Sold 1965 Chevrolet L-88 Prototype 2146372531 Tweet

Click here to view high resolution photos Zora Arkus-Duntovs personal test prototype First ever Corvette with RPO-L88 Spawned Four Kings Corvettes built for Roger Penske, Don Yenko, Pedro Rodriguez, and Steve McQueen First St. Louis Corvette with 427 Mark IV V-8, M22 COPO 4 speed transmission, Heavy Duty brakes and Kelsey-Hayes proportioning valve Zoras only mid-year Corvette with his favorite 6-shooter tail lights A.O Smiths perfect O base dimensioned 1965 Corvette frame One and only Corvette with prototype Fish-Mouthed headers and side pipes Zora Arkus-Duntov, the legendary engineer and Father of the Corvette, had a relentless passion for speed and high performance. He joined General Motors in 1953 and quickly set his sights on making the Corvette a force to be reckoned with on the track. His dream was to create a car that combined all the best features from his previous projects, resulting in a true American racing machine. The car, known as 58053, was the first St. Louis-built Corvette equipped with the powerful Tonawanda Mark IV L88 engine. This legendary vehicle marked the culmination of years of experimentation and development, drawing inspiration from Zoras previous creations, including the CERV I and II and the Corvette Grand Sports. The primary purpose of 58053 was twofold: first, it served as a test vehicle for the L88 engine and transmission, and secondly, it aimed to validate the covertly engineered enhancements provided to the Field Test drivers. Zora did not settle for merely supplying L88 427-powered Field Test cars to racing teams; he aimed to take a step further and equip them with even more high-performance equipment. One of the initial modifications tested on 58053 was a nine-piece tubular exhaust header and collector pipe, but it was quickly abandoned due to its high manufacturing costs, leaving only blueprints as evidence. Instead, Zora and his engineers developed a high-performance cast iron exhaust manifold that could work with either the standard or off-road side exhaust. Numerous other enhancements were made to 58053, including a larger spare racing wheel and tire assembly resembling the 1963-65 production spare tire hub, a heat exchanger for the radiator inspired by the Grand Sports, and a vented clutch housing. Although these modifications received Production Part Numbers, they were never officially put into production or sold by the GM parts division. During the same period, Zora and his Corvette development engineer, Bob Clift, mounted a cowl-induction prototype 1966 Mark IV hood on the car. Persistently, Zora remained dedicated to his goal of equipping the L88 with aluminum heads, just as he had envisioned from the start. After Grand Sport 003 failed to meet expectations at Sebring in 1965, Zora transformed 58053 into an all-out Lightened Sebring Type test car. Clift remained its development engineer and test driver. Zora thoroughly enjoyed the process of modifying the car, hand-selecting the best trick features like a kid in a candy store. The 1965 body was replaced with a new 1966 body-in-white, a new rock crusher four-speed transmission, and a big tank 36-gallon gas tank. The car was also equipped with top-of-the-line Heavy Duty equipment, including Z06 chassis components, a 3.08 rear axle ratio, a roll bar (similar to Grand Sport 004), four-inch exhaust, and aftermarket American Mag wheels with racing tires. Heavy Duty suspension parts, such as a front sway bar and tricked-out A-arms, were borrowed from the CERV II test car and produced by Logghes Competition Products Division. To improve performance, all non-essential components were removed to lighten the car. The development of 58053 continued throughout the 1965 model year, with continuous updates during Field Testing involving the latest