The One-of-Two 1957 Chevrolet Corvette SS XP-64

• Duntov’s Corvette legacy
• The Corvette SS XP-64

“Win on Sunday, Promote on Monday” was a generally heard factor in terms of racing, and within the Fifties via Eighties America, it just about labored precisely like that. Win a race over the weekend in a automotive that’s considerably linked to at least one accessible in a showroom, and gross sales would increase virtually in a single day! That notion is one thing Zora Arkus Duntov, nicknamed the “Father of the Corvette” for very apparent causes, picked up on as nicely. Within the late Fifties, he hatched a plan to take the Corvette racing, with this fabulous Corvette SS XP-64 because the outcome! But it surely wasn’t meant to be, because the challenge was canned after only one race. However, it grew to become a legend in its personal proper, and now one in all solely two ever constructed will be yours!

Together with maybe the Ford Mustang (though technically a Muscle Automotive) and the Shelby Cobra, the Corvette might be probably the most prolific American sports activities automotive ever to be placed on the street. The explanation for the Corvette’s creation lies in the truth that troopers coming back from Europe after WWII, have been bringing over compact European sports activities vehicles from the likes of MG, Healey, Alfa Romeo and so forth. GM’s Head of Styling Part, Harley Earl, acknowledged the business potential and green-lit the development of a compact 2-seater beneath the codename Venture Opel (After carmaker Opel, owned by GM on the time) sooner or later within the early Fifties. The outcome was the EX-122 prototype, which made its public debut on the 1953 Basic Motors Motorama in New York and entered manufacturing later that very same yr.

Though the curvy fibreglass physique was model new and fairly revolutionary for Chevrolet, the chosen model to place it to market, the Corvette used principally off-the-shelf GM parts in an effort to maintain costs down. Initially, it was fitted with a 235 cubic inch (3.85-litre) inline six-cylinder engine producing round 150 horsepower, which was fed via a two-speed Powerglide computerized transmission. Preliminary evaluations weren’t very optimistic although, because the automotive was deemed underpowered and sluggish, regardless of the sporty seems to be. The small block V8 definitely made an influence by enhancing its sportscar-like picture, however gross sales weren’t booming. Via small tweaks right here and there, the first-gen Corvette (often called the C1) was up to date virtually on a yearly foundation, earlier than its C2 substitute made its look in 1962.

By then the automotive had gained recognition, and gross sales have been on the rise. The C2 era is generally identified for the 1963 Cut up-Window Corvette, which had two rear home windows damaged up by a ‘backbone’ operating from nostril to tail. Produced for just one yr, it stays one of the sought-after fashions. Others embody high-performance ZR-1, ZL1 or Z06 designated variations, produced over numerous generations. Regardless of common upgrades and evolutions, the Corvette had at all times remained a front-engine two-seater sports activities automotive, until the C8 generation was introduced in 2020. It has additionally gained a repute for being a efficiency discount, providing energy and velocity corresponding to Europe’s best sports activities vehicles, but at a significantly cheaper price. The C8 era, launched in 2020, moved the engine to the again and is out there with numerous ranges of efficiency. The highest-spec C8 Corvette is the ZR1, fitted with a 5.5-litre twin-turbocharged V8 producing a monstrous 1,064bhp!

Duntov’s Corvette legacy

Now that we’ve coated the fundamentals in over 70 years of Corvette historical past, let’s have a look at Zora Arkus Duntov’s influence on what’s affectionately often called “America’s Sports activities Automotive”. Duntov was born in 1909 in Brussels, Belgium, to a Jewish Russian mom and father. The household moved round a few occasions and settled in Berlin, Germany in 1927. There he met his spouse, which he married in 1939, and shortly thereafter he joined the French Air Drive. When France surrendered to Germany in 1942, Duntov and his spouse, together with a number of different relations, fled to the USA and settled in Manhattan, New York.

From a younger age, Duntov liked vehicles and bikes, and he and his brother would arrange a stamping firm within the US, machining elements for plane and ammunition to profit the conflict efforts. After WWII was over, the 2 would change to manufacturing aftermarket automotive elements, together with cylinder heads for Ford engines. The corporate grew to be fairly a longtime title, however monetary turmoil because of a 3rd enterprise accomplice compelled the Duntov brothers to shut store. Zora Arkus Duntov additionally pursued a racing profession, taking part within the Le Mans 24 Hours from 1952 to 1955, with a category win in 1954 and 1955 with a Porsche 550 RS Spyder.

Duntov joined General Motors in 1953, after he wrote a letter to Ed Cole, Chief Engineer for Chevrolet on the time, stating that whereas the brand new Corvette regarded gorgeous, he wasn’t impressed by the engineering beneath. The truth is, he added a technical paper on how the automotive might be improved, which ended up touchdown him a job as an Assistant Workers Engineer at GM. Shortly after becoming a member of the corporate, he laid out the plans to his superiors on the best way to enhance the model’s success and efficiency, primarily within the racing applications. By 1957, he had labored his means as much as Director of Excessive-Efficiency Automobiles at Chevrolet, which was in regards to the time when the Corvette SS XP-64 got here into the image.

The Corvette SS XP-64

Inbuilt 1957, the Corvette SS XP-64 was Duntov’s imaginative and prescient and private challenge of what a correct racing Corvette. The automotive had been utilized in racing earlier than, however primarily in production-based inventory automotive kind.  A yr earlier than the SS XP-64 would hit the observe, Duntov campaigned and drove a sequence of inventory and evenly modified Corvettes all through 1956, proving the automotive’s capabilities in just about each race it entered. The SS XP-64 nevertheless, would flip issues on their head, because it was the primary purpose-built GM racecar, made doable by Duntov, Cole and Earl. GM’s intentions have been to take the automotive to Le Mans, and use different races as proving floor and shakedown occasions in preparation for the legendary endurance race in France. A Mercedes-Benz 300 SL was sourced to make use of as a place to begin for the chassis, however ultimately, a light-weight customized tubular chrome-molybdenum body was constructed by Duntov’s and Earl’s workforce.

GM put in unbiased entrance suspension, with a De Dion rear suspension setup. The automotive obtained a drum brake system throughout, with wheel-mounted brakes up entrance and inboard-mounted ones within the again, much like the Mercedes-Benz W196R. The system used an unconventional twin vacuum system (one for the entrance, and one for the rear brakes) operated by a single pedal. It might show to be a problem the drivers needed to work round within the early days of the automotive’s racing profession, inflicting locking if not used appropriately.

Energy got here from a 283 cubic-inch (4.6-litre) Chevrolet small block V8 fitted with high-performance elements that may up the facility and decrease the burden. Quite a few experimental parts have been used, reminiscent of an aluminium water pump, radiator core and clutch housing, in addition to a magnesium oil pan. It was additionally fitted with Chevrolet’s Ramjet gas injection system, corresponding to prime European race vehicles on the time. The engine’s output was about 310bhp, which was fed via a four-speed close-ration gearbox and breathed via side-exit exhausts.

The Corvette SS XP-64 obtained a correct coachbuilt physique in settlement with Harley Earl and Ed Cole. The preliminary physique was constructed out of fibreglass, with the second physique being fabricated from light-weight (however extremely flammable!) magnesium. The low-slung design options simply a few Corvette references however was primarily designed to be as aerodynamic as doable. The toothed entrance grill and facet coves have been probably the most stand-out styling parts carried over from the manufacturing vehicles.

The remaining is a slightly traditional case of form-follows-function, with a protracted swooping entrance part, a low-cut window that curves into the doorways, an built-in streamlined rollbar to raised information airflow coming off the motive force’s head, and a uniquely formed rear finish with six tail lights. The cockpit incorporates two seats, racing devices, and a picket steering wheel. The wheels have been forged magnesium, with quick-change knockoff hubs and particular racing tyres.

Each vehicles have been dropped at Sebring for the 1957 version of the 12 Hours, with John Fitch and Piero Taruffi changing Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio who initially signed as much as drive it. Operating the fibreglass automotive first, the duo clocked in cheap occasions in follow. With Duntov insisting on driving the magnesium automotive as nicely, lap occasions dropped significantly! Through the early levels of the race, overheating points prompted technical issues with the automotive, forcing it to retire after simply 23 laps (out of what ended up as a 197-lap race for the winner, Juan Handbook Fangio in a Maserati 450S). Shortly thereafter, the Vehicle Producers Affiliation voted to ban all racing applications for its member firms, which included Basic Motors and thus Chevrolet. That rendered the promising Corvette SS XP-64 out of date, and it by no means raced once more.

A complete of two vehicles have been constructed, with three extra chassis being constructed however by no means accomplished. The one that’s now arising for public sale is the unique magnesium-bodied automotive pushed by Fitch and Taruffi. The automotive itself has undergone in depth restoration and is completed in period-correct blue and silver paint. It would come throughout the public sale block in RM Sotheby’s Miami 2025 public sale occasion, on Thursday, February twenty seventh. The estimate is USD 5,000,000 to USD 7,000,000 which might simply make it the costliest Corvette ever to be offered if it could hit even the low finish of that.

For extra info, please go to RMSothebys.com.

Editorial Observe: The pictures and knowledge used for this text are sourced from and used with permission of RM Sotheby’s until acknowledged in any other case.