to own all of these at one time .. along with several others ..... I still have a FEW..
really love all the corvettes of the day...

 

Flip up brake lights? Wow! But I could see how the Legal Department might nix that feature.

 

Yesterday:
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Image Unavailable, Please Login Speaking of cool corvette history, anyone has any recent history of the 1969 ZL1 Corvettes? Supposedly 2 built. I dont believe these cars have hit the market in over a decade.
If either one of these cars hits the block, it would be interesting to see what they go for. I would say 5 million plus. The only Corvette more special are the 5 Grandsports and the prototype and race models.
They have the 427 L88 motor with all the go fast bits. The race kit supposedly exceeded the price of the base car. 560 gross hp with the capability to run 11 and 12 second runs. Far as I know the yellow one changed hands in 1990(?) for 300k.

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Interesting. Is the blue car in the photo a ZL1 Tribute car?

 

I have an old Corvette Fever mag from back in the early 2000's that talked about the yellow ZL1. They got a letter from a guy in prison talking about how it use to be his but the Fed's seized it in a drug bust in the 90's and auctioned it off. He was the kingpin that got taken down and was doing time.

 

[QUOTE="Phil~]They have the 427 L88 motor with all the go fast bits.[/QUOTE]

Very cool! Aluminum ZL1 motor, I think?

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Yes, I do not think it is a real ZR1. However, it reportedly does have real ZL1 aluminum motor.

The yellow one is the only one with proven documentation. Its twin is supposedly white, but I cant find any info on that one.

 

Found this about the yellow one:

Story


The story behind Roger Judski's ZL-1 Corvette

(based on excerpts from an article written by Pat Stivers as originally published in the March/April 1985 issue of Corvette Fever magazine)

The next best thing to owning a one-of-a-kind Corvette is owning a two-of-a-kind Corvette. The ZL-1 option package was almost as though GM made a last grand stand salute to the big blocks before the emission controlled economy cars took over the highways of the 70's. Mandatory with the L88 special turbo jet 427 V8 package were the F41 special purpose suspension, a heavy duty transmission, positraction rear end, transistorized ignition, and a heavy duty brake system. The ZL-1 option consisted merely of an aluminum cylinder block.

The combined package added $4100 to the price of the car at the time. The L88 package was $1100 and the special ZL-1 aluminum cylinder and case were an additional $3000 making this combination a big, big ticket in 1969. Only two Corvettes had been factory assembled with this ZL-1 aluminum engine option package. That alone is enough to thrill a Corvette owner, but this car's history turned out to be truly unique.

The car was ordered originally as a company car by the Corvette plant resident engineer in St. Louis, George H. Heberling. His rationale in ordering it was that such a production vehicle would benefit from an evaluation in actual use by one of the plant's personnel. The car was ordered with all available options, resulting in a sticker price of $10,771.

The all aluminum 427 option took about 100 pounds off the engine resulting in an improved performance. When a previous owner (Wayne Walker of Zip Products) had this engine dyno tested the engine produced 523 horsepower at 7,000 rpm with all stock Chevrolet parts. According to Karl Ludvigsen's "Corvette: America's Star Spangled Sports Car." The cast iron L88 427s produced over 550 horsepower. That's a lot of power to be running on the street, but the street is just where Heberling drove the car for its' first (somewhere between) 1200 and 2000 miles. Then he was transferred from St. Louis and left the ZL-1 behind. His successor was not so taken by the big horse Corvette, and it was put up for sale through GM at the zone level.

The car eventually found its' way to Hechler's Chevrolet in Richmond, Virginia, possibly because Hechler's had become a volume dealer in high performance cars. The Corvette sat on Hechler's floor next to a ZL-1 Camaro (of which 69 were factory produced), and it sat there quite a while [likely because of the $10,773.65 price tag], from November 1969 to January 1970. John Zagos, a high school buddy of Wayne Walker's, eventually bought the car for $5000 plus a used 1967 Corvette convertible. John was primarily into drag boat racing and he bought the car so he could put the engine into one of his boats. But the night he bought the car he literally ran the hell out of it. He later reported that it was so powerful it would just melt the tires at will and was just the fastest vehicle he had ever ridden it.

That same night he dropped a valve resulting in a big explosion and a massive engine failure. Amazingly, a Tonawanda engineer reviewed the situation and after inspecting the engine, concluded that it had a failure that was covered under warranty and authorized replacement of the engine. When Zagos finally got the new engine, he put it in one of his drag boats. The car sat idle for a couple of years with a $3000 sale price because there was little interest in a car at that price without an engine. Eventually he put a 454 passenger car engine in the car and sold it back to the dealer. From there it went through a succession of owners.

Wayne Walker developed an interest in the car an eventually purchased it from a cabinet maker for $6000. From there, Walker spent several years plugging away at the body off restoration. The biggest challenge in the restoration was finding the right kind of engine for the car. Since the original had disappeared, he didn't even look for it and bought another all aluminum 427 for $4000 from Yenko Chevrolet in Pittsburgh. One night a fellow called Wayne and said, "Hey, I've got the original engine that came in that car." It had been through three or four hands in reaching him and someone had painted it red to conceal the aluminum block from the racing public, but he had the original engine back for another $2200.

The engine was extensively rebuilt (and blown again!) twice more before the final body off restoration was completed by Nabors Motors of Houston, Texas, just in time to win a Gold at Bloomington. The L-88s as Chevrolet produced them typically had over 500 hp right off the showroom. They were tested and ran in the 13 second elapsed time range of 112 mph with street tires on the quarter mile. With proper tires and open headers they would easily go into the 11 second range with no modifications to the engine whatsoever. So with the aluminum block you've got quite a potential if it's properly ratioed.

Since Wayne Walker owned the car, it eventually ended up in the hands of the US Marshall's Office, from which current owner Roger Judski (owner of Roger's Corvette Center in Orlando, Florida) purchased it for the princely sum of $300,000.

But that, my friends, is another story…

[Note: You can see this most unusual and extremely rare Corvette on display in the showroom at Roger's Corvette Center in Orlando, Florida, where you may also view many other valuable Corvettes in Roger's personal collection

 

My old boss had a '58 Corvette that may have been something special. Apparently GM had it at a track in DesMoines, Iowa where it hit a wall & was sold on the spot. My boss (Bob) tried to buy it but it was bought by a farmer. When the farmer had problems repairing the fiberglass body, he called Bob & asked if he still wanted it. Bob sent it off for repair & drove it awhile until he was offered a good sum for it from Bib Selig, who apparently kept it in his collection. It was a blue car with silver coves & multiple carbs. Not sure it 2x4 or 3x2

 

As I recall the white 1969 Corvette ZL1 you mention was a coupe owned at one time by Otis Chandler. He had a large muscle car collection. The white ZL1 Corvette was sold new by a Chevrolet dealer in Colorado. The original owner claimed it was a factory ZL1 model. Years later the Corvette was restored by D & A Corvette Inc. in Gillespie Ill.
There was also a rumored Riverside Gold 1969 Corvette convertible that was also claimed to be a ZL1 model. This Corvette was hidden away in Ohio but no proof was offered to confirm the aluminum engine option when new.