My Corvette : Zora Arkus-Duntov

Visitors were invited to see the restoration of the car at the National Corvette Museum Bash from April 24-26.

Arkus-Duntov's '74 Stingray restored at the National Corvette Museum

By Claudio D'Andrea

This may be the ultimate 'My Corvette' restoration story for Vette lovers.

Zora Arkus-Duntov is known as the "Godfather of the Corvette" or the "Father of the Corvette." In 1955, he was part of a team that put a small-block V-8 into the Corvette and two years later became director of high-performance vehicles at Chevrolet. He retired in 1975 and finally purchased his first Vette -- a fully loaded 1974 big-block Stingray. Arkus-Duntov changed the paint from dark green to two-tone blue and sold the car in 1989.

He died in 1996 and the car was donated to the National Corvette Museum.

Corvette enthusiasts can now see his car being restored and preserved in real time. The Bowling Green, Kentucky museum is allowing visitors to see the work being done on the Stingray.

Restorers separated the body and chassis. The frame was stripped to bare metal and rust removed before workers welded new metal into the car and sealed it with rust-preventative coating. Both front and rear suspension have been restored.

The car's 454-cid V-8 engine was removed and rebuilt, then placed back on the chassis. Restorers will keep the same two-tone blue paint scheme and Arkus-Duntov's initials on the doors.

The restoration, led by supervisor Dan Garrett, is expected to finish in August. Check out the work during the National Corvette Museum Bash from April 24-26. Click here for more details.

Arkus-Duntov drove prototype Corvettes for years during his tenure at General Motors, but the 1974 Stingray was his first and only Vette.

Before his work at General Motors, he drove a Porsche and was a winner at Le Mans in the mid-1950s. He solved an engineering problem on the Porsche 356 while working for Chevrolet and was offered a job and a new 356 by Porsche but declined and stayed with General Motors.

According to one account, Arkus-Duntov was encouraged to work out the Porsche problems because GM wanted to learn about air-cooled engines and rear swing axles.

With GM, Arkus-Duntov saw Harley Earl's prototype Corvette prototype at the 1953 New York Motorama and was sold on the car. He predicted the Corvette would be a turning point for GM and that he could help produce high-performance versions of the car.
 

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