I like prototypes... hell, I just dig cars

1961 Mako Shark most of these pics are from a russian site http://autowp.ru/
1962 XP 755 Mako Shark

1962 XP 755 Mako Shark 1965 Mako Shark
1969 Manta Ray

1973 Astrovette 1956 SR-2 Corvette
http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net is a great site and was my source for this SR-2, the precursor to the SS Corvette

A moment of style and panache, damn good photo

Zora Arkus Duntov, this man was a freaking demigod amongst designers, racers, developers, and car guys everywhere

For sale, 1953 Corvette, numbers matching. 1969 classified in Hot Rod

The most expensive Corvettes, five lightweight Grand Sport race cars

In 1962 Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov came up with a lightweight version of the C2. Concerned about Ford and what they were doing with the Shelby Cobra, GM planned 100 Grand Sport Corvettes. The plans never came about and only five were built.

They were driven by historic drivers such as Roger Penske, A. J. Foyt, Jim Hall, and Dick Guldstrand among others. The Grand Sports, however, had many issues; the aero package made for a very frightful driving experience to say the least. Delmo Johnson said it was "the only car I ever drove that would lift the front wheels off the ground in all four gears." Dick Thompson was the only driver to drive the Grand Sport to victory. He won a Sports Car Club of America race at Watkins Glen. Today all five that were ever built survives, car 001-005, all held by private owners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette_C2

http://www.grandsportregistry.com/63_history.htm

The most expensive Corvettes. Two to Three million

Only 2 known ZL-1 Corvettes. Aluminum 427 engines. When tested by magazine types, one ripped off a 10.89 sec at 132 mph on 9 inch slicks.

http://www.autofacts.ca/classics/FAPC/ZL1Corvette.htm for all the info. The yellow one was seized in a drug bust for cocaine use.

A good history of the white one. Drag raced for about 2 years, then sold.
http://corvettes-musclecars.com/cgi-bin/emAlbum.cgi?c=show_thumbs;p=1969%20Corvette%20ZL-1%20427-430HP

http://www.corvettelegends.com/zl1.htm A brief and good history of the ZL 1 Corvette

The most expensive Corvettes. One to one and a half million

1967, L88, 427 four barrel, aluminum heads. 18 remain.



The L88 with 12.5 to 1 compression, hi-lift cam, 850 CFM 4 barrel carb and aluminum heads was under-rated at only 430 HP. L88s actually have been dyno-tested at 560 HP. How could GM do this without it being called false advertisement? Easy -- the publicized rating of the L88 actually was its true horsepower. Chevrolet just neglected to point out that this horsepower rating was at approximately 1000 RPM under the peak performance RPM of the L88.

The most expensive Corvettes.

Both the 1957 SS and the 1958 Mitchell are at http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2006/11/only-time-super-sport-was-ever-applied.html#links

The most expensive Corvettes. Over a million a piece

1953, 3rd built. $1.08 mil. This was a test mule for GM, things like 14 hour cold room shake testing, and 5000 mile Belgian block test.

Side bar: John Wayne bought #51, Corvettes #004-006 are the first Corvettes sold, delivered to executives of the DuPont Company.

http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/vettehis/index.htm

The first Corvettes were actually "rolled" off the assembly line. Chevrolet was not prepared for grounding to a fiberglass body; the cars would not start.

The only thing really new on the 1953 Corvette was the fiberglass body. Everything else was directly off the Chevrolet parts shelf. Because of this, the first Corvette was essentially a regular 1952 Chevrolet that looked like a million dollars!

Of the 314 Corvettes hand built in 1953 only 183 were sold because of "average" performance at such a high price, $3513 the Jaguar Xk120 sold for $3345, $168 less than the Corvette.

The rarest and most expensive Corvettes, ZL-1's

The only time Super Sport was ever applied to a corvette, thanks to Zora Arkus Duntov

The Bill Mitchell and Zora Duntov vettes. Unique beasts