The Chevrolet Corvette is one of the world's greatest sports cars, and classic examples can fetch a pretty penny at auction. Mecum auctions are one of the best outlets to find classic Corvette’s, and they have currently got this 1966 NART Corvette Development L88 for sale, a car that was once set to meant to be driven by Mexican racing legend Pedro Rodriguez. This is the first known purpose-built Corvette factory race car resulting from a collaboration between GM’s Zora Arkus-Duntov and Luigi Chinetti of NART.
The History Of This Corvette
Within Chevrolet itself, this car is often seen as the “Pedro Rodriguez L88”. It was purpose-built by the Chevrolet Engineering Center for Luigi Chinetto’s North American Racing Team. The car was originally seen as a field test car, to assess the durability of aluminum cylinder heads for its V8 engine as well as other components, in the March 1966 Sebring 12 Hours. When the car reached Sebring however, Pedro Rodriguez and teammate Mario Andretti, who were both meant to drive the car, never got the chance as they ended up in Chinetti’s Ferrari 365 P2 and the Corvette didn’t race.
More Details On This Remarkable Machine
The car though did go on to amass an amazing racing history. The Corvette has raced at Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte Motor Raceway, Virginia Raceway, Marlboro Motor Raceway, and Road Atalanta, to name just some of the venues it's raced at. Various Corvette aces have been behind the wheel, such as Harold Whims, Don Yenko, John Finger and John “Sam” Henderson. At their disposal, these men had a heavy-duty 427-430 hp L88 V8 engine at their disposal, with those aluminum cylinder heads, and the power went through an M22 four-speed heavy-duty manual transmission.
More Corvette Technical Details
This Corvette helped to establish the parameters for the production L88 model. It has the N03 36.5-gallon fuel tank, F41 special suspension, a G81 Positraction differential, J50 power brakes and J56 heavy-duty brake equipment. The car underwent a painstaking restoration that was complete in 2013, and since then it has earned multiple significant honors as it has gone around the country. The Corvette most recently won the 2020 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Grand Sport Trophy, which was judged by racing legends Derek Bell and Johnny Rutherford and it was a trophy awarded to the show's “Most Historically Significant GM Competition Car”. This Corvette is certainly a highly significant, and extraordinary, GM machine.
Source: Mecum Auctions