Chevrolet has used the Grand Sport name in recent decades for various high-performance production versions of the Corvette. But the legend of the Grand Sport began—and almost ended—in 1962, when legendary Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov set about creating a sports car to take on the Cobras, Ferraris and GT40s of the world. Arkus-Duntov’s team fabricated the Grand Sports with aluminum spaceframes, thinner fiberglass, and powerful 377-cu.in. small-block aluminum V8s. Purpose-built for racing and with an estimated 550 horsepower to haul around 2,000 pounds, the 1963 Grand Sport was undoubtedly quick.
Even with some promising early successes, Chevrolet brass held fast to their racing ban and pulled the rug out from under the Grand Sport program after only five cars were built. They remain among the most valuable Chevrolets ever produced. The last one offered at auction went unsold 15 years ago despite a high bid just shy of $5,000,000. They are, essentially, unobtainable. If you want one, however, there is a solution: Build one! Clone, tribute—call it what you want—this professionally built 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport replica looks the part and packs a solid punch under its bulging hood. And it’s available now on Hemmings Auctions.
Technically speaking, this Grand Sport replica sits on a 1975 Corvette C3 chassis and is titled as such, but it captures the spirit of the original, with its wide fender flares, bright blue finish and bold white center stripe, a livery modeled on that of the original Grand Sport chassis #003 as it was raced at Sebring in 1964 by the Mecom Racing Team with drivers A.J. Foyt and John Cannon behind the wheel.
The body looks like a very faithful recreation of the original. Though ’63 Corvette Sting Ray coupes famously have the split-window rear, this Grand Sport, like the original racer, has no bodywork impeding the rear glass. Fixed, covered headlamps are used in place of the street car’s pop-up units. The little grilles behind the front wheel openings are also functional here, in helping vent heat from the powerful engine up front. Large fender flares are used to keep the bodywork over the tires and in compliance with the racing rules of the day. Side pipes and Halibrand knockoff wheels are also part of that authentic look. On the back of the car, just below the rear glass, sits a boxed-in oil cooler. It’s not clear with this replica if the external oil cooler is functional, but it matches the look of the original.
The big bulge on the hood of the original was to make space for an intake manifold with four Weber two-barrel carburetors on the aluminum 377 small-block V8. In this replica, that bulge conceals the big, round intake of a ZZ502 crate engine, a 502-cu.in. big-block V8 that Chevrolet rates at 502 horsepower and 580 lb-ft of torque. Some 500 lb-ft of torque is available from 2,500 rpm all the way to approximately 5,250 rpm, according to the marketing information from GM. In case the idea of a big-block Grand Sport seems off, some of the original cars were fitted with big-block engines during their original racing careers, as privateers continued campaigning the cars with GM only peripherally involved.
Additional powertrain elements on this replica include Hooker headers and the aforementioned side-exit exhausts. Power is delivered to the rear axle via a Tremec TKO-600 five-speed manual transmission. Those authentic-looking 15-inch mag wheels wear Goodyear Eagle rubber. Four-wheel disc brakes help slow it down.
Inside, the interior is not quite as authentic looking as the exterior, but the instrument panel has a very similar shape to a C2, with the gauges in their familiar locations. The builder sourced the gauges themselves form AutoMeter’s Pro-Comp Ultra-Lite line, with white faces, black numbers and red needles. Two red-covered toggle switches and a pair of modern-looking power window switches populate the center section of the dashboard. A wooden-rimmed Grant steering wheel tops a C3 tilt steering column. Minimalist racing bucket seats feature blue racing-style lap belts and a single headrest is built into the roll bar behind the driver. A fuel cutoff switch over the driver’s right shoulder marks a perfectly appropriate nod to the Grand Sport’s racing inspiration and right in line with the Spartan interior.
There is no indication of the car’s performance, but the power-to-weight ratio, while likely not as stout as that of an original Grand Sport, certainly seems ready to provide brisk speed. The seller’s notes indicate that this car, with an estimated 1,250 miles since it was built, needs nothing. It is said to run well and the finish is noted as being in “great condition.”
The original Grand Sports are now all museum pieces, likely considered too valuable to run and almost certainly not on the street. But like the Cobras they were built to defeat on the track, a replica seems a worthy way to deliver that experience with a fair helping of authenticity. Head on over to Hemmings Auctions to take a look at the extensive photography that shows what lengths the builders took to deliver that authenticity. The details abound on this 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport replica and they’re worth taking a closer look at.
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2024-07-24T20:24:05Z dg43tfdfdgfd