3 C1 Questions

[Dana B.]

Over the last Decade , I have shown our '57 at several events.
The 3 most common question I get from the general public (and I'm not sure what the answers are...)
#1... "how fast will it go ?" Any one know the top speed of a stock '57...
#2... "how many "57 are left ?" 308 '57's are registered on the C1 registry web site (I know there's more '57 around) any educated guesses ?
# 3... Is the first and last 1957 Corvette accounted for ?
I have seen serial #1 , any one know if #6339 is alive ?
If you can answer all 3 you get a prize .
Dana

[Bruce B.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

Dana,
I think it is time for you to start a thread about 57 Corvettes.
Have you seen Mike Hunts daya although it is very old?
Have a Happy New Year.
Bruce Bursten

[Richard M.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

"If you can answer all 3 you get a prize ."

I ca answer all 3, but if they're all the wrong answers....do I still get a prize?

[Todd H.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

1. Most magazine testers of the time cite 132 as the top speed for a '57 Corvette. That was probably with a 3 speed and a 3.70. Some writers claim that high horse cars with 3.70s and a four speed could reach 140-150 in stock form.
2. Nobody knows. I'm guessing at least half of the cars are gone, but that there are more than 2000.
3. I've never heard of anyone claiming to own #6339, but NCRS has a lot of members that know the cars better than me. I know 6338 well, as it is very much alive and is a well-known ex-racer. I see someone on the C1 Registry says they have #6401. Sure.

[Richard H.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

#2 intrigues me. Mike Hunt's old data showed over 1500 cars he found, done pre-internet. Once in a while I'll pull out the list and see if some of the '57s for sale online are on it. Usually for every car found on the list, there is one that's not. Sometimes it will be more like 2 to1, (for every car on the list, there will be 2 that are not). Very unscientific, but kind of telling. My '57 is on the list, but two cars that are within 25 miles of me are not. Just my opinion, but I believe that half or more of them have probably survived.

[Duke W.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

The Duntov-cammed engines' top speed is rev-limited being as how the tallest OE axle is 3.70; 760 rev/mile OE tires times 3.70 equals 2812 revs at 60, and 6500/2812(60) = 138.7, assuming those engines can achieve redline, which, if in proper working order and tune they probably will. Call it 140. With taller gears they might make 150. The 220, 245, and 250 HP engines probably won't pull more than about 5000, maybe 5500 on a good day. You do the math.

Back then the speed limit on most highways was 55 MPH. Top speed was not as important in the USA as in Europe where a lot of highways had no speed limit.

Americans placed more emphasis on quarter-mile acceleration. You can search for road tests on the Web, but I recall that a '57 283 HP FI engine with a 4:11 (or maybe it was a 4.56) axle was tested in the low 14s and nearly 100 MPH. It was probably the quickest "showroom stock" American car of that era.

Duke

[Todd H.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

Duke, my 579C ran 12.77 at 104.52 to establish a track record at San Fernando on June 8, 1958. It was classified C-Sport. It had been converted to a 4 speed with it's original 4.11 posi and stock tires. The original owner had added traction masters to avoid wind-up. The engine might have been balanced and blueprinted at it's original dealership, CS Mead of Pasadena, but the original owner said he regularly exceeded 7000 rpm and it never came apart. My car with the 3.70 would have been somewhere above 140 top speed, not that I'll ever try it.

[Todd H.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

[Edward M.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

One of the "interesting" things about Mike Hunt's data is the "before and after". There is a 57 in Mike's data that was listed as an original 250 FI, powerglide (with correct engine pad stamp), copper / beige car.

A year or so ago a 57 original 283hp (with correct engine pad stamp), 4 speed, black / red interior car sold (I think on Ebay).

Amazingly enough, both cars had the same VIN number. Two completely different cars with the same VIN number has got to be pretty rare.

I wish I could convince the powers that be that going after Mike's data (at Kettering University) is a worth while goal.

[Duke W.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

Duke, my 579C ran 12.77 at 104.52 to establish a track record at San Fernando on June 8, 1958. It was classified C-Sport. It had been converted to a 4 speed with it's original 4.11 posi and stock tires. The original owner had added traction masters to avoid wind-up. The engine might have been balanced and blueprinted at it's original dealership, CS Mead of Pasadena, but the original owner said he regularly exceeded 7000 rpm and it never came apart. My car with the 3.70 would have been somewhere above 140 top speed, not that I'll ever try it.

I believe it, especially when built to the limits of "NHRA stock", which can be a far cry from "showroom stock".

Case in point the early Z-28. Off the showroom floor with the standard 3.77 axle they ran the quarter in the low to mid-fifteens at low to mid nineties, which was not that fast for the era. That torque-shy big-cammed 302 had a tough time getting over 3500 pounds (with driver) moving.

But NHRA "stock" allows headers and open exhaust that the high overlap 30-30 cam was very responsive to. In addition deck heights could be milled down to minimum blueprint height and the heads could receive a "cleanup cut". This raised the compression to something at least equal to if not a little more than the advertised 11:1. In addition, even though you couldn't do any serious head massaging, you could do a minimum seat width valve job, and I have no doubt some guys got away with some interesting rules interpretations that the teardown inspectors may have missed.

Throw in a 5.38 axle and slicks with a useable power bandwidth to well over 7000 and you have a 12-second machine at well over 100 MPH.

I don't think the magazines got a faster quarter-mile time than a '57 283 FI until the '65 396 because that '57 was the lightest Corvette ever produced. They've gotten heavier ever since.

Duke

[Dana B.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

Yup, Richard ..... answer all 3 you could get a prize !

[Mark B.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

Does anyone have a copy of Mike Hunts 57 list?

[Bruce B.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

The Mike Hunt "survivor list" data, which I have lists E57S100513 as a red car and that's all the info.
I looked through the owners data list and did not find it.
I will look again.
Bruce B

[Bruce B.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

Went bthrough the Mike Hunt data and found no other references to 513.
Bruce B

[Mark B.]

Re: 3 C1 Questions

Oh, ok. Thanks for the info. Well it's been red for a long time based on how the paint looks, but it's black underneath, so I assumed it would have listed as Black. Interesting.