Chevrolet Corvette Big Brake Airbox 1957, Estados Unidos
Motor : 283 CI
Exterior : Preto e Prata (Onyx Black and Silver)
Interior : Vermelho
Fotografia
Histórico do carro (em inglês) :
HIGHLIGHTS
·
The earliest known Airbox Corvette, completed May
15, 1957
·
1 of 43 Airbox Cars produced, 1 of 22 known to
exist
·
Bloomington Gold Special Collection 2007
·
Bloomington Hall Great Hall Inductee 2010
·
Multiple NCRS Top Flight awards
·
Award of Distinction at 2008 Ault Park Concours
d'Elegance
·
Featured in one hour documentary 'One of a Kind',
originally airing on Velocity in 2012
·
Featured in 'Corvette in the Barn' by Tom Cotter
·
Letter of verification penned by Jack Knab
·
Purchased new by Bill Howe of Middelton, Ohio
·
Driven almost directly from St. Louis to the SCCA
race in Cumberland, Maryland, finished in 3rd place
·
Ran full schedule of SCCA races in 1957
·
Comprehensive restoration completed by Joel Lauman
·
Fuel injected 283/283 HP V-8 engine
·
Engine date code of May 2, 1957
·
4-speed manual transmission
·
Heavy Duty Racing Suspension
·
8,000 RPM column-mounted tachometer
·
Radio and heater delete
·
Special Delco 908-series distributor
Completed on May 15, 1957,
this multiple-award-winning 1957 Chevrolet Corvette, Serial No. 4007, is the
earliest known “Airbox” Corvette and one of only 43 produced. After the
completion of a professional restoration by Cincinnati, Ohio, Corvette restorer
Joel Lauman in 2007, the car was selected for that year’s Bloomington Gold
Special Collection; in 2008, it won the Ault Park Concours d'Elegance Award of
Distinction, and in 2010, was inducted into the Bloomington Gold Great Hall as
one of the most significant cars in Corvette history. The accolades did not
stop there; it has earned multiple NCRS Top Flight Awards and was featured in
“The Corvette in the Barn” by noted automotive author Tom Cotter. In 2012, its
fascinating story was chronicled in a one-hour Velocity television documentary,
“One of a Kind.”
Lauman had long known of the
car’s existence, but until he arranged its 2004 sale to his friend Bill
Connell, was unaware of its historical significance. Before commencing the
car’s restoration, Lauman and Connell asked former GM engineer and
fuel-injection expert Ken Kayser to perform a forensic examination, after which
Kayser—with a number of other Corvette experts, including Joe Trybulec and Jack
Knab—determined that it was in fact the pilot car for the Airbox induction
system introduced on 1957 Fuelie Corvettes; Knab later penned a letter of verification
to document that finding.
Based on lessons learned at
the 1957 season-opening Daytona and Sebring races, the Airbox option package,
designated RPO 579D, was provided with the Duntov-cammed, Rochester
fuel-injected 283/283 HP V-8. It incorporated a fiberglass intake plenum on the
driver’s-side inner fender. Fed by an opening in the radiator bulkhead, it
channelled cooler, denser outside air through an internal filter and along a
rubberized duct to the Rochester fuel-injection unit for maximum output. This
racing-purposed system was available only with the new BorgWarner 4-speed
manual transmission (the first 4-speed offered by Chevrolet), a
steering-column-mounted AC tachometer driven by cable from a specific Delco
908-series distributor and radio/heater delete, which eliminated the need for
ignition shielding beneath the hood and allowed the ignition wires to be more
directly routed to the spark plugs.
Because the 43 Airbox
Corvettes were almost all destined for competition, they were also built with the
RPO 684 Heavy Duty Racing Suspension package. Known simply as the “Big Brake”
option, it comprised heavy-duty front coil and five-leaf rear springs,
heavy-duty shocks, metallic linings inside finned brake drums, internal fans to
draw air in through screened backing plates, a heavy-duty front stabilizer bar,
fast steering adapter and “elephant ear” front brake scoops. The same
under-hood ducting in the Airbox system was employed to channel cool air to the
rear brakes through tunnels in the rocker sills.
Middleton, Ohio, Chevrolet
dealer and racer Bill Howe had ordered his Airbox Corvette in January 1957 at a
special SCCA event where GM announced the car’s development. After months of
waiting, Howe finally flew to the St. Louis plant to take delivery just days
before the Cumberland, Maryland, road races. Driving almost directly to
Cumberland with just two hours’ rest, Howe drove the car to third place behind
Dick Thompson and Carroll Shelby, both driving similarly equipped Corvettes.
Howe raced the Corvette
through the remainder of the SCCA season while also contributing to the
factory’s development of racing-purposed sintered metallic brake linings
scheduled for introduction in 1960. After Howe sold Serial No. 4007, it changed
hands a couple times before a friend of Joel Lauman, an Ohio farmer and drag
racer, purchased it in the early 1970s with plans to restore it. Three decades
later, that honor fell to Lauman, whose persistence and dedication paid off in
the discovery and resurrection of this historically important milestone
Corvette.
RPO 579E
'AIRBOX' OPTION
•283 fuel-injected engine with unique cold-air
intake system
•8,000-rpm tachometer relocated to the steering
column
•Heavy-duty right-side engine mount
•Heater and radio were mandatory deletions
•Revised spark plug wire routing without
regular-production shielding
RPO 684 HEAVY-DÚTY
RACING SÚSPENSION 'BIG BRAKES' OPTION
•Heavy-duty, higher-rate coil springs and shock
absorbers in the front suspension
•Larger-diameter front stabilizer bar
•Additional leaf spring and heavy-duty shock
absorbers in the rear suspension
•Quicker-ratio steering
•Finned cast iron brake drums with metallic
linings
•Vented brake drum backing plates
•Brake-cooling air scoops and ducts
•15 x 5-inch steel wheels
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