The Duntov Corvette

[Richard N.]

This is a good example of why rare doesn't always mean valuable. These cars may be the rarest C3 Corvettes around but no one wants them. This was a case of two people getting together without having agreed on what exactly they wanted to do. It's a study in failure. It's still an interesting part of Corvette history though.

Richard Newton
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[Michael J.]

Re: The Duntov Corvette

That's a very interesting story, and I had not heard of the car before. But it is true, rare does not always mean desirable thus valuable, many examples of that over the years.

[Dave H.]

Re: The Duntov Corvette

I saw one in the mid-80s in my hometown of Jackson TN. It was a weekend night and raining like hell. I knew immediately what it was and tried to chase it down, but my 4 cylinder auto Datsun couldn't catch up (yes, it was THAT slow). Never saw it again. I also corresponded with someone in the late 90s who claimed he was in France and had one. He needed new turbos. True or not? Dunno.

[Walter F.]

Re: The Duntov Corvette

Does anyone know just how much input Zora really had in this car ? The body clading add on's seem to be just the opposite of what Zora would put on a car. Taking the pop up headlights out also seemed like a cheap custom shop trick. Did Chevrolet have any hands in this car design? It's sad Chevrolet did not actually make a Zora commemorative edition Corvette after his death.

[Richard N.]

Re: The Duntov Corvette

As I pointed out in the article Zora never cared about what a Corvette looked like. He was all about under the hood - and the chassis. ACI did all the body stuff. Don't be too hard on ACI. They did do the Greenwood Corvettes which everyone loves.

Chevrolet probably never even heard about this car. They were all about emissions and fuel economy.

GM was just glad that Zora was gone. Management's job became a lot easier with Zora off the property. They sure weren't about to name a model after him. Being Chief Engineer of the Corvette has always been a career killer at GM. Not a single Corvette Chief Engineer has ever been promoted at GM. In fact most were asked to take a buyout and early retirement.

As a GM employee the trick was to get on the Corvette group for a short time. If you stayed too long you became one of those "Corvette guys." That was the death knell.

I've talked to any number of folks from GM and most feel the only reason Zora was allowed to stay in his job was because the Corvette was so insignificant. Just compare the sales figures for the Impala and the Corvette. As long as Zora stayed with his little group of zealots at the Warren Tech Center everything was fine. Notice that he was never given any money for Corvette Racing but they gave Jim Hall in Texas truckloads of money. Jim Hall had people in his shop that got GM paychecks. The whole Can Am program was a slap in the face of Zora.

Richard Newton

[Walter F.]

Re: The Duntov Corvette

As far as the corvette being insignificant that is not the way Ed Cole saw things. He said according to the publication" Zora the legend behind the Corvette' 'Cole was a staunch defender of the Corvette ,his support according to Duntov came not because he was a sports car enthusiast, but because he understood the halo effect a car like the Corvette could have on the rest of his Chevrolet division." That why Ford continued to do the Shelby thing with the Cobra and why Dodge kept building the Viper. Heavens knows these two cars sold so few units each year it had to be the halo effect that kept them in production.