History Experimental Corvette SS

43 gallon tank? Seems a bit much. I like the QC rearend.

 

freakishly cool

 

Gauge cluster looks cool and braking system was definitely nice! Wish I could get a hold of that 283 to put in my 35!!

 

I think there is some info on that car in a book I have at home; "Great Cars From Chevrolet".

 

That's awesome!

At about 3:09 in the film clip, check out the dude who walks quickly across the foreground. He's carrying a wheel & tire in one hand, looks like it weighs about as much as a potato chip!

 

I think if they had about 20 more people working on it, they might have done better with it at Sebring.

 

That is so cool, and the rear brake system is NUTS. Thanks Ryan.

 

RootieK

Thanks for the follow up. I met John Fitch several years back.
http://www.racesafety.com/fitchbio.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fitch_(driver)

 

The movie was Clambake.

 

Actually it wouldn't surprise me if that motor was bored and stroked, Zora was always taking things to the limit!

I could'nt help but notice; is that a mustang II front end? (haha)

 

Magnesium alloy body?!



Whoa!

 

The SS can usually be seen in the Indianapolis Speedway museum. It was restored a few years ago and somehow lost some of it's appeal to me. The modern paint and interior material isn't the same.

 

I like it, the only thing I would change is the top. Lose about 3 inches and that thing would be perfect. Just my opinion, which in todays economy is worth about negative $.02 cents

 

One of the most beautiful shapes to ever turn a lap.
I always loved the SS.
Here's an illustration I did last year.

 

It was on the street in Port Arthur Texas about 1960. I pulled up next to it on Proctor street and Woodworth. It was owned by a hydoplane racer who was killed shortly afterward. His last name was Townsend.

 

i read an article somewhere the motor or one of was stroked taken up a notch from the 57 fuelie solid cammed 283.

This is bout the only movie I like from an old marathon they had on t.v. in the 80s. Watched almost all of Elvis movies that day, this is the one where he turns out to be the rich guy and the chick passes out in the end lol! I guess thats why he's driving that car.

I had an old Sonic drive-in all years- Corvette poster and remember going up to my room to find out which car it was after that ending.

The End

 

could it have been the 59 Sting Ray experimental...but in red from the movie "Clambake"

 

Man 1800 lbs dry, power to weight was there, Cool looking car think about how many things are used in the cars today. thanks for the post Ryan

 

I think this may be the one! I remember the front end lookin more like that. I'd have to see the movie again. Sure looks like it painted red.

 

You are correct that it is the 1958 Stingray only painted red but then again Ryan was correct as well. The Stingray was the mule from the Experimental Corvette SS project, so it is SS spare mule under the new red body. Somewhere I have a pic of the mule. It was pretty crude and was rebodied in1958 I believe into the Stingray (Bill Mitchell played a huge role in the Stingray and he ended up driving it for years for his personal use). The car is now silver and resides in the GM Heritage collection.

The video clip above of the blue 1956 Corvette is one of John Neas SR2 racers (SR-Sebring Racer). He owns several of these and they only built a handful. If you look in the poster above his blue car is the mate to the red Vette following the SS and then there is a white with blue stripe racer following the red car (John owns one of those as well).

Here is the Stingray/mule SS


Here is a pic of the SS at Sebring start 1957 (pic taken by Corvette authority John Hinckley)


Here is a pics of the SS in the Indy Museum

 

1957 Corvette SS XP-64



Led by the gifted Zora Arkus-Duntov, a team of engineers created this ultra-lightweight racecar: 1850 lbs, approx. 950 lbs. less than the 1957 production Corvette. The car had a 283ci iron block with aluminum cilinder heads and Ramjet fuel injection that produced 307 bhp.

Duntov convinced Harley Earl that a race car based on the stock Corvette did not stand a chance against the Ferraris and Maseratis at Sebring. GM would have to develop a purpose built racer. On July of 1956, work begins on Project XP-64, a sports/racer built for the upcoming race in Sebring. The car is named the Corvette SS (Super Spyder), or Sebring SS. A clay model of Zora's design is made, and shown to management.



The SS was developed in only six months. In 1958, after it’s racing career ended, the car was clocked at over 183 mph! Success at Sebring for this stunning racer was unfortunately not in the cards. Although the SS was extremely fast for its day, a series of mechanical problems forced it to retire after 23 laps in the 1957 Sebring 12-Hour race. Shortly thereafter, the ban on factory-sponsored racing efforts by the Detroit manufacturers spelled the end of the SS project.









An SS chassis was restyled in 1959 by Bill Mitchell, then GM Vice President in charge of Styling, who turned it into the Stingray Racer:






http://www.corvettes.nl/prototypes/page15/page15.html

 

Drum brakes for a real race car of that period? Seems remarkably uncutting edge.

 

If I remember right they were the metalic brakes with forward adjusting shoes like were used in the Grand Sports of '63. They had cooling ducts on the backing plates.

 

Magnesium alloy body and Magnesium outer brake drums. I'd like to find those drums at the swap meet instead of Buicks !
Would suck if it caught Fire...

 

The silver Stingway was raced by Dr. Dick Thompson in 1960. When I was 12-14 I read all I could about Corvettes and always loved the SR-2, SS, Stingray and Grand Sport they always appealed to me more than the bog stock vettes.

Oh and Hot Rodder and auto designer Larry Shinoda had a hand in the Stingray's styling.

http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/CorvetteStingrayPrototype.html

 

Ryan, I'm amazed that you weren't familiar with the SS. It was a Big Deal in the car magazines when it was new, and looked very promising as a real race car until GM pulled the plug on all official factory participation. Bill Mitchell bought the SS mule chassis from GM for $500, and rebodied it as the Sting Ray; it was definitely a competitive race car circa 1959-60. It wasn't entered as a Chevrolet; it was represented to be Mitchell's personal racer.

As for drum brakes in 1957: disc brakes were still pretty much a British thing at that time. Ferrari didn't start using discs on their F1 cars until '58, at the urging of their British team drivers Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins.

PS I think docc was completely correct in his post above; I just wanted to add a couple of details.

 

here's a poor copy of a 1961 photo of the Stingray at a race in California. I assume it is in Ca. as all the other photos on the roll were taken there.

Mick

 

Wow a guy with a pok-a-dot shirt. Look at all the ties. A couple of guys smoking over the fuel tank. Toxic stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just the way it should be. Great looking car. Thanks knuck from indiana