A one-of-three Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Coupe is expected to break the record for the most expensive Corvette ever sold when it crosses the block at RM Sotheby’s Monterey Car Week auction next month, with an eight-figure estimate for the car that put General Motors briefly, and infamously, among the racing elite.
Chevrolet only made a total of five Grand Sports – three coupes, two roadsters – already making the car among the rarest of all Corvettes. They rarely change hands either, with this example, chassis #003, landing in the collection of Larry Bowman two decades ago. RM Sotheby’s also managed the #002 convertible at auction in 2009, with a reported $5m bid not enough to see it sell.
While the modern Grand Sport badge essentially indicates a slightly beefier model than standard, the original 1963 car was a rather different proposition. Although it looks quite like a C2-generation Sting Ray massaged into a racing car, it was almost entirely reworked right down to the chassis, in a secret project under the legendary Zora Arkus-Duntov.
A Secret Racing Program
The Notorious ZA-D had already transformed the Corvette by spearheading the introduction of the V8 to the original car, and jointly led the project for the C2. Keen to improve the Corvette’s appeal, and drawing on his own experiences of racing at Le Mans for Allard and Porsche, Arkus-Duntov had designs on taking Corvette to the track.
There was one major hurdle to overcome, though, as General Motors was essentially prevented from racing due to a “gentleman’s agreement” as part of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) following high-profile accidents such as the 1955 Le Mans disaster. Other brands were engaged in racing programs by various back-door projects, but GM was also keen to avoid increasing its market share too much in case of triggering anti-monopoly rules.
That didn’t faze ZA-D who, quietly supported by Chevrolet’s General Manager Semon Knudsen, set about stripping back the Sting Ray to address the weight advantage that Carroll Shelby’s Cobras had. The result was a unique version of the chassis and a thin, unlacquered, single-piece fiberglass shell modified for aerodynamic purposes, with the whole rig coming in well under a ton. When the first two chassis, #003 and #004, were completed, they gained test miles with the original iron-block 327ci in SCCA events before heading back for the new aluminum 377ci with the full 550hp – alongside #005.
The three cars went to the Bahamas for Nassau Speed Week, running under the banner of John Mecom’s racing team, and achieved Arkus-Duntov’s goal of beating the Cobras – and by quite some margin as the Grand Sports put ten seconds a lap on Shelby’s cars.
Maybe Too Conspicuous A Victory
When Chevrolet found out, the project was unceremoniously shut down, and the plan to build 100-or-so cars to homologate it for racing came to nothing. In terms of unfulfilled potential, the Grand Sport has to be high on the list, and GM wouldn’t officially support a racing Corvette for another 20 years.
Instead of destroying the five cars as told, Arkus-Duntov let them all go to privateers who’d race the cars in the coming years, and remarkably all five survive to this day in largely original condition.
Under Bowman’s ownership, #003 underwent a sympathetic restoration, with a new 377ci V8 and gearbox, but retained its original body and chassis untouched, and has been out campaigning various heritage events since, including regular visits to Monterey.
With an estimate of $11m-$13m, if sold for the amount estimated, the Grand Sport #003 will comfortably beat the record for the most expensive auctioned Corvette ever, just over a year after an earlier C1-based XP-64 racing prototype (above) went for $7.7m.
That in turn broke, and doubled, a $3.8m record that had stood for a decade, for one of 20 1967 L88 C2s, and the only one in red-over-red.
Top graphic image: RM Sotheby’s
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