A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SECRET CORVETTE CHEVY TRIED TO KILL

This is the story of the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport that almost didn't exist.

To take the fight to Ford, whos Shelby Cobra had recently dominated racing in America, the designer of the original 50s/60s Corvette decided to build an all-new racer in secret. The Chevy execs didn't like that.

The Cobra-Killer, as it became know, almost didn't exist. A chap named Zora Arkus-Duntov developed the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport in secret, and thankfully he did, otherwise this fire-breathing, ultra light-weight sportscar would never have seen the light of day.

Zora was hailed as the father of the Corvette. As an engineer and racing driver, he wanted Chevy to dominate the racing circuits and, in just two years working at GM, he'd created one of the most iconic cars ever.

Glory on the race track didn't last long though, as a chap named Caroll Shelby introduced the Cobra to the world, and it dominated. Unfortunately, cars of this era didn't have much in the form of safety and races weren't very well regulated either so, when 79 people died at the 1955 24 Hours Of Le Mans, the AMA decided that manufacturers should focus their advertising on safety instead of speed.

This could have been the end of the Corvettes racing days, but Zora was having none of that and, away from the prying eyes of the GM suits, went ahead and built the Grand Sport.

As Jason from Donut says, "The Chevrolet Corvette is probably one of the greatest American cars of all time. It is the pride and joy of Chevy in the racing world, capable of taking on the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin in the GT circuit. But at one point Chevrolet wanted to kill this Corvette Grand Sport and this is its story…"