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Chevrolet's Zora Arkus-Duntov was the backbone of Corvette development since being hired in May 1953. Over the years he learned how to make horsepower in quantity. He took the first Grand Sport, powered by a race-prepped 327-cubic inch, 360 horsepower engine to Sebring, Florida in mid-December 1962. By the time the season ended in the Bahamas he had turned it into a completely different beast. As it first appeared exiting the ship, Bahama Star, it looked 'pumped'. Muscular fender flares, bulging hood scoops, wide wheels and tires and painted Mecom Racing's Cadillac Blue for John Mecom Jr. The Texas oil heir was the Grand Sport's team owner. If this projectile were a bullet it would have been fired from a .257 Weatherby Magnum; light, sleek and deadly fast.
If Chevrolet commissioned a model maker to lay up a replica for blueprinting the real racer, they would have picked Exoto. You are first struck by the thick, lustrous paint, smoothly flowing from front to rear. The fit and finish is undeniably excellent. Its realism is in the extreme amount of detailing. From the bottom, every nuance that was the
Grand Sport shows clearly. The traction bar rear suspension articulates independently. The drive train turns, and the brake calipers are proudly visible. Dual fuel pumps and full spare are seen rearward and the silicon sparkplug boots are seen launching the spark wires upward. From above, the engine bay gleams in a reality all its own. Prop the hood
open for an extended view. You will be treated to the Weber carbs, the bright linkage, wires, plumbing and hoses, complete with replicated clamps. Even the photo-etched metal radiator overflow was captured here. The trunk lid raises by the push of a concealed button below the model, to expose the spare and boasts 'Corvette Grand Sport' in photo-etched metal. Inside the driver's cockpit it is all business. A rollbar protects as the shoulder and seat harnesses, fabricated here in nylon-like material and photo-etched
metal, secure the occupants. The tire patterns are awesome and the wheels with the knock-offs and valve stems are knockout. The quality 'feel' we have come to know in the Exoto Cobra Daytona series is here; fit, finish, detail.
Grand Sport #80, chassis number 005, was driven by Dr. Dick Thompson. It saw action in every 1963 Nassau Speed Week event. To distinguish it to the pit crews, it had a broad red stripe painted on the nose. In addition, it sports number targets outlined in black, on hood, rear deck
and both doors. Good Year insignia's and the Mecom Racing Team crest are painted on the doors as well. These paint differences are the only changes from the preceding Prototype livery model.
(11/11/1999)
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