Learn How The Corvette Was Born
By David C. Atkin, Tue Dec 6th

Ok guys lets talk a little about the driving force behind the restoration business; it happens to be T. V. With all of the shows running on Discovery and the other channels the restoration business is on the rise in this country, and it's about time, we need to pay more attention to our old American cars they are an American icon. I realize that restoration is not cheap, but neither is a new car, and will it be with you for thirty years or more, or just a fart in the wind with in five years or less. I'm not bashing on the new stuff, I'm just making a point, people will go out and spend 50K or more on a BMW, but whine when it come time to fix up a piece of American history, and why, it cost too much WA, it's worth it.

 But if your building your car just to sell it, don't, you'll never make a profit, if you want to sell them, sell them as project cars, or buy cars that have already been restored to sell. You should restore a car because you love it, and it hold memories of the fun times in life, it should be a part of you, it's not just acar, it's your car, and that makes it special. It couldn't matter less what kind of car it is, as long as you love it andit's special to you, everybody likes different cars, and they are all cool to the person that owns them. I know this is a little off the normal subject, but it deserves a mentioning. We'll get back to the norm next month. I feel that Mr. Duntovhas given so much to the car world that he should be paid some homage, respect if you will, after all he did design one of the biggest bad meanest cars ever built by man kind.

You may bea Ford freak or a Mopar freak, but I'm here to tell you this caron any given day could roast any Ford or Mopar that you care to mention, an L-88 Corvette was truly an American icon in the car world. If you were to go out to race in the 1960's and you just happened to run in to one of these, and you were racing stock for stock, then you probably know what it feels like to lose a race, they didn't always win, but I'd say it's a good bet that most of the time you'd lose to one of these. Being as how Chevrolet is the most winning engine in all of racing, if you don't believe me, then spend a little time searching the net, and you'll most certainly learn something new today.

Since Chevrolet is the most winning engine in racing history, and without question the Corvette is their most winning car, well you add it up, a Corvette was nothing to laugh at, and if you did, you may be laughing out the other side of your mouth very soon. The Corvette is one of the most beautiful cars ever built by Chevrolet, or any car company as far as I'm concerned, since it's inception in 1953 it has been one of the most highly sought after cars ever built.

The Corvette has without a doubt had it's bad moments, but the good far out weighs the bad, as a matter of fact the Ford Cobra was built to put the Corvette down, but as you see it never did. The Corvette commands respect where ever it goes, don't be thinking in the you infinite wisdom that you stock muscle car can put the Vette down to rest, this is a very stupid idea, as not very many cars could do it, including the Hemi Mopar's, a Corvette is a truly wicked sports / muscle car and should never be taken lightly. This car would put its mark on the world forever. I'm going to add a little history on the Corvette that I have borrowed from the Corvette action Center; all rights to this article belong to them.

Zora Arkus-Duntov December 25, 1909 - April 21, 1996. "The Corvette was no dog anymore." - Zora speaking about the Corvette after setting a 150 mph top-speed record at Daytona, December1955. Biography Born: "Zachary Arkus" on December 25, 1909 to Russian parents near Brussels, Belgium. During his teens, Zora' s parents divorced and his mother later remarried, hence the name "Arkus-Duntov". During his early years in Berlin, Germany, Zora worked at a motorcycle shop and soon after, started racing motorcycles.

Due to the danger of motorcycle racing and his parents' request, he stopped motorcycle racing and turned his attention towards cars. In December of 1934, Zora graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Institute of Charlotte burg in Berlin where he specialized in engine development and supercharging. Due to a paper he wrote on supercharging and his many affiliations with auto racing teams, he won a consulting contract with the Mercedes Grand Prix racing team. In 1938, Zora wrote another paper, this time on the benefits of four-wheel drive and steering for high performance vehicles. The German Auto Club magazine published this particular paper.

In 1939, Zora married Elfi Wolff, a 17 year old, German native and dancer in the Folies-Bergere in Paris. It was also at this time that Zora joined the French Air Force and served in the military through 1940. Zora eventually moved to the United States with his brother "Yuri" and started a successful manufacturing company called, "Ardun Power Products" where they manufactured aluminum overhead valve heads for the flathead Ford engine. These special aluminum heads enabled the engine to produce 300+ horsepower. Several cars equipped with these heads went on to set records and helped to establish Zora's engineering capabilities in the U.S. # In early 1950,Zora moved to England and helped Sydney Allard with his racing operation and drove the Allard J2 in LeMans in 1952 and 1953. It was also at this time that he worked for Daimler-Benz and Porsche as a consultant.

In 1952, Zora came back to the United States and joined Fairchild Aviation. Shortly after his arrival at F.A., he spotted the Corvette at the GM Motorama Show, which was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. # After seeing the 1953 Corvette for the first time, Zora wrote a letter to Chevrolet Chief Engineer, Ed Cole outlining his ideas for improving the Corvette. Ed Cole and another engineer, Maurice Olley, were so impressed with Zora's letter that they invited him to meet with them in Detroit. He was hired on May 1, 1953 a san assistant staff engineer.

On December 16, 1953, he outlined a letter entitled: "Thoughts Pertaining to Youth, Hot Rodders and Chevrolet". In this letter, Duntov outlined the importance of the V8 engine and the importance of promoting the Chevrolet nameplate to the youth of America. (View this Memo) # Even though the Corvette's styling was popular, the engineering that went into the car was lacking. The Blue Flame 6-cylinder engine and automatic transmission did not provide the performance that owners and sports-car enthusiasts expected. As a result, sales gradually fell off and the fate of the Corvette.