When the Corvette first came out in 1953, it wasn’t quite a desirable sports car, saddled with a rather pedestrian straight-six and two-speed automatic. By 1955, Chevrolet made its brand-new small-block available and, in 1956, Zora Arkus-Duntov proved the Vette’s mettle in some performance trials. However, the precursor to those efforts is this 1953 Corvette that will be auctioned at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale event on Saturday, January 17, 2015.
Chevrolet Engineering prepared two Corvettes − one a 1953, the other a ’55 − with a 1956 dual-quad 265 and 3-speed manual, heavy-duty rear end assembly, plastic tonneau cover, small racing windshield, and relocated gauges. This project, known as “Rebuilding of NASCAR Corvettes for Stock Car Racing” per the November 3, 1955 memo, was supervised by Chevrolet chief engineer Ed Cole with the conversion being handled by Indy 500 winner Mauri Rose. It was then sent to Smokey Yunick’s garage in Daytona for some NASCAR promotional photos, and then raced in the 7th Annual International Safety and Speed Trials and Stock Car Races in February 1956.
As the earliest-known Corvette to have run in a NASCAR-sanctioned event, this pioneer was part of the effort that saved the Corvette from being discontinued. Documentation includes Chevrolet Engineering build orders, newspaper articles, and vintage photos.
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I sure wish everyone would quit putting more rules in the books. I drove at the glen and almost got black flagged from the start because of no rollbar. It should be up to me to be able to run my roadster, Kate without one. Now i have to put $1500 worth of bar in to be able to run again. In the good ole days including the 53 up for auction had no bar and a cut down windshield that would surley colaps on a flipover. Kate has a full windshield and i trust Vorvette engineers that it is as good as a full top. But i will comply so i can run this year but it cuts me out of 6 days of fun and im not getting any younger. It seems like greenpiece types are trying to take the fun out of life. It should be up to me if i want to runbwithout a bar.
also diferent but the same, nascar chase is lousy as is restrickter plates. Let the best engineers and mechanics and drivers build what they will and the smartest win, not every car the same. Like imsa. They put all these extra garbage on Corvette because everyone else cant keep up so imsa puts in garbage to slow down Corvette because Corvette is the best.. Greenpiece types make all these stupid rules because they are armchair wannabees.