Chevrolet has been producing Corvettes for more than seven decades, since the ’53 CORVETTE: BIRTH OF AN ICON broke cover at the 1953 GM Motorama.
How do you chronicle a legend? How do you put on paper the story of an automobile that is so much more than the automobile itself? That the Corvette has been, is, and always will be something much more than the sum of its parts cannot be questioned. Perhaps a Campbell-Ewald advertising copywriter summed it up best when he wrote for a 1970 Corvette sales brochure, “When you buy a Corvette, you buy a lot more than a car.”
You buy an image, a car that looks all hood, wheels, and tires. A car that’s eager for the open road. A car with no compromises, like a back seat for the kids. A car that says, “I believe in engines, in gears and fat tires and feel of the road. It all started with the ’53 CORVETTE: BIRTH OF AN ICON.
And you buy a mystique. A Corvette mystique that continues since Corvette Godfather, Zora Arkus-Duntov, first enabled enthusiasts to road race a Corvette with the 1957 Corvette. It was the first to offer optional Rochester Fuel Injection, RPO 684 competition suspension, brakes, and steering, four-speed manual, and Positraction rear axle ratios. But it all started on January 17th, 1953, when the Concept Corvette was revealed at GM’s Motorama Show at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. The other historical Corvette date is June 30th, 1953, when the first of 300 production 1953 Corvettes came down the line in Flint, MI.
Eric J. Savitz, editor-in-chief, GM News, celebrates the ’53 CORVETTE: BIRTH OF AN ICON @ https://news.gm.com/home.detail.html/Pages/topic/us/en/2025/oct/1017-Retro-Rides-1953-Chevrolet-Corvette.html
A longtime competitor in HSR & SVRA Historic road racing, Moss has driven a variety of vehicles, from a B/SP Corvette Sting Ray to a Lola T70 Mark IIIB (432 cubic-inch Dart/Chevy) and the ex-Peter Revson Can-Am Lola T163 (513 cubic-inch fuel-injected Dart aluminum engine).
He also owns and races a trio of important, vintage Indy 500 racecars. Two are powered by Ford quad-cam V-8s: 1966 Gerhardt 66, naturally-aspirated Ford, driven by Gordon Johncock, and a 1969 Dan Gurney Santa Ana Eagle, turbocharged Ford, driven by Denny Hulme and Swede Savage. A turbocharged Offy powers the third, a 1969 Mongoose driven by Bill Vukovich. RM Motorsports, Wixom, MI supports his racing efforts.
The Venetian Red with Shoreline Beige coves, dashboard, and interior trim, with red upholstery, SPIRIT OF ZORA ’57 CORVETTE FUELIE is powered by the highest performance engine – RPO-579C, 283 cubic inches, 283 horsepower – available in 1957. It’s fitted with Rochester Ramjet Fuel-Injection, Sebring dual filter-element air cleaner, and Duntov solid-lifter .393/.399-inch-lift, 287/287 degree-duration camshaft, and lightweight valve train. An RPO-685 B-W close-ratio four-speed and RPO-677 Positraction 3:70:1 rear complete the powertrain.
Its original chassis sports RPO-684 HD suspension, brakes, and fast 16.4:1 steering. Steel wheels are RPO-276 15×5.5-inch-wide, fitted with Dunlop CR65 Vintage Racing #204 compound 600L-15 tires. A column-mounted 8,000-rpm (RPO-579D engine option) AC mechanical tach and Radio Delete Block-Off plate distinguish it from typical street-driven Corvettes. Mechanical race-prep was executed by Tony Pardo and his team at RM Motorsports. Local Corvette specialist, Bo Martin at Martin Autobody, Bradenton, FL, detailed and buffed out the Venetian Red paint and painted the Shoreline Beige coves and interior panels.
In addition to Moss, a longtime supporter of the National Corvette Museum, and Schorr, Team Zora USA includes John Cutrone and Kenneth W. “Ken” Kayser, above, Bob Elkins photo. Cutrone is the Team Manager as well as a Cultural Attaché to Italian Food & Wine Festivals. He will be handling hospitality and logistics support for the Mille Miglia and other events in Italy. Kayser is the team’s Corvette Racing Historian. He’s a retired career GM and Chevrolet engineer, Rochester Fuel Injection expert, author, and President of Tachometer Publishing. He’s written and published The History of GM’s Ramjet Fuel Injection on Chevrolet’s V-8 Engine and its Corvette Racing Pedigree, and several books on the Corvette and Zora Arkus-Duntov. Team members are also members of Sarasota Café Racers.
The next event for the SPIRIT OF ZORA ’57 CORVETTE FUELIE will be The Corvette Story, Speed-Style-Legacy Show at the Saratoga Automobile Museum, Saratoga Springs, NY. It will share space with historic high-performance Corvettes, racecars, one of the five Grand Sports, and iconic Corvette Concept Cars from GM’s Heritage Collection, including the legendary Mako Shark and Manta Ray. For more information, please visit 
The ‘67 CORVETTE STING RAY was the last C2 Corvette. It is said that the ’67 was meant to be the first of the new-design cars, but the C3 Stingray was found to have aerodynamic inconsistencies. GM decided that more time in the wind tunnel would be required before it went into production. Thus, while the 1967 was a carryover, it became the most refined C2 produced.
The 427 CID V-8 was available with Rochester three two-barrel carburetors, called RPO L71, producing 435 horsepower at 5,800 RPM with 460 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. It replaced the L72 425 horsepower version of 1966 albeit with a different mechanical camshaft. Another three two-barrel engine was released to fit between the L71 and the L36, the RPO L68. It featured the L36 hydraulic camshaft but had the multiple carburetors. As stated, the L36 remained. The two 327 CID V-8 were retained: the L79 350 and the standard 300 horsepower units. With potential buyers anticipating the car’s overdue redesign, sales for the ’67 CORVETTE STING RAY final year totaled 22,940, down over 5,000 units from 1966. Of note was that 88 percent of 1967 Corvettes were fitted with 4-speed manual transmission and only 10.1 percent had the Powerglide automatic transmission. The remaining 1.9 percent were equipped with the standard 3-speed manual transmission and the mandatory 300 horsepower 327 CID V-8.
For the full story on the ’67 CORVETTE STING RAY, factory sales brochure, print advertisements, specification sheets, magazine road tests and production numbers, please visit OVER-DRIVE Magazine @ 
Photo by Stephan Cooper/ROLEX