Yep.. it was '60. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_24_Hours_of_Le_Mans Pos/8, No/3, Team/ Cunningham, Drivers/ Fitch&Grossman, 4.6L Corvette, 281 Laps.
Check out this site for some cool Mopars from the 60's road racing....the T/A season and Scott Harvey.... http://www.autohobbydigest.com/66ta.html
Now this is a post after my own heart!! My earliest childhood memories involve my dad and his 59 Vette, which he bought in 70 for $900 and still owns to this day. And despite desperate times over the years he wouldn't part with it, which is awesome for me because I know I'll inherit it someday. Keeping with the theme though, I bought a 65 Chevy II Post car that was a factory 283. I am actually building it for my wife. It will be more "pro-touring" than vintage racer. I have a C4 front clip going in it, a 6speed, C4 rear for the back (still on the fence on that one). The powerplant though I have always wanted to build a nice high reving 302. It would have to be fuel injected for the wife to just jump in it and go...but something about the early 302s that just turns my key. And that leads me to the 68 Camaro that I just sold. It was a project shell that I was going to build as a clone to the classic Sunoco Camaro. One car in racing history that really hooked me on the early Camaro's and 68s in general. I have always wanted a 68 in my stable and just couldn't see when I would have time to build it and I didn't have covered storage for it. I just hope that someday I can realize that dream. In the meantime I have to keep working on the 29 Roadster for my dad...sucking up so I can get that vette sooner!
Kevin did the rational thing - got on the phone and called the museum... It was a '57... and pics are inbound. YAY!
As a senior in high school I had a decent job and had the cash. Found a road race 67 vette,no windshield,little plastic deflector. Roll bar,Huge flares,side pipes.427 4 speed. Had the money ($1,600.) but my dad said "no way" That's as close as owning a corvette I ever got.
i always have had and always will have corvette fever. there is just something about em. my dad had an new 80 when i was born and had it till i was 4 or something. i still remember riding everywhere in it. then i bought a 78 in high school and sold it and wished i had another one. 62 is by far my favorite year of all of them! great post, just gives me more ideas on where to find one to build. and on your idea of the shoe box nova...i think its a great one....and if you want some sort of cross between the two, you could always shed some weight with 'glass doors, fenders, hood, bumpers, and decklid and still retain a stock appearance if done right. i wanted to build a gasser that way, but a low slung canyon carver for the track would fit in just as well, too! also, a 327 is rad, but how about destroking to 302 with the injection or even some crazy assed cross ram, or hell, how about 4 webbers! m-21 muncie, aluminum drive shaft and 12 bolt with 4.11s. maybe even a rear diff from a 65 vette so it can have disks in the back and independant travel....hmmm...i want my 64 nova back now.....
I just got corrected on my story from Dad: Jay, I love your story, just a few mistakes. I never raced it til I put the late model vette under the 56 body. And the late vette was a 62, the last solid axle Vette. A 63 was the first independent rear end, then called a Stingray. A 63 or newer won't bolt up to a 56 thru 62 body. So does anybody own a 56 Corvette with a 62 Chassis??? I'd love to find his old car!
My buddy was driving his frinnds 57 vette, turned out of a parking lot a.nd romped on it . It got side ways and clipped an on coming car. took of the rear section. I worked all summer at a gas station and bought it cheep. I loved that car. Took a year or so to find a rear clip.Found a 59 . Cost more than the car. My dad helped glass it on. I was 16. So, I have it bad for the early vettes. Lot of fun in my younger years.
This old turd has been mine since I traded it for a V-8 Vega my senior year of high school(1985) I have redone it a million times and now would like to turn it back into the B\Gasser it once was but....dont know if I have the balls? I took it off the track in 2004 and it now has a BBC and 4 speed . The car was raced back in the late 60's it was red white and blue with stars in the blue on the back. But I have never seen a picture of it! Anyway... thats my nothin story.
http://public.fotki.com/VRM/corvette/corvettes_-_racing_/ Probably the coolest collections of vintage corvettes around. I checked for the one Ryan described, it isn't here, but the baby brothers, aunts uncles, and grand parents are here.. Enjoy
I've been wanting to build a road race car based on a Falcon. I guess the vettes seem too unattainable for me for some reason. Good looking cars for sure.
My first car was 62,and no I was not a rich kid. I was a dishwasher at a Denny's in my hometown and the car of my dreams ran at Wall Dragway in San Angelo,Texas (a 62). I looked for two years and found my 62 in Big Spring, Texas in 1973. My family rallied and we raised two thousand bucks and I got that car!! (One of the best days of my life!)
When I was 19, I bought a 77 corvette from my local salvage yard. Some nimrod bought it from a local lot then never made a payment. When the lot came to get he took it and totaled it. I put a complete front end on it, one door, one door skin, new t tops, and a rear clip. It was black primer,white,red,blue,creme, and grey primer! I felt ten feet tall in it as a kid! Had it for 13 yrs, converted it to a autocross racer, 450 horse smallblock. Then got married, and stopped racing it. 6years after parking it a guy with a big wad of money bought her from me. Still miss it.
Partially restored a '79 Covette...what a piece of crap that car was! (But it sounded and looked good!)
Dad's first Corvette was this '60, used in this early ad. Then he had a '63 split window, then later (after kids), a '79 (still has it) I drove the '79 in high school at times, but mostly my '69 Elco. My Uncle came back from Nam and bought a convertible '68 427 and when on to own 6 more Corvettes..... Here's Dad's '60, the car he wishes he still had.......
I still have the two shell body/rollers['59-'61] I mentioned in another vette post......... I love them and always wanted to make em a driver of some sorts. These are projects that seem to sit on the back burner as life bussiness and everything els gets ahead of them! I once borrowed a dark green with white coves/'59 from my older brother for the summer while my '56 Chevy 150 2 dr sedan was torn down.. I turned it down that fall when he offered to sell it to me for 450.00!!!!!! what a blunder..... Naw Ill just keep[ my '56 I said.... I know -Im a whack job. I must confess-I still have that '56 tho....
As a kid, I had a neighbor who had a beautiful blue 69 Vette with a factory 427, 3 deuces, and a 4speed. That car was friggin awsome! He paid like $2500 for it in the early 80's. One of his times out with it resulted in bent rim and busted trailing arm caused by the curb in front of the local police station after to much power around the corner. He also had a couple of bracket racers (OEM Big Block 60's Camaros)and would come over in one of them once in a while. After BSing over a couple of beers with my Dad, he would leave. That was always the best for me as a kid, because it was usually a HUGE smokey burnout or about a 2 foot high 10 foot long wheelie when he left. My Dads buddies had a ton of cool, fast cars when I was a kid. I'm so glad my Dad was a car guy with cool friends when I was growing up. I hope my friends and their cars are as fond of a memory for MY kids....
OH YA VETTES Ordered my frist one ,fall of 63. A red F.I. coupe black int. off road exhaust.It cost me more than a years wages.Traded my 62 Pon. 4-speed wagon,they took the Pon. on the spot,left me to drive my Henery J all winter.Drag raced the Vette,won division 5, totaled it, traded it.Since then i've had 66 396 roadster,71 coupe, 69 roadster, Devon bodied 54, my wife had 67 427 roadster.Have not owned one for 25 years. Had a 62 S.S. Nova they would be o.k. for drags.... My idea ( it will out cornor and out run a vette ) is a 66-68 CORVAIR with a mid-engine. Do the drages and road race it. Love to see some one do one now,i've got the catalog on how to do it. Hove
if these guys can do it! ......... and they did.......http://www.moparaction.com/Tech/archive/one-lap-pix.html
GM does use the american flag as an emblem on the backside of some of the body panels. See the back side of a 91 gill panel. Ol Blue
One last true Vette story: My best friend in high school was also from the wealthiest family in our end of town. His very first car was a '65 black on black, tri-power GTO. His dad was self-made man who always insisted on "the best" of everything for his family. My friend's second car was a new '68 Corvette. Black on black and his dad insisted on the best, so it was delivered with an L-88 option package! But dad couldn't understand why it had no radio or a/c. So he had the dealer add them on. We were just 17 years old, man. The L-88 proved just too radical to drive to school every day so my friend parked the Vette and got a new Lincoln Mark III to drive everyday. Yep, black on black. Oh, did I mention that he was VERY popular with the girls at our school? I've heard he kept that L-88 parked for 36 years and then sold it to a collector for Stupid Money. Fortunate son, eh?
as usual, I always the bridesmaid..... about 2 years ago, I found the car You guys are looking for as far as novas go for a customer. 38,000 original mile, white 63 Nova, absolutely the lowest optioned car I have ever seen. straight 6, air cooled 'glide, EVERYTHING delete- rubber floor mats, bench, armstrong power steering, reverse light delete, radio delete, 0 chrome except for the bumpers and grille. I mean NO CHROME. post car, and it was freakishly straight...not even a door ding. the seats still looked new. the plan was TRANS AM. we ran into the 1 real problem you can run into...the fella that bought the car really liked it. I mean really liked it. when he asked what I was gonna have to do to it to make it handle like he envisioned, and my response was "start cutting." he didn't like the idea of cutting up such a clean little car. (dammit! Why I always gotsta work on the rusty stuff?) so he sold it for a tidy profit. here's where it gets reeeal interesting. The car is still around, and it's current owner may be willing to part with it.
My first Corvette was a '64 - 327/365hp w/4:11 rear and 2 tops; bought it in early 1967 for $2700. Traded it in for a 6 month old '69 - 427/390hp w/3.08 rear and a T-top; the ex-wife got it in the divorce settlement (1985) and it sits in her garage with less than 60,000 miles on it. Call me a heretic, but I never liked the '63 split-window (or any of the 'fast-backs')
I, too, have a soft spot for vettes--my dad has owned the same '66 coupe since 1971 and that's what my brother and I grew up working on. Frame-off restoration (in our garage, not someone else's shop) from '90-92 when I was in high school. In 36 years, I truly cannot remember it ever going to a mechanic except to get an alignment, so I've learned everything I know from watching my dad fix everything imaginable on that car. We're not wealthy, so it was his daily-driver for most of my life (he despises trailer queens), and still has the L72 427 (has since been bored .030 over), sidepipes, and M-21 Muncie.
the corvette......i've had a lifetime lustafair for them. my dream is a 63 to 67. those things have reached the house-money category. so, this is what "corvette fever" looks like at my house right now. it's slow and it's brown, but, it's still a blast. i bought it for my wife this past christmas. it's ruined her. it's all she wants to drive anywhere anytime. i sold her Z-28 a few months ago because it was just sitting. so now the corvette is her daily. i really don't consider myself one of the "corvette guys". for the most part they aren't really what you would consider "car guys" ,just, "corvette guys". the corvette community is full of nice guys like most car circles, but, most are really narrow minded when it comes to classic vehicles, which i'm not. one thing is certain. theres nothing like driving your own corvette. no matter what year, engine, or color.
I started reading this and felt a little left out, I keep reading anyway, I suppose I have the corvette fever, before I knew what the fever was. =-) I put a Corvette (early 70's) steering wheel in my Nova in the late 80's. Alex.
The Jalopy Journal
