57 factory racer shortened steering column

[Darryl D.]

The original 12 factory racers that were built and first raced at Nassau (air box cars) had shortened steering columns. Were they just sawed off stock columns? If so, anyone have an idea what is necessary to do it, parts etc? I would like to do it to my car as it would certainly be easier to drive.

[Mike E.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

It's a whole lot easier just to put in a 58-62 Corvette column that is 2" shorter. You can keep the longer original column if you or a future owner some day wants to go back.

[Darryl D.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

Is it a direct swap or other parts required? Any idea of cost of column and availability?

[Loren L.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

What's your basic source of information on "all" of the columns being shortened?

[Darryl D.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

Several years ago I was contacted by a fellow from I believe Silverton(?) Maryland, can't recall his name. We had many phone conversations and it was evident that he had been collecting info on these cars for many years. He asked me a lot of questions about the 57 air box car that I had and if I had any pictures of it. I did have a couple of old Polorids that I scanned and sent him along with verbal info I past on to him. He knew where my old car was at the time. After he got the pictures we were discussing the car again and he mentioned the shortened column. I had never noticed it before (and actually I really could not see a noticeable difference but he said he could) and he said that was a telltale sign of the authenticity of the car. I BELIEVE he told me that the 12 original cars had them but I could be wrong. At that time I did not even know there had been 12 of the cars built for racing. Jim here on the site will know the guy I am talking about as Jim and I had communications around the same time and he knew of the guy. This guy seemed to have a lot of factory info about the cars.

[Loren L.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

I personally have never thought that the shortened column was "part of the package" but that doesn't mean anything. I am aware though that the Dick Thompson '56 raced at Pebble Beach with a 2" shortened column that was replaced by a standard column in May, 1956.

[Darryl D.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

Here is another thread I found on the subject:

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...teering-column

[Jim L.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

I personally have never thought that the shortened column was "part of the package" but that doesn't mean anything. I am aware though that the Dick Thompson '56 raced at Pebble Beach with a 2" shortened column that was replaced by a standard column in May, 1956.

Apparently it wasn't. See the highlighted text in this long narrative about Jerry Austin taking delivery of the first RPO '57 to reach the left coast:

In 1957 my friend, and now racecar collector, W*****, lived next
to Bill Thomas in Arcadia, Ca.. Thomas was a service manager at C. S. Mead
Chevrolet in Pasadena, Ca.. Bill briefly road raced his white 1956 Corvette. Mr.
Thomas became friendly with us kids, when he learned about our interest in Sport
Car racing.
Sometime in April of 1957 W**** called telling me to come over and look at the
strange red Corvette sitting in the Thomas driveway. He said " I have never seen a
Corvette like it!". I took a snapshot of the car, which I still have. It was the first
full RPO Corvette delivered to the west coast. It had special springs, shocks, and brakes
that did not come on previous Corvettes, that we had seen. This, along with the
brand new four-speed transmission and fuel injection motor, stunned us.
While we were looking at the car, Jerry Austin drove up in his Ford F150 towing
his beautiful 'D' Jaguar. Jerry had been practicing at the yet to open Riverside
Raceway. Austin went into the Thomas home. When he came out he was the new
Mead race driver. Jerry asked to have the steering column shortened before the first
race, to be held a week later at Pomona. Austin won the big production race on
Saturday but lost control of the car late in the Sunday feature giving the win to Ron
Ellico and his 300SL Benz.
Thomas then blueprinted the motor and installed a new camshaft, ground by
Kenny Harmon, to supply more low-end torque than the Duntov unit. The car
became almost unbeatable with Austin driving. Bob Bondurant later purchased the
red Corvette and really made history with it.

[Darryl D.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

Concerning the turn this has taken I will
add this. I had a very early V.I.N. 57 that at the time I owned it according to
Mike Hunt was the earliest known non-prototype car built with FI. The car was a
factory sponsored "air box" car with race history back to Nassau. This car was thought to be
very likely the car numbered 3 or 4 at Sebring from everything I have been able to gather.

This car was sold to Tim Partridge of the Chicago area and I believe later
owner of Lectra Limited the repo wiring harness company. As I was told later Tim
restored the car to the Sebring race era and I "think" numbered it "3." This
later would seem to be an incorrect representation of the car but I believe
(last I heard) is the way it exists today and likely still in the hands of a
secretive collector in Ohio.
According to the guy in Maryland I referenced
earlier in this thread, he thought my car was originally A
car Jim Jefford ended up with by way of Dick Doane Chevrolet. This all made
sense to me as the furthest back we could trace the cars history was that it was
purchased at the race track in Elkart Lake, Wisc. which was Jefford's home away
from home. The guy from Maryland said my car was raced at Nassau in 1956 which
was before Sebring. It is more likely in my opinion that my car was a practice
or "mule car" due to the low V.I.N. and the fact that is what Mike Hunt always
referred to it as.

Here is some more info regarding the shortened
steering column:
"and a shortened steering column" which you will see
comes from the article in this link:

https://vette-vues.com/2016/01/1957-corvette-convertible-sebringdaytonanassauracer/

[Loren L.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

To muddy the waters further, the removal of the shortened column from Thompson's '56 may be due to Dick's request, rather than an engineer's recommendation. My information also indicates that 2 SEDCO (Atlanta) FI cars that ran in Nassau were used as practice cars at Sebring; items were tested on these cars and if deemed workable, installed on the 2 newer cars that were actually in the race. The 2 practice cars were subsequently transported to Texas and provided to J.E. "Eb" Rose for use in the 1957 season along with the SR-2 raced at Sebring that arrived after the race.

[David B.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

Very familiar with '56 shortened steering column. At one time owned several. Short History: Originally made in early 1956 by Chevrolet Engineering for the 4 cars being prepared for Sebring. They can be identified by 5 numbers approx. 1/2" high heavily stamped on the side of the steering gear housing, yellow paint shows inside these stamped numbers. The outer column was cut, sectioned and re-welded about 8" from the bottom of gear housing (have 3 great photos). Very neat workmanship.
As Mike indicated it is not necessary to go through all this work when any 58-62 column is the same length and can be easily substituted.
This was one of several parts developed at Sebring in 56 that eventually went into production.
"SHORT STEERING COLUMN" was actually listed as an option for the 56 Corvette. The original list of all these HD options announced in 56 to satisfy SCCA is an extremely rare document and was very low key

[Richard T.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

Columns show up all the time on e bay. Probably because of the resto mod craze. I think they run around $300.00

[Darryl D.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

You can buy a brand new one from Corvette Central for $200.

[Mike E.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

You can buy a shaft and tube for $200. Not a whole steering column.

[Darryl D.]

Re: 57 factory racer shortened steering column

This is what you get for $200.

http://www.parts123.com/corvettecentral/dyndetail.pta?catalog=0000050e&ukey=30824

housing, blinker, horn contact and steering wheel hub are not part of the column and If you have an existing car/column you already have those things.