1957 Corvette Super Sport

[Michael J.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

How cool are those coves that go on the inside of the door!

This is such a neat car and story, and these kind of concept type cars always are interesting about what things did, and most did not, make it to a production car eventually. They must have been fun to design, sky's the limit for imagination, too bad so few things ever make it to the production floor.

[Peter M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Rich,
What a great story. Did all of the special one off parts have to be recreated?
Thanks for posting!

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Many of the small features of the car were eventually brought into production. Notice the whitewall width on the tires? It's about 5/8". IIRC not until 1962 did that size whitewall become available. It took time, but it happened.

There were so many custom pieces it would have been very difficult to reproduce. Thankfully, nearly the entire interior was usable except for damage to the left floor areas from the collision. The custom cowl with the 2 Plexiglas windscreens was remarkably unhurt. The impact at the left front was so hard that the entire cowl came loose. Some details below.

Most of what you see on the car today was restored and returned to the car. The side cove moldings are chromed brass, not stainless. Much of it had to be straightened after it was stripped of its chrome. This was a very tedious process, then it was rechromed and reinstalled.

The damaged original steering wheel was restored. The floor panel on the left side was severely damaged. It too was restored and returned to its original place. The damaged side cove anodized aluminum was painstakingly hammered and flattened until smooth then returned to the car. I can't imagine the hours it took to return the car to its original state.

Another area that was done uniquely in the Styling Dept, was the bumper fit. All bumpers were originally miter fit and brazed together to eliminate gaps. In the fall of 1956 after paint, all weatherstrip was left off of the doors, trunk, hood, and decklid. This was done to maintain a smooth painted surface on every opening. Notice that the pictures of the doors show none. In the trunk gutter portion of the body there are 2 rubber buttons(1st pic below) held with screws, same type used in the door latches and glove box door seat separator, all still original to the car. They are about half way up on each side. That kept the trunk lid in alignment. The original seats and their leather show age but are original from 1956.

He maintained his desire to keep the car as original as possible and that was his mindset when he restored the car many years ago.

Here you can see the rubber button along the right side of the lid gutter. Custom wiper escutcheons, spear, tail lamp dividers, etc. The crossflag emblem is a mystery. It is like no other we have seen. It can't be a 1958 up emblem, right? This may be the first crossflag emblem made? Notice the blue paint on the stock antenna. Overspray. Custom gauge cluster. The valve covers were chromed. The technology to chrome aluminum was in its infancy in the mid 50's.


More photos from about 5 years ago.



Notice the unique fiberboard cover over the gas tank and the method to hold it in place.....a fender washer. Also notice the rubber button to the left, used to keep the decklid from scratching the paint. No weatherstrip was used on the lid.


Since it was a 2-Top car originally, and since no top was used for the showcar, the Styling Dept chose to fill in the holes for the latches and Hardtop bolts.


All of the Power Top switches and hardware was left on the car in Styling.


The hole in the pillar houses the switch to light up the inner door panel lamps. We have to wire those to the fuse panel feed.


ALso note the unique trim attachment methods. Everything was specially done. Also notice the Power Window conduit. THe car originally had power windows, but were removed as no side windows exist on the car.


Here are more views of the accident damage and pieces before restoration.


The dual windscreen cowl, the signature piece of the Super Sport, was amazingly unscathed. The Plexiglas is nearly 1/4" thick.


With the decklid removed you can see the red under all of the hinge supports.

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[Eric E.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Thanks Rich,
This is a terrific thread. It's amazing that it survived after the crash.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

In my previous post I added some more detail photos of the accident damage and some photo descriptions of the custom work by the Styling Dept.

Here are more details of the restoration. This was done in the late 90's to early 2000's. It was a seven year project, part time. It has been twenty years since the project began until now and the rebirth is underway. The photos below are from about 20 years ago.

Under the custom ribbed aluminum floor pans. The Styling Dept added wooden slats under each flat raised rib of the pans to support them.


We are not sure exactly what happened to the custom wooden rim steering wheel. It was burned but the spokes were not destroyed so it was sent out to be restored with new wood after rechroming the spokes.


Another shot of the cowl resting before re-installation much later in time.


The custom center console.


When time permits I'll describe the engine and related hardware. Briefly, the 283 CI engine that the Styling Dept swapped into the Super Sport survived. The engine was rebuilt long ago and has been resting and waiting to be reawakened.

My friend has asked me to help him with the rebirth of the Super Sport. I've been tasked with all electrical functions and checks and help him with anything needed. This is very exciting for me, to actually work on the car and prepare it for test runs and simple driving tests. I can't wait.

We have some work ahead of us to prepare for the first startup since the engine last ran before the accident in Albuquerque, nearly 60 years ago. We need to add coolant, fuel, battery, etc and check basic functions before startup. The engine was oiled and protected long ago. When we do the first startup I'll add to this story and hopefully present some video imaging of the rebirth of the Super Sport.

Some more trivia. Years ago Speed Age Magazine had the Super Sport photo on the cover.


Here is the article from June 1957. I found and bought the page in print and have had it tucked away for years. You'll like the ads on the backside of the page too.

The article mentions the rear brake cooling ducts on the exterior of the doors at the ends of the coves. The Super Sport din't have Heavy Duty "Big Brakes". On the production cars with RPO 684, the cooling air came from the front and through the rocker panels to the rear wheel wells. I suppose it's possible that Engineering and Design were thinking of cooling the rear Big Brake production cars with cove scoops, but the cost factor likely prohibited that. Plus the fact that rainwater could enter the door and flood it. Just a WAG.



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[Tyler T.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Great information. Any chance there is a story on the legal war that kept the car out of sight for so long?

Tyler

[Sal C.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

What a great story about a great car. Probably one of the most significant Corvettes.

[Peter M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Rich,
It is amazing the car survived. What an honor to get to work on it. Thanks again and please thank the owner for sharing.
Kind Regards

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

My friend is very happy he can share the car now. It's been too long to keep it a mystery. I've told him about all of you that have been excited to see it and I mentioned all of you with your gratifying comments to him. He thanks you all back. We just got off the phone talking about it.

He wants to put the delays behind him and just move on now.

It's so gratifying to me that I will be working with him to ready the car for its next start-up since the last time it ran so long ago.

Rich

[James G.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

I am, so happy this car is finally being shared with the world. This is a great event for the Corvette hobby, 2017 will be an exciting year for many changes in the world. And this piece of history leads the Motorsport world of fantastic events. I can't wait to see it.

[Bruce B.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Rich,
Dale is doing fine now that he has retired from the NHRA fuel tester job that he held forever.
We exchange emails weekly.
He is a Great Guy and is an expert on NHRA history as he is part of it..
Bruce B

[Don H.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

I am, so happy this car is finally being shared with the world. This is a great event for the Corvette hobby, 2017 will be an exciting year for many changes in the world. And this piece of history leads the Motorsport world of fantastic events. I can't wait to see it.

I couldn't agree more with Jim. How great would it be if this car could be on display in San Antonio at the Convention? It's the 50th anniversary of the 67 cars, but also the 60th anniversary of 57 cars. And this car would attract a lot of attention, as it has here in this thread. Rich, maybe with your fabrication skills you could even recreate that great display sign that described this car at the Waldorf-Astoria NY car show in January 1957?

[Michael J.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

I couldn't agree more with Jim. How great would it be if this car could be on display in San Antonio at the Convention? It's the 50th anniversary of the 67 cars, but also the 60th anniversary of 57 cars. And this car would attract a lot of attention, as it has here in this thread. Rich, maybe with your fabrication skills you could even recreate that great display sign that described this car at the Waldorf-Astoria NY car show in January 1957?

+1, I wish we had a "like" button on here.........

[Tim G.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

What a great piece of history. I was just a one year old boy when the car was displayed in Chicago.
I don't remember ever seeing this car, but I'd love the chance to view it in San Antonio.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Bruce, Thanks for the info regarding Dale. I'm glad he's doing well. I hope to get in touch with him and the other the Albuquerque guys this week. I'm going to have to carve out a day or so to catch up with them all.

Tim, et al.... I spoke with my friend last night at length and brought up the Nationals. This may be possible.......maybe. Too early to tell.

BTW Tim, no one has seen this car since around 1958 so you're not alone. The first time I saw it was when my friend and I went to pick it up from a place nearby and haul it back to his secure storage area nearly 6 years ago, I remember that day well. The night before he called and asked me if I wanted to take a ride with him to get the car. I jumped on that one after my jaw dropped about a foot or so. This is what I saw when the security guy opened the door. The ULTIMATE garage find.








I'm going over there this morning and we're going to go over the car and put a plan together. Firstly, he's asked me to go over the entire electrical system. I think this car would be a good candidate to install some additional fuse protection.....the same process I use for all pre-1967 cars.

Rich
P.S. I found these in my files and I forgot I had them. A few more crisp photos from the styling department. My friend gave me these in prints years ago IIRC and I scanned them.