Steve Magnante's 1001 Corvette Facts - Steve Magnante

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348-powered 1958 Corvette test cars were certainly assembled for evaluation within General Motors. But the somewhat disappointing W-engine didn’t add anything the hotter small-block 283s didn’t already deliver, except some torque and a disturbing increase in mass over the front tires. By the time the 409 arrived in late 1961, Corvette product planners had abandoned any thoughts of using the W-series big-block. But can you imagine how exciting a triple-carbureted 348 or dual-quad 409 factory Corvette engine option would have been? Alas, the world had to wait until March 1965 to sample the first factory big-block Corvette.

      143 During the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) racing and performance promotion ban of June 1957 (see Fact 229), Chevrolet canceled many promising and exciting race programs but didn’t exit the racing world entirely. Like several other Detroit automakers, Chevrolet went underground and contracted front organizations to continue performance development during the late 1950s. One of them was the Advanced Marine Corporation (AMC) of Miami, Florida. NASCAR star Jim Rathmann ran the organization, which was conjured up by Arkus-Duntov and GM executives Ed Cole and Vince Piggins and served as a link between NASCAR racers and Arkus-Duntov’s advanced engine group in Detroit. Between 1958 and 1960, General Motors paid AMC/Rathmann more than $100,000 despite the corporate ban. AMC’s efforts focused on improving the 348 W-engine for racing and also on refining chassis, suspension, and brake components for race use. The program bore immediate fruit in the form of satisfying first, second, and third race victories at the all-new Daytona International Speedway in 1959 and a victory by Junior Johnson in the 1960 Daytona 500, all of them won with 348-powered Chevrolet race cars.

      144 There’s been a lot of confusion about the Southern Engineering and Development Company (SEDCO) race shop that produced the legendary Black Widow Chevy 150 race cars in 1957. SEDCO was established in Atlanta, Georgia, in the fall of 1956 to serve as a Chevrolet-funded development shop that was located closer to the NASCAR race action than GM’s Warren, Michigan, central offices. SEDCO was indeed responsible for retailing the Black Widow factory race cars of 1957, as well as for supplying Corvette racers on the SCCA road-race circuit. But unlike the Advanced Marine Corporation, SEDCO was not a clandestine organization. In fact, because of its high profile, when General Motors elected to obey the June 1957 AMA performance ban, SEDCO closed its doors.

      145 When Advanced Marine Corporation wasn’t secretly helping land-based Chevrolet racers be more competitive, it lived up to its namesake and created engine packages targeted at small-boat owners. One of them was a Corvette 283 small-block-based marine engine that was marketed as “the Terminator.” Decades before “Ahnold’s” android character lit up the silver screen and Ford toyed with using the name on supercharged 2003–2004 Mustang SVT Cobras (19,140 were built, but the name only appeared inside the bolt-on plastic body side scoops), Rathmann’s Miami race shop recognized the inherent “badness” of the Terminator nameplate. Specifics on AMC’s 283 Corvette-themed Terminator weren’t available as of this writing.

      146 For all he contributed to Corvette’s legacy and sales, it doesn’t appear that Arkus-Duntov became a millionaire during his years at General Motors. In the spring of 1953 when he was negotiating with GM’s Maurice Olley for a job, documents show that General Motors offered Arkus-Duntov $14,000 per year with the potential to double the sum through GM’s bonus system. Considering that the average American household income was $4,011 in 1953, earning three to six times that amount was attractive. Still, the Arkus-Duntovs rented dwellings until 1956, when they purchased a lakefront home in Grosse Point Shores. The home came with a grand piano that Arkus-Duntov didn’t want. After the now-paid house seller flippantly told Arkus-Duntov to throw it into the lake, Arkus-Duntov did just that. Using an axe, he smashed the piano to bits then tossed the debris into Lake St. Clair. His wife, Elfi, looked on but saved many ivory keys.

      147 Only one year into his position at General Motors, Arkus-Duntov’s free-spirited, vagabond nature led him to accept an offer directly from Porsche to drive one of its 550 Spyder factory team cars at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Although Porsche wasn’t concerned about having an American GM employee drive one of its cars in competition, Arkus-Duntov faced the touchy job of requesting permission from Ed Cole and Maurice Olley, his superiors at General Motors, to do so. At the time, the Porsche engineering department openly sought R&D contracts from other carmakers (and still does), so Arkus-Duntov couched his request by saying that he’d visit Porsche’s suspension lab for possible ideas and collaboration on future independent-rear-suspension projects (which resulted in the swing-axle setup used on the 1960–1964 Corvair). Cole and Olley reluctantly granted Arkus-Duntov permission to go, and General Motors covered his pay and personal expenses! Arkus-Duntov and French co-driver Gustav Olivier expertly navigated the 8.3-mile Le Mans circuit for the 24-hour period to win the 1.1-liter class while also finishing 14th overall and 14th in the Index of Performance.

      149 In 1956 Arkus-Duntov filed for and received three U.S. patents for designs and components he created for the Rochester fuel-injection system. Although I don’t know the specific details of Arkus-Duntov’s arrangement with General Motors, in terms of compensation, as employees of employers, such patents don’t always result in financial gains for the holder.

      150 Messy but true: From 1956 through mid-1960, the stainless-steel VIN tag was fastened to the driver-side doorjamb, just below the upper hinge, with a pair of Phillips-head screws. To deter tampering, the slots in the screw heads were filled with resin. When the resin cured, access to the drive slots was denied, making VIN tag removal impossible through normal means.

      151 Corvette received roll-up door glass in 1956, an improvement that quieted loud customer complaints about the awkward snap-in side curtains used previously. Better still, RPO 426 delivered power window lifts for $64.60. Only 547 of the 3,467 cars built in 1956 were so equipped.

      152 An optional power-operated folding top augmented the standard manual folding top, adding to Corvette’s more civilized 1956 redesign. For $107.60, RPO 473 took the hassle out of raising and lowering the vinyl roof in case of rain. A healthy 2,682 out of 3,467 1956 Corvettes came with the power top.

      153 Snuffing out a lucrative cottage industry that sold fiberglass lids to chilled 1953–1955 Corvette owners, Chevrolet finally released its own auxiliary hardtop in 1956. For $215.20, buyers could have RPO 419, a color-matched fiberglass roof that could be installed or removed in minutes. The combination of the hardtop and the new roll-up door glass finally transformed the Corvette into an all-weather machine. Of the 3,467 cars built in 1956, 2,682 came with the auxiliary lid.

      154 Interestingly, Chevrolet knew that a certain number of customers saw the folding roof as being superfluous after the RPO 419 hardtop arrived. Thus, customers who knew they’d never hassle with the soft top could get the hardtop at no charge (a savings of $215.20). Corvettes built this way lacked the folding top and related anchoring hardware that was otherwise stashed in the area behind the seats. This was popular with road racers because it shed about 40 pounds, and 629 Corvettes were built this way in 1956. This roof-substitution option continued through 1962.

      155 A major boost to passenger comfort came in 1956 when the RPO 101 heater was redesigned to blend fresh outside air into the mix, putting an end to the stuffy atmosphere of older cars. The improved equipment triggered

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