Car and Driver - Iconic Cars: Corvette

Remember the fable of Tantalus? This unfortunate gent was doomed to stand in the midst of a sea with clear, cool water right up to his neck and boughs laden with succulent fruits hovering over his head. When he bent down to drink the sea rushed temptingly away, and the boughs always swung just beyond his reach. This sounds like a rough life, but its Paradise compared to what GMs been doing to you and meand to everybody that feels that American cars should be well represented in international racing.

Take a look at the machine laid out on the center spread. Its not a four-alarm advance over all existing equipment, but it is basically a good car. Given more than half a chance and some intensive track testing it could compete on level terms with the worlds bestSebring practice proved that. In view of this highly publicized fact it must have been extremely disappointing to many to hear that it wasnt to go to Le Mans. Perhaps most disappointing to knowledgeable Europeans who felt that Sebring was just a trial outing and expected a full team and all-out effort for the 24-Hours. We wont try to estimate the effect a no-show could have on American prestige abroad.

Of course, we can now sit back and see what it was actually all about. We can see that the men who built the Corvette SS were intensely sincere about the job, both as it was specifically outlined to them and as they hoped it might develop. The fine detail design and clean fabrication tell us this, as does their desire to see it compete seriously abroad. We can also see that the management of GM and Chevrolet had only one thing in mind all the time: to bask in all the publicity and excitement that they knew such a sensational Sebring entry would shine down upon them, and then to forget about it except possibly for some minor events in this country. Also, naturally, to show the world that GM could really clean up if they wanted to.

They warned us that this was all. When the SS was announced Chevy General Manager Ed Cole emphasized that it is a research project to study advanced engineering characteristics in the field of performance, handling, braking and other safety features. The word we italicized is Chevys loophole in case another Congressional committee shouts Speedmonger! This was all they did and do intend, but they led many people on for too long, even poor Zora Duntov, who will probably take some of the public blame for the defection. Even Briggs Cunningham, who was scheduled to run the SS at Le Mans, wasnt told no until a month and a half after Sebring. And mostly they led on the rest of us whod like to see these cars go out and DO something.

How did the car get built in the first place? A couple of top-level minds happened to click and the whole thing was shoved through as a triple-priority crash program with Sebring as a definite deadline. Now theres no more deadlineno place to go. The next may be the SCCA Nationals, or perhaps Bonneville. Money is available, but authorization to use it is being withheld until Chevrolet does better in this little sales tussle with Ford. Some may say that race wins by the SS would boost Chevy sales, but we dont think so. Production Corvettes might get a little more play but hardly enough to pay for the racing operation.

No, GM had every justification for handling the SS this way. We can only wish that there had been less pomp and a little more circumstance at Sebring, if that remains the only major appearance of the SS. We can also hope that the work of Duntov and his crew will be invested in future production Corvettes, since the present four-year-old chassis may be pushed hard by the new Mercedes 300SL Roadster and the Jaguar XK150. In any case the SS gives us a window through which we can see what Chevy Engineering has up its sleeve.

With only five months to design a raceable car, the SS project was definitely a rush job for GM. As a result, Duntov had to rely heavily on components which had been thoroughly tested before, and could only lighten them if possible and fit a new framework around them. Fortunately a lot of miscellaneous information had been compiled from experimentation and racing with stock Corvettes and the special SR2 versions.

For one thing, they knew pretty well what the 283-inch V8 could and could not do. When the displacement was boosted from 265 there were some misgivings about the crankshaft, but undercutting the fillet radius at the journals has kept this glued together at 7000 and up. A weak point did show up at the wrist pin bosses in the piston, which distorted at high revsnotably in the badly overrevved SR2 at Nassauand came apart. A little more meat around the boss cured that. Development on the SR2 for Daytona also led to the 40-inch tuned exhaust length that was incorporated in the SS. Racing during the winter helped to shake down the Rochester fuel injection system and determine its limitations.

Pressure of SCCA Production racing had forced the development of a four-speed gearbox, which with the use of an aluminum alloy case was just right for the SS. The iron case box, by the way, was available as of May first for $189 extra, or about the markup asked for the automatic transmission. Sounds encouraging.

The rush program for Sebring in 1956 turned up the sintered metallic and ceramic brake lining thats been used on most racing Corvettes with considerable success. Theyre fine if you dont mind replacing the drums fairly frequently and warming up the brakes before using them hard. A type of drum finning was also devised that appeared to give good results.

With these for a start Duntov had to build a light, compact car with handling of a very high order. Since time was short the 300SL frame was elected as a good pattern to follow, and the placement of the main SS chassis tubes resembles the SL very closelyNOT the D-Type Jaguar, as the rumors have run for so long. When the major members were set smaller tubes could be added for the particular requirements of this engine and suspension and to add stiffness where stress tests showed it to be needed. Big cross tubes connect the abutments for the front and rear coil springs, the rear mounts being nicely curved and drilled towers. Where parts like the brake servo cylinders are attached the frame tubes are square, to ease mounting, but otherwise theyre round and about an inch in diameter. Particularly reminiscent of the Mercedes are the pyramided tubes at the cowl and the truss structure under the doors.