A fascinating piece of history (and great pictures). - Marco
> On Nov 22, 2016, at 2:45 PM, Paul Stenquist <[email protected]> wrote: > > Zora Arkus Duntov escaped Hitler and advancing Nazi troops in 1940 by hiding > in a Paris bordello. He somehow obtained Spanish visas and escaped to the > U.S. on a Portuguese ship. He formed the Ardun company in the U.S. and built > overhead-valve hemi-head conversions for Ford flatheads that elevated the > Ford engine to a world-class contender. After seeing the Corvette, which was > powered by GM’s anemic I-6 engine at the NY auto show, he wrote to GM and > told them he could fix it. He did, using one of the many unsold ’54 Vettes to > refine a powertrain. In this car, which was originally available only with > the I6, he clocked 163 mph at GM’s Arizona proving grounds. Under the hood > was a modified version of Chevy’s new V8. Much of the tuning technology that > made the car so potent would be adapted for production within a year or two. > Duntov’s work saved Corvette. > > Today, this car is part of the Lingenfelter Collection in Michigan. > Lingenfelter owns 65 Corvettes, many of them milestones for the brand. I shot > the Duntov Mule just after dawn in the parking lot outside Lingenfelter’s > museum-like garage. Note the minimal windscreen, the tonneau cover over much > of the cockpit, and Jaguaresque tail fin, which was meant to improve high > speed stability. The shoot was for Hagerty publications, and hasn’t appeared > yet, so please don’t pass them along. > > http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=18313232&size=lg > http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=18313231&size=lg > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
