Month: August 2012

If there was an Olympic event for world class car shows, Pebble Beach, Amelia Island and the Concours d’Elegance of America (formerly Meadowbrook) would all complete for the gold medal. Any (or all) of these 3 prestigious shows should be on your must-attend list. When we heard that there was going to be Corvette vs Jaguar racing display at this year’s Concours d’Elegance of America, we put it on our must, must, must-attend list.

Corvettes and Jaguars have battled it out at race tracks throughout the world for nearly 60 years now. To commemorate this, the special display featured vehicles from the 1950’s up through the current century. Their grouping on the green golf course resembled a starting grid at Sebring or Daytona with each Corvette paired up with a Jaguar competitor.

Notable Jags included C, D, and E types in addition to a XK120. Some of the notable Corvettes included the Duntov Mule, the very first air box fuelie, the SunRay DX racer, the Penske L88, the Morrison world record ZR-1, and the Stars and Stripes L88. And, of course, no Corvette racing display is complete without the No. 3 1960 Le Mans winning Corvette in it.

The cars on display had been piloted by some of racing’s best. Names like Duntov, Fitch, Penske, Thompson, and Delorenzo were sprinkled throughout the various vehicle descriptions.

Picking a winner out of this batch of exclusive Corvettes is nearly impossible. When the dust settled the air box fuelie, SCCA national champ, and LeMans #3 car all took home a coveted Concours ribbon with that famous white and blue 1960 Corvette claiming the best-in-class honors.

Below is a gallery of from the 2012 Conours d’Elegance of America’s Corvette vs Jaguar display.

Related:
[PICS] Norway’s Corvette Club Celebrates 20th Anniversary
[PICS] RPO B2K: The 25th Anniversary Callaway Corvette at Bloomington Gold
[PICS] Eyeson Design Show Celebrates 25 Years with a Collection of 25 Silver Corvettes

 

We told you a few days ago about the mayor of Logansport, Indiana and his parking fiasco outside the City Building.

You may remember that Mayor Ted Franklin went ahead and paid a $20 ticket for parking his bright yellow C5 Corvette convertible illegally outside the building for a few hours but got even with a political foe by soon creating a huge reserved parking spot for himself, complete with a “Mayor Parking Only” sign, claiming it would help him do a better and more efficient job for the taxpayers.

Well, it seems that the mayor, after being bombarded by the national media and finding that he was spending too much time defending his decision to reporters and citizens, has had a change of heart.

He’s turned his 400-square-foot reserved parking space into a handicapped spot instead.

Franklin admits he was getting less work done because of all the phone calls and e-mails about the reserved parking spot. Now he says it’s time for him to “grow up” and instead focus on the “true needs (of the town) and stop playing the game.”

The mayor’s decision shows the power of the Internet. In the old days, no one outside his little town would probably have known what he did. Nowadays with blogs and websites and other instant media, a story can grow legs no matter if it is outside the spotlight of big cities like New York and L.A.

Source:
Jalopnik

Related:
Indiana Mayor Fights Police Department After His Corvette Receives a Parking Ticket
Corvette Club Pays Tribute to the Late Former Kentwood Mayor Richard Root
[ACCIDENT] Pickup Truck Lands on a C5 Corvette in Rural Indiana Crash

 

If you’ve had the opportunity to watch The Quest, the documentary about the 3-car team of 1960 Corvettes fielded by Briggs Cunningham in the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans and the search for those three cars years later by collectors, you would know that the No. 1 Corvette had been lost and its current whereabouts were unknown.

Until now.

Lance Miller, co-owner of Carlisle Events and owner of the Briggs Cunningham No.3 1960 Corvette, made the shocking announcement on Facebook yesterday stating that the #1 Le Mans Corvette Racer had finally been discovered and would be displayed in its current “Barn-Find” condition at Corvettes at Carlisle later this month.

CorvetteBlogger spoke exclusively with the new owner of the No. 1 Corvette yesterday who likened the discovery to that of a parent finding a long-lost child. The new owner, who currently wishes to remain anonymous, had planned to make the announcement at Corvettes at Carlisle, but news of the “barn find” hit the internets yesterday which prompted Miller’s facebook announcement.

Larry Berman of the Briggs Cunningham website told Autoweek that the Corvette was found in a warehouse on the west-central coast of Florida where it had been sitting there since the mid-70s. The previous owner had rescued the Corvette from a scrap yard in Brooksville, Florida before putting the car into storage. He passed away a few years later and ownership of the warehouse and its contents went to his son.

At this time, we do not know if the father or son knew of the Corvette’s racing history and its significance as one of the first Corvettes to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Four 1960 Corvettes were entered in the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans. Three of the cars were part of the Briggs Cunningham team (sporting the numbers 1, 2, 3) and the No. 4 Corvette was entered by Camoradi USA. This was the first Le Mans race for Corvettes and the outcome would become part of the lore of Corvettes that is still celebrated today.

The No. 1 Corvette was driven in the 24 hour race by Briggs Cunningham and Bill Kimberley. During just the second hour of racing, Kimberley skidded off-course during a light rain shower and rolled the Corvette. The accident sparked a fire in the engine compartment and the car was retired from the race. The No.2 Corvette with Dr. Dick Thompson and Freddie Windridge also failed to finish the race and was retired with just 4 hours remaining. The No. 3 Corvette with John Fitch and Bob Grossman finished the 24 Hour race first in its class and eighth overall.

Following the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Corvettes were shipped back to the United States where they were converted back to their original street configurations and sold.

We’ll have more on this historic barn-find later when we attend Corvettes at Carlisle later this month.

Sources:
Autoweek
Sports Car Digest
BriggsCunningham.com

Related:
The Quest Documentary is Now Available on DVD
[VIDEO] 1960 #3 Le Mans Corvette Historic Return Documentary Trailer
[VIDEO] Rare 1960 GM Film Documents Corvette’s First Visit to Le Mans