| Re: GS002 Is Up For Auction |
Subject: Re: GS002 Is Up For Auction by bogus on 2008/12/13 19:20:15 Well... Let's do GS 101, then. Back in 1962, Zora wanted to take the new C2 racing. But the reality was that the street car was not the best starting point. So they went about building a totally unique chassis for the cause. The car used a tube frame with custom suspension components and a very unique all aluminum 377 ci small block. The problem? GM found out. They built SIX (yes) and five were actually sold to sneak them out of the build shop. The last one was torched. The GM bosses didn't want to violate the AMA ban on autoracing. However, the reality was a bit more frightening. GM was on the verge of being called a monopoly. They were agraid that more sales of cars would have broken the 50% threshold and GM would have been broken up. At that point, Chevy would have been spun off as an independant company. But GM did not want to lose the Chevy banner. This was so scary, it is what kept many good GM cars from being made... However, the 5 GS's were never up to snuff. Zora wanted to make 100 of them for homogolation as production cars, but they didn't and the GS was classified as a prototype. It could not compete in the same class as the Cobra, which was it's #1 competitor. The GS was also a lot lighter... about 1000 lbs less than the street C2, with thinner body panels and less weight in the frame. The 5 existing GS's were sold to privateers and competed until the mid 60s (66/67 time frame). After that, they vanished until the mid-80s when they became historically significant. They are legendary, not so much because of a great racing history, but because of how they were created, how unique they are and how rare. Each one has Zora's literal fingerprints all over it. So yes, expect one of these to go for a mint. Jeff - I was aiming at the Amelia Island Concourse that year, when the rains came... I didn't know of alternative plans for the show, so I kept going south... damnit. |
