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Meet The Car That Shouldn’t Exist: The Superperformance Corvette Grand Sport

Once upon a time in the early 60s, GM wanted to build a Shelby Cobra killer so it could stand tall at Sebring and Le Mans. Zora Arkus-Duntov, the “Father of the Corvette” got permission to build this Corvette (the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport) that could take on those Cobras and did so with a super-lightweight fiberglass body on a tube frame, magnesium wheels, and a 200 MPH speedo.

Then the chairman of GM caught wind of the project and buried it. Without official GM support, Zora loaned the cars out to Jim Hall, Roger Penske, and Dick Thompson and at Speed Week in Nassau, the three of them spanked the Cobras.

These incredibly are Grand Sports are all accounted for, but Superformance in Irvine, CA has recreated Car #004. This is a brand new creation from the ground up, made using the same materials and methods used to make the original car. In fact, this project is an officially licensed GM product, where Superformance had access to the original blueprints and parts specs.

Performance-wise, however, this car is nothing like the classic version. This Grand Spot features a modern 6.2L LT1 V8 that is currently in the C7 Corvettes and is mated with Tremec T-56 6 speed manual. Total price? $169, 295, which is a steal if you consider the fact that you are essentially getting a hand made, official 1963 Corvette Grand Sport.

Tony Hsieh

Cars, the Buffalo Bills, video games, comics, sandwiches, jelly beans, and the shooting star press; these are the things that Tony loves (in addition to his family, of course). When he's not spending his time writing tech reviews for theslanted.com, Tony puts his lifetime love of muscle cars to use on his 2015 Mustang GT. Tony's top three favorite cars are the 1973 Mustang Mach 1, Ferrari 458, and Aston Martin DBS.

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