Avtorentacar.com presents you “Corvette History — Chevrolet’s Corvette SS Could Have Been a Contender”, an article written by David Bellm. We hope you’ll find a lot useful information in here.
Avtorentacar.com will present you every article we find interesting and educating, and which has no copyright protection. If available we’ll link the source.
It was a classic story of a promising car that didn’t have a chance to really prove itself. And from it was born one of the more significant legends of Corvette history.
The Corvette SS began in 1956 as a pet project of General Motors’ styling director Harley Earl, who wanted Chevrolet to take on the big names in international endurance racing. Earl’s initial idea was to design a racy body, drop it onto a Jaguar D-Type chassis, and swap the Jag’s six for a Chevy V8.
| Avtorentacar recommended article: Truck Wash Business on the Intercontinental Highway System Perhaps you have heard they are planning to build an Intercontinental Highway system, which goes through Texas and starts in Mexico and will go all the way to Canada. This is part of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Canadian-American free trade agreement. It makes sense to have our economies working together rather than working apart and causing trade wars. It will be just like a many European Union only it will be a North American free trade union, which should help all three countries including our own. Now then would it be a great place to put a truck wash on a gigantic highway Intercontinental tollway system? It seems when they build the giant Toll Way - Intercontinental Highway from Mexico to Canada thru Texas that someone might be able to build another truck wash on that road. That is to say if you can get in with the right group of folks and Texas kind of works that way any how. |
But that notion wouldn’t do for Corvette engineering guru, diehard racing fan Zora Arkus-Duntov. When he heard of the plan, he pushed for an all-new chassis design that would incorporate ambitious engineering concepts. Duntov’s arguments won out, if for no other reason than the fact that the D-Type’s main structure was a monocoque configuration and therefore had no separate frame to drop any sort of body onto.
To save time, Duntov purchased a Mercedes-Benz 300SL frame and from that drew much of the inspiration — if not verbatim design elements — for the Corvette SS’s structure. To this platform, he added a race-prepared 283-cid Chevy V8, a de Dion rear axle, and an experimental braking system.
The car’s hasty debut was the 12 Hours of Sebring, in early 1957. Juan Fangio and Stirling Moss had initially agreed to pilot the car in the race, but development delays plagued the car, giving the superstar drivers second thoughts. These misgivings proved well founded — replacements John Fitch and Piero Taruffi battled a number of gremlins from the very beginning of the event, and were forced out after just 23 laps.
The SS nonetheless showed considerable promise when it was running well, and the team looked forward to trying the car at Le Mans that year. Unfortunately, the Automobile Manufacturers Association enacted its infamous racing ban before the June event, relegating the Corvette SS to being a testbed and show car.
But the story doesn’t end there. In 1958, Earl’s successor, Bill Mitchell, bought the spare Corvette SS chassis. He then collaborated with his staff to design a new body for it and he campaigned the car himself — “privately,” so as to dodge the AMA ban. Mitchell’s racer was significant for introducing one of the most beloved of all Corvettes shapes, the 1963-67 Stingray design.
| Avtorentacar recommended article: Ford Falcon: Australia's Car Maintaining the top spot among automobiles in Australia it the Ford Falcon. This vehicle has had its humble beginnings in 1960 and this has been manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in its many automobile factories in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Mexico, and Chile, as well as other countries the world over. At present, Australia is the only place where the newest Ford Falcons are being built and assembled. If all numbers in sales were combined and added up around the world, it could be assumed that the Ford Falcon is one of the biggest names that have made it big in the automobile market. Looking back at how the Ford Falcon started, history has it that this vehicle has been introduced with the Chrysler Valiant and the Chevrolet Corvair. These three vehicles, the Ford Falcon included, were introduced as compact cars. This was done so because during that time, the larger vehicles were not making much anymore and American wives and women were trying to locate smaller and cheaper cars for themselves for they found the large and bulky cars quite burdensome and awkward. Studies in the market also showed that the consumers were quite vying for a vehicle that was not so bulky and were far more inexpensive than the ones already out in the market. The Ford Falcon was the Ford Motor Company's answer to this automobile preference change. |
|
For more articles on historic race cars and vintage sports cars, along with drive-test articles on today’s hottest performance cars, go to http://www.autiv.com/. David Bellm is a seasoned test driver and automotive historian. His work has been featured in a wide variety of online and print publications. |
Keywords assigned to this article by Avtorentacar: chevrolet,corvette,sports car,exotic car,race car
| Avtorentacar recommended article: 2007 Lincoln MKZ Gets Power Upgrade Plus Fresh Face Lincoln's modifications to all-new Lincoln MKZ seem outstanding to make the audience adore the car. The latest from Lincoln was given a fresh look, Duratec 35 V-6 engine paired with a premium 6-speed transmission, and a ‘next-level' feel. This is in response to the new generation of drivers who are looking for vivacious, stunning and high-performance cars to cater to modern day driving needs and demands. Al Giombetti, president, Ford, Lincoln Mercury Marketing and Sales says, "Customer demand for Lincoln's mid-size luxury sedan has exceeded our expectations. We have taken a brand-new, well-received car and significantly improved it to draw a new generation of customers to the Lincoln brand. Judging by reaction in the showroom, customers are clearly ready for an American entry-level luxury sedan," Giombetti added. |