The 1963 Grand Sport led to everything since...

[67HEAVEN]

1963 - This is when Zora Arkus-Duntov and the rest of the Corvette engineering team finally got their chance to get serious about racing. Where did it take us? Well, all the way to the today's C7.R, that's where. If you don't know, understand and appreciate the foundations that this Corvette house was built on, do you really know Corvetting? Be proud of your marque. It was built on a mother lode of history and the original Grand Sports were a massive part of it..

The Original Grand Sport Is the Great Corvette Racer That Never Was



When you hear 'Grand Sport' do you think of a 1996 C4 Grand Sport? Or perhaps a C7 Grand Sport springs to mind. Sure, but they were built on the legacy of these amazing cars. No A/C...are we men or are we mice?; no sound system...unless you count that amazing exhaust sound; no power steering...that's why God gave us arms; no automatic transmission...that's why God gave us left feet; no heater...who's a wimp?; not even any cup-holders...really?

Click here - Untold Stories of the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport #003

 

[67HEAVEN]

 

[67HEAVEN]

Everyone knows that Corvette disc brakes first arrived in 1965, right? And, all 1963 coupes had split rear glass and hidden headlights, correct?

Here's another great write-up by Marty Schorr, this time from the pages of a 1979 issue of VETTE magazine...

 

[67HEAVEN]

In 1964, Roger Penske's team took these Grand Sports to the Nassau Trophy Race.



These cars were originally built with an experimental all-aluminium 377 c.i. Chevy small-block. Once the cars got into private hands, most of them were equipped with a Traco/Chevy 427 big-block.

 

[67HEAVEN]

Coming next...

 

[67HEAVEN]

From the December 1979 issue of Corvette Fever magazine, the very first Grand Sport ever...

 

[67HEAVEN]

As you may well realize, the ownership of these vehicles changes from time to time, and sometimes the buyer wishes to revise the livery to reflect their personal memory of the racing heritage. Thus, some cars appear in different colours and striping, depending on when the photos were taken.

In any case, here is something unusual. The reunion of all five Grand Sports. Wow...

 

[Jan25]

For any Grand Sport fan, this is always worth watching... and listening to. Enjoy!:

 

[67HEAVEN]

For any Grand Sport fan, this is always worth watching... and listening to. Enjoy!:

Thanks, Jan25. Got the ol' ticker pumping.

 

[Vetteheadracer]

Saw Grand Sport 002 at the Simeone Foundation in Philly in November last year when I was working up near there.

This one is owned by the Revs Institute down in Naples, FL (used to be called the Collier Museum) and this was from Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2003.