Ryan had a great post about the 1957 Corvette SS a while back,* and I recently found more pictures of the entire racing team in action at the 12 Hours of Sebring. This was General Motors first year o... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Here's the link to Ryan's JJ entry in case anybody wants to see the video. I know it was buried by the server problems they had a couple weeks ago. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=13059 But back to it, I want to know more about these '57 Aluminum Heads? Any idea where I can stumble on a pair haha!!!?? These are my favorite year corvettes and even though some of those were special bodies I just love them all. Really to me that's a perfect time in racing over all. Love eating up anything I can about that era. Thanks Jive!
good to see some vette stuff here. I have a 63' convt. and I find that most "vette guys" are not people that i want to be around. Keep it up!
Great story, owning a 56 I really appreciate the article. The reference to "vette guys" may hold true to the C4 to C6 owners. Thanks for sharing, very enjoyable.
You will find that most groups have "those guys"- Vette guys, Mustang guys, Mopar guys, etc. Here, however (and thankfully), you will simply find guys with Vettes, Mustangs, Mopar, etc- it's a great crowd we have here at the HAMB!!!
Zora was the man! Those had to be some amazing times back then. It makes me sick to think of what GM has become today, especially when you look at what it was is the 50's.
Sorry to get off topic... what is that silver thing in the background of the #1 Vette in the first picture? looks like couple of planes but... ?
Not a 'vet guy (what ever that is) having a RPU made up of various bits dating from '27 to '47, but I love the fact that to race in the 24 hours of La Monds [sorry no habla francis] the current production Corvetts have to be de-tuned almost 180 HP! If only my flat motor would make 180.
Jeffery James, those aluminum heads were recalled if memory serves me. I think they overheated. I've heard of a few sets surviveing, and saw a NOS pair at Carlisle years ago. They were THAT NOS that they were never machined, no valve seats or guides.
You are correct Doug- there were reportedly a few pairs that got out/leaked out, but that's about it.
I'm with 'ya, Sled................WTF IS THAT??? I know one thing, the Vette's are pure car porn sugar candy!
Sebring is my old stomping grounds. Many an old aircraft met its fate at Sebrings WWII B-17 base when I was around in the 70's and 80's. The aircraft in the pic looks to be a Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar" that wouldn't have been that old in 57. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw_gkzEZKu0 Suspension failure is no surprise when the racecourse was still using the main runway as I saw 2 inch or more mismatches on the concrete sections in the 80's and they where running at 200 mph through that section then. They tried to smooth them with asphalt but most of the time it just chunked out before the race was half over.During my time there much clandestine activity with cobbled together old transport planes and treetop flyers. Pic below is a Constellation ramp queen that I ended up salvaging in the mid 80's.Even had a Howard Hughes entry in the logs... Should have hung on to that.Wish I had been around to see those early Vettes run.
Awesome, thanks for the links! Should find footage of the 1956 Sebring race where the first Corvette ever to race ran...
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