Standing by his ’60 survivor with 11,870 miles on the odometer, Gary Skinner told us, “I rode in it when it was brand-new. The owner put it up in 1968 and didn’t drive it again.” All the while, Skinner waited for his chance. He grew up with the original owner Ed Graye, a schoolteacher from the little town of West Frankfort, Illinois.
“He ordered the car just the way he wanted it, with the big, fuel-injected 283 and three-speed manual instead of the four-speed ’cause he wanted to drag race it.” Of course, drag racing in those days didn’t translate to just the strip. “Just local stuff, out on the blacktop. We didn’t have dragstrips back then,” Skinner remarked. After about two weeks Graye realized he didn’t have the big (290-horse) fuelie. He had what Skinner called the “small fuelie,” rated at 250 horsepower. So, Graye went back to the original dealer, 30 miles [...]
“It’s a member of the family that lives in the garage” is the way David Cutler of Newport Beach describes his restored 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe convertible. And with good reason. His mother bought the car new in 1954 and it’s been in the family ever since.
“I can remember when Mother first bought it, I said ‘When you’re through with it can I have it?’” Cutler, 80, recalls.
Mom agreed to let Cutler have the car, but it took a while for him to gain possession. After his mother used it for some years, the car was loaned to a relative who used it for several more years while the odometer rolled past 100,000 miles. When Cutler finally acquired the car in 1980, it was far from the pristine show car it is today.
“It was pretty tired,” he says. “The paint was worn out and at that point it had a lot [...]
From the March 2015 issue of Car and Driver
Fahrenheit Z06: The Maximum Operating Temperatures for the Corvette Z06 Are Insane! The 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 posts some impressive performance numbers thanks to its 650-hp, 6.2-liter supercharged V-8. It also posts some impressive BTUs. A byproduct of that flame-breathing engine is heat, and lots of it, generated primarily by combustion, friction, and intake-air compression. These and other factors, such as the low hoodline and pinched frontal openings demanded by stylists and aero engineers, contribute to the complex thermal-management task faced by engineers working on nearly all of this car’s varied subsystems. To assure that the Z06’s maximum performance is attended by minimal risk of failure, GM performed heat-related stress analysis [...]
FLINT, MI — The Flint factory where the first few Corvettes were built fell to the wrecking ball in 2003, but for $25, you can still own a certified piece of that historic plant.
The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Kentucky, has been selling bricks from the small production facility that was located just north of the Flint Assembly Plant on VanSlyke Road for several years. A museum spokeswoman said there are plenty remaining.
Twenty-five-dollar bricks come with an engraved, numbered plate and certificate of authenticity, signed by officials for the museum.
For just $5, buyers can get Flint stones without the commemorative plates, and the museum’s Web site says special prices are available for buyers who want to buy in bulk.
“We’ve incorporated the bricks into our own building,” said museum spokeswoman Katie Frassinelli. Other buyers have used them for everything from fire pits to driveway accents.
Flint’s ties to the Corvette go back [...]
One year ago at 5:38 a.m. (Feb. 12, 2014), a giant sinkhole opened up and swallowed 8 rare and historically important Corvettes at the National Corvette Museum. The sinkhole measured about 40 feet wide and 30 feet deep and opened beneath the Skydome where a total of 25 cars were displayed.
The event garnered worldwide media attention, including The New York Times and BBC, putting the museum on the international stage. Security camera footage showing the floor’s collapse has been viewed about 8.4 million times on YouTube, visits to the museum increased 66 percent this year and revenue grew by 71 percent, according to the museum. Several visitors throughout the year said they hadn’t heard of the NCM until the sinkhole.
The cars were removed one by one and the damage was assessed. Sadly, only 3 are able to be restored (the 2009 ZR1 Blue [...]
