When legendary engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov got tired of watching the Shelby Cobra and Ferrari 250 GTO steal all the motorsport glory, he quietly cooked up a clandestine weapon: the Corvette Grand Sport. The master plan was to build 125 of these lightweight, rule-bending monsters for international GT racing homologation. Instead, GM’s upper management pulled the plug out of corporate panic, leaving Arkus-Duntov with just five completed cars, three coupes and two convertibles. Thanks to those corporate party-poopers, the five survivors are now the ultimate holy grail of American car culture.
Fast forward to mid-August, and one of these mythical beasts is about to break the internet, and some billionaire’s bank account. Chassis 003, the pioneering firstborn of the Grand Sport coupe lineage, is heading to RM Sotheby’s Monterey Auction. Its California-based owner, who has held onto this goldmine for 23 years, hopes to fetch a jaw-dropping $13,000,000. If the hammer drops at that number, it will officially become the most expensive Corvette ever sold at a public auction.
For starters, it weighs a featherlight 1,900 pounds, a mind-boggling 1,300 pounds lighter than the bloated production model. Back when race tracks were dangerous and drivers were fearless, legendary names like A.J. Foyt, Jim Hall, Augie Pabst, and Dick Doane wrestled this exact car around the asphalt. It bagged three SCCA class victories, snatched second place at the 1964 12 Hours of Sebring in the hands of Foyt and John Cannon, and confidently led the Road America 500 for 93 glorious laps.
To make it even more irresistible to the mega-rich, Terry Scarborough Racing spent four painful years and over 4,000 hours restoring Chassis 003 back to its exact 1964 Sebring livery and specifications. Amazingly, the original tubular chassis, dash, seats, and raw fiberglass body survived the test of time.
The heart of the beast, however, is a masterpiece of period-correct wizardry: a fresh 377-cubic-inch V8 breathed upon by Techcraft’s Ted Yamashiro. Crowned with four original Weber 58 DCOE carburetors on an aluminum cross-ram intake manifold, this close-ratio M21-controlled engine pumps out a brutal 600 HP and 600 pound-feet of torque.
This Corvette Grand Sport will likely continue doing what it does best: winning awards, grabbing Bloomington Gold certifications, and sitting pretty with its included spares package and original pre-restoration engine.
