468

THE 1967-MODEL Corvette was not meant to be.

That is, it was not supposed to appear in the guise
in which it actually came to market. An entirely new
body had been set for introduction that year but was
postponed for a twelve-month period. In both styling
and specications the 67 was an interim model, as
reected also by the 17.2-percent drop in production
for its model year to 22,940 cars from the record set
by the 1966 model.
External factors played a part in this shift in
demand. The Sting Ray was no longer a sensational
novelty. As well, the market was awash with afford-
able sporty cars that offered big engines and thrusting
performance. The founder of the Ponycar category
in 1964, Fords Mustang, was soon joined by Mercurys
Cougar. Late in 1967 American Motors would crash the
party with its Javelin. Plymouth, which had been active
from 1964 with its Barracuda, upgraded its entry in
1967. Dodge came aboard later with its Challenger.
Most crucial for the Corvette was its new in-house
competition. Chevrolet offered not only its Camaro
but also its Corvair, which would mature in 1965 with
a rear suspension like the Sting Rays and 180 turbo-
charged horsepower. Indeed, some in Design Staffs
Studio X, like engineer Tony Lapine, saw in the Corvair
the nucleus of a sports car that could and should
replace the Corvette.
Then there was thrusting Pontiac, next up the
corporations ladder from Chevrolet. Pontiac, in fact,
craved to challenge the Corvettes role as GMs only
sports car. We desperately wanted a two-passenger
sports car, admitted Bill Collins, who headed Pontiacs
hyperactive Advanced Engineering Department.
Design Staff assigned the XP-833 designation and to-
gether a really neat car was designed, engineered and
two driveable prototypes built.
In those days the GM divisions were unique
kingdoms of their own, Collins explained, and we
had the freedom to do interesting things as long as
it wasnt interfering with production and we didnt
spend a lot of money on it. First presented as a con-
cept in 1964, when Pete Estes was Pontiacs general
manager and John DeLorean its chief engineer, the
XP-833 would have been on the market in 1967. It
1967 AND
L88 ORIGINS 34
1967: C2 swan song
Rivalry from others including Pontiacs
lighter, smaller XP-833
AMCs AMX
Ventilated steel Rally wheels appear
Triple Holley carburetors for Mark IV
Aluminum-head L88 engine in spring 1967
L88 entry at Le Mans in 1967
469
was to have Pontiacs single-overhead-cam six as the
base powerplant with an optional V-8.
The cars proposition was a lighter, simpler, less
expensive sports car than the Corvettevirtually a
reversion to the original Project Opel. Its front and
rear suspension were freely adapted from the A-body
Tempest intermediates that Pontiac was producing,
although dedicated front wishbones were designed
to suit the XP-833. We thought up a dozen different
ways to put a sports car into production, said Collins,
like building it in Canada. His vision, he said, was a
neat sports car at a reasonable pricethe kind of car
you could drive around Fort Lauderdale on a summer
day with your arm out the window.
The two XP-833s were built on a 90-inch wheel-
base, a full foot shorter than the original C1. Styled
with a chrome integral bumper that mirrored Pontiacs
trademark split grille, they were roadsters with
conventional slim-pillared windscreens. An opening
rear deck covered the retracted roof and allowed lug-
gage access, one-upping the Corvette. Styling by Ned
Nickels in his special studio was clean and edgy in
Pontiacs idiom of the time with nary a fake grille or
vent. The body was GRP attached to a steel subframe.
With xed seats and adjustable pedals, the XP-833
interior was less commodious than the Corvettes but
adequate by sports-car standards. The six-cylinder
Red-line tires complemented the look of a 1967
Sting Ray coupe with the big Mark IV engine,
which was offered in four different versions.
470 CHAPTER 34
prototype was a hardtop, silver with a red interior,
while the V-8 roadster was white with black trim.
When powered by the six the prototype two-seater
weighed only 2,200 pounds, one-quarter less than the
comparable 1953 Corvette. Though it would doubtless
have accrued some pounds in production form, this
showed good work by Pontiacs engineers.
Although GMs powerful Engineering Policy Group
rejected the XP-833 when Estes and DeLorean present-
ed it as a concept in 1964, the charismatic DeLorean
told his engineers to go ahead and build the proto-
types. Even their undoubted appeal, at the second
time of asking, was not enough to sway the 14
th
oor,
as the aerie of the corporations top executives was
known. Bunkie Knudsen certainly mounted a stout de-
fense of his Corvette as GMs one and only sports car
and his sporty Corvair as a worthy stablemate.
1
1 The projects cancellation did not bring destruction of the
prototypes. Bill Collins was able to buy the V-8 roadster in the
1970s. As Pontiacs assistant chief engineer he often visited
Design Staff, where a Pontiac concept car called the Banshee
had been created. I found two sets of chrome-plated Banshee
nameplates, Collins recalled. As the leader on the XP-833
project I felt the right to name them Banshee. Thus this
name, now associated with these cars, came well after their
creation and abandonment.
Completed in 1964, two XP-833 prototypes
represented serious potential competition for
the Corvette from sister GM division Pontiac.
Though designed as a simpler vehicle to compete at a
lower price point than the Corvette, Pontiacs XP-833
had a handsome cockpit with real sports-car looks.
While one Pontiac XP-833 prototypelater dubbed
the Bansheehad a V-8 the other was powered by
the divisions pioneering overhead-cam six.
471 1967 AND L88 ORI GI NS
Thus the Corvette dodged this internal bullet.
A direct external challenge originated withof all
placesAmerican Motors, where Richard A. Dick
Teague was an exceptionally resourceful chief stylist
and sports-car enthusiast. Introduced early in 1968,
AMCs AMX was the end result of a concept-car project
that began in October of 1965. As Dick Teague de-
scribed it, The AMX was designed for automobile
enthusiasts, for people who really love carsnot to
satisfy statisticians. Work on it was headed by Charles
Chuck Mashigans advanced styling studio.
From a series of AMX-badged concept cars a two-
seater coupe emerged that was rst realized in steel by
Vignale to AMCs designs. Told to use as much of the
AMC Javelin Ponycar as possible, said Teague, we
took twelve inches out of the wheelbase and moved
the bumper, gas tank, deck lid and back light all for-
ward to come up with a sleek two-passenger sports
car. The resulting 97-inch wheelbase was an inch
shorter than the Corvettes and its weight reasonable
at 3,350 pounds.
Not underpowered with its choice of V-8s of 290
and 390 cubic inches, the AMX hit the market with a
spectacular record-setting spree by Craig Breedlove
and his wife Lee. At a Texas test track they rolled up
106 American and international speed records. With
a price tag only three-quarters that of a Sting Ray, the
AMX was a cheeky new entrant with impressive per-
formance and sporty handling. AMX sales peaked at
8,293 in 1969, however, with a total of 19,134 made
through the 1970 model year. To Dick Teagues great
frustration it was dropped because its donor vehicle,
the Javelin, was being rejigged.
If fresh styling were needed to help the 1967
Corvette cope with its challengers, its supporters
would be disappointed. Exterior changes in Chevrolets
sports car for 1967 were subtle in the extreme. A cen-
tral reversing lamp above the rear license plate was
one hallmark. Another was a new front-fender vent
design of ve louvers. For the rst time the optional
hardtop could be ordered with a black vinyl covering.
One of the features of the 67 Sting Ray that had been
specially planned for use with a new body was place-
ment of the hand-brake lever on the center console,
between redesigned seats.
New ventilated steel Rally wheels with six-inch
rims and chrome rimbellishers were standard equip-
ment, giving a purposeful look. The now-mainly-deco-
rative status of the optional cast-aluminum wheels was
acknowledged by making them bolt-on parts, eliminat-
ing the weight and cost of knock-off hubs. This also
In 1968 AMC intro-
duced its production
AMX, which remained
available through 1970
with a total of more
than 19,000 produced.
As part of a series of concept-car exercises
American Motors built this appealing two-
seater AMX, designed as a Javelin derivative.
472 CHAPTER 34
responded to heightened safety concerns, the knock-
off spinners ears being considered a hazard.
The role of the Mark IV grew in 1967, signaled
by a new and aggressive-looking pseudo-scoop hood
panel that covered all the 427-cubic-inch engines. The
lower three engine choices remained unchanged, with
the important addition of a Powerglide transmission as
an option with the 390-bhp Mark IV V-8.
At the top of the ladder were two more engines.
Both were topped by a triangular air cleaner covering
a new manifold tted with three Holley two-barrel
carburetors. These were interconnected by a system
that sensed vacuum in the venturi of the center car-
buretornot in the manifold, as with other multicarb
arrangementsto open the throttles of the two end
carburetors gradually as the engines demand for ad-
ditional air and fuel increased.
This new system, reported Car and Driver, results
in an astoundingly tractable engine and uncannily
smooth engine response. As soon as its rolling, say at
500 rpm, you can push the throttle to the oor and
the car just picks up with a turbine-like swelling surge
of power that never misses a beat all the way up to
its top speed of over 140 mph. And you get the same
responseinstantlyin any gear any time you open
the tap. On the whole, the Corvettes three deuces are
as smooth and responsive as fuel injection.
The lesser of the two 3 x 2-barrel engines was the
L68, which carried a hydraulic-lifter camshaft and was
rated at 400 bhp at 5,400; 460 lb-ft at 3,600 rpm. This
too could be ordered with the Powerglide transmission.
Only the close-ratio four-speed was tted behind the
L71, the mechanical-lifter version, which was conserva-
tively rated at 435 bhp at 5,800 rpm, a $437.10 option.
Popular Hot Rodding took its test carequipped with a
Positraction differential and close-ratio Muncie trans-
missionstraight to the drag strip.
We made no engine adjustments other than
removal of the top of the air cleaner, said PHR. The
best starting-line technique was to drive off at around
2,000 rpm and nail it to the wood. The rst 100 feet
was a wild ride, something like driving in syrup, but
after the tires nally caught hold the Vette really
showed its oats. The best time registered out of 14
runs and a combination of drivers was 13.91 seconds
ET and 106.25 mph. The L71s time to 60 mph of 4.7
seconds in the Car and Driver test logbook was not
beaten until 1975, by a Porsche Turbo.
As to stopping ability, Popular Hot Rodding con-
tinued, the Corvette is second to none. On each of the
runs made at the strip a full stop was made at the end
of the quarter-mile. Using four-wheel disc brakes is
like throwing out an anchoryou stop right now. We
felt that an American car had been built which put the
fun back into driving. The ride is stiff, but if it were
mushy the Corvette wouldnt be a sports car.
To the buyer of the L71 another new $368.65 op-
tion could be added: aluminum cylinder heads. Cast
by the Winters foundry, these chopped an important
75 pounds from the front end and offered larger ex-
haust valves with heads measuring 1.84 inches. This
was the production debut of the aluminum heads for
the Mark engine that had rst been tried at Sebring
during practice in 1966 on the Penske-owned Grand
Sport roadster.
Aluminum heads were building blocks in the con-
struction of a Corvette engine that became legendary,
the L88 option announced in the spring of 1967. There
Delivering an unofficial 560 horsepower, the L88 engine
introduced in 1967 was designed for racing. L88-equipped
Corvettes were stripped of heater, defroster and radio to
save weight. They featured a unique cowl-induction hood
among other racing options.
473 1967 AND L88 ORI GI NS
was no hedging on the output of this engine; Chevy
said nothing at all about it. But a reliably reported
power gure for the L88 was 560 bhp at 6,400 rpm on
fuel of 103 research octane.
2
And with unrestricted
exhaust, said Zora Duntov, 640. I pick 430, I dont
know why. Is just a number. It was as pure a racing
engine as Chevrolet had yet offered for the Corvette.
The L88 V-8 could only be ordered with all the oth-
er racing options plus the K66 transistor ignition sys-
tem, the G80 Positraction differential and option C48: a
credit of $97.85 for deletion of the otherwise standard
heater and defroster, to cut down on weight and dis-
courage the cars use on the street, said Corvette News.
Although the engine alone was priced at $947.90, with
all the concomitant extras the package came to some
$1,500. In 1967 20 buyers chose the L88.
L88 design features included a 12.5:1 compression
ratio, an aluminum intake manifold modied to form
2 In 1992 Corvette Fever reported on a dynamometer test of
a rebuilt L88. It produced 502 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm.
Horsepower at 5,200 rpm was 489 and at 6,200 rpm 514.
These are likely to be net gures, inclusive of accessories,
unlike the gross SAE gures used at the time by Chevrolet
and others.
a plenum chamber under the single Holley 850 CFM
carburetor, heavy-duty bottom end with a Tufftrided
crankshaft and shot-peened connecting rods with
extra-strong 0.716-inch bolts. Pistons were forged
by TRW of high-silicon-alloy aluminum. Hardened
pushrods and heat-treated rocker arms lifted inlet
valves by 0.559 inch and exhausts by 0.580 inch with
an overlap of 136 degrees before they were closed by
triple springs.
The L88s small-diameter ywheel carried a
high-capacity clutch, driving Muncies rock crusher
M22 transmission. Other adjuncts to the L88 were an
aluminum cross-ow radiator and an engine-air intake
from the grille at the base of the windshield, an area
of high air pressurethe same inlet location used by
Mickey Thompson at Daytona for the spectacular de-
but of the Mark II engine in 1963. This was a modi-
cation of the standard Mark IV hood to provide an air-
box and a built-in lter that mated with the carburetor
entry when the hood was shut. No shroud surrounded
the fan, controlled by a silicone clutch.
Even with this new engine the hefty Corvette was
still no match for the Cobras in the short sprint events
on twisty tracks that typied most SCCA competition.
But it helped. Corvettes were still doing very well in B
Production with a National Championship in 1964 for
Frank Dominianni of Valley Stream, Long Island. Frank
retrotted his 1962 Corvette with a 283-cubic-inch V-8
With its L88 package the 1967 Sting Ray finally posed
a threat to the Cobras in the SCCAs A Production
Championships. These great rivals are shown at Road
America in a modern-day duel. This restored L88 is
shown at its racing zenith on page 478.
474 CHAPTER 34
With engine ally Denny Davis, Zora Arkus-Duntov
took pleasure in the potential of the L88 version
of the Mark IV with aluminum heads and a more
robust bottom end.
to move down a class. Enjoying both an engine dyno
and chassis dyno in his workshop, Dominianni made
it his business to know the Ramjet fuel injection
inside-out.
Frank Dominiannis rst racing Corvette was a
57 that established a tradition of red racers bearing
the number 69. One of the masters of the daunting
Bridgehampton circuit, where he drove on the edge
of destruction, Dominianni was described as the
classic overachiever who prevailed with a combination
of resourcefulness, a keen understanding of applied
engineering, optimism and a never-quit attitude.
Frank and others corralled for the Corvette the SCCAs
New York and Divisional awards in duplicate in 1965,
triplicate in 66 and quintuplicate in 1967.
Against the Cobras the SCCAs A Production
Divisional Championships, the Corvettes were horses
475 1967 AND L88 ORI GI NS
of another color. Shut out in 1964, the Corvette picked
up only a single Divisional award in 1965. With the
advent of the Mark engine, however, the outlook
brightened. Two A Production Divisional cups were
collected in 1966 and three in 67.
Built in late January of 1967, the rst L88 to be
built reached Detroits Hanley Dawson Chevrolet to
the order of Tony DeLorenzo, Jr., enthusiast son of
Anthony G. DeLorenzo, GMs vice president in charge
of public relations. A convertible, it was race-prepared
for Tonys A Production campaign in the Midwest.
This was successful enough to take him to the SCCA
Runoffs at Daytona Beach, where he was beaten only
by a Cobra 427. Carrying on with an L88 into 1968,
Tony DeLorenzo played an important role in keeping
motor racing close to the hierarchy of General
Motors.
3
Of the four production L88 Sting Rays that came
to Sebring in 1967 one, driven by Don Yenko and Dave
Morgan, placed tenth overall and rst among the GTs
even though it spent the last 40 minutes of the race
wedged in a sand bank after complete brake failure.
Morgan drove the coupe, sponsored by oil company
Sunray DX, to the SCCA Midwest A Production title.
Carrying on into 1968, the coupe placed tenth overall
and rst in class at Daytona in the hands of Morgan
and Jerry Grant.
3 This ex-DeLorenzo Corvette sold for $1,325,000 at auction
on August 14, 2010.
In 1967 4,209 buyers
of a total of 22,940
Corvettes ticked the
box for the gorgeous
RPO N14 Side Mount
exhaust system, a
dream amenity for
real enthusiasts.
With headlamps
deployed a Mark IV-
equipped 1967 convert-
ible showed off the
substantial hood bulge
and scoop that marked
the big V-8 underneath.
476 CHAPTER 34
Dana Chevrolets entry of an L88-equipped
Corvette at Le Mans in 1967 marked a serious
incursion by an American GT car in this
classic event.
In 1967 an L88 coupe was entered at Le Mans
by a California dealer, Dana Chevrolet, whose Peyton
Cramer nominated Dick Guldstrand to set up a
Dana racing operation to rival that of Carroll Shelby.
Cramer added Le Mans to Danas other activities,
gaining sponsorship of $10,000 for the Le Mans effort
from Sunray DX and Mitch Daroffs Botany Clothing.
At the French classics technical inspection, however,
a rst hurdle was the need to remove all traces of
sponsorship from the cars livery. With Shell the over-
all race sponsor, Sunray DX had to step back while
Botany was named as the entrant.
More serious was the need to restore the coupes
bumpers to present the car in accord with its homolo-
gation. Their weight, together with a full 36-gallon
tank, had the L88 resting on its rear bump stops.
Finding a Peugeot truck spring in a junkyard, they
fashioned a stiffer rear transverse leaf that did the job.
Power was not a problem; Traco had in fact detuned
two L88 engines to 490500 bhp in the interest of
reliability on the ofcial Le Mans gasoline. Chevrolets
observer was Gib Hufstader, vacationing in Frances
Sarthe region.
During qualifying the red, white and blue coupe
cut 10 seconds from the previous Grand Touring
record. Taking the rst stint, Bob Bondurant put the
Corvette well in the category lead in spite of its being
by 300 pounds the heaviest car in the race at 3,265
pounds wet. It was clocked at 171.5 mph on the
Mulsanne Straight, 20 miles per hour faster than any
Corvette had ever gone there and 22 mph quicker than
the Ferrari that nally won the GT class.
4
4 Claims are published that the Sunray DX Corvette set an
FIA track record with a speed of 180-plus mph on the
Mulsanne Straight. The FIA did not take account of times set
on the straight at Le Mans. The speed timed was as stated; the
car may well have reached a higher terminal velocity past the
timing trap.
477 1967 AND L88 ORI GI NS
After eleven and a half hours of racing Dick
Guldstrand was at the wheel when he heard a mas-
sive bang. Lifting the hood, he saw parts outside
the engine that should not be there. A wrist-pin
failure cost them a certain victory. According to one
report, Tracos recommendation that they be replaced
by higher-duty aftermarket parts was rejected by
Chevrolet, which wanted to highlight the capabilities
of its factory-standard engine.
Record top speeds for Corvettes were set at
Bonneville as well as at Le Mans during these years.
The cars fell into a class known as A Grand Touring,
which was assaulted every August during the week
of speed on salt known as the Bonneville Nationals.
In 1964 Bob Hirsch set the record at 155.132 mph
driving a car belonging to Chicagoan Bill Scace. This
was topped in 1965 by Michigander Barry Bock with
his new 396 Sting Ray coupe. Bock averaged 169.654
Dick Guldstrand, left, and Bob Bondurant were
the drivers of the Dana Le Mans entry in 1967,
which easily led the GT category until its engine
went after 11 hours.
478 CHAPTER 34
mph across the salt lake in his rst exposure to any
kind of automotive competition.
Bitten by the Bonneville bug, Bock came back the
next year with his engine enlarged to 427 cubic inches
and fed by Hilborn fuel injection. He overcame many
tuning problems with the help of salt-lake veterans to
set a ne new record of 180.138 mph. Not to be out-
done, however, the Scace/Hirsch Corvette speedsters
regained a solid hold on the A Grand Touring record
in 1967 with a two-way average of 192.879 mph.
For a basically stock-bodied Sting Ray that was really
pushing the wind.
So great and so lasting was the impact of the
original Sting Ray body style that it is surprising to
reect that it survived only ve years. That made it
the shortest-lived body design in the cars history, if
we accept that its predecessors were all variations on
the theme of 1953. But it left an unforgettable legacy.
When the History Channel asked viewers about their
Dream Machine in 1998 the Corvette Sting Ray was
their choice as the Greatest Sports Car of All Time.
It decisively defeated the AC Cobra as well as Fords
Mustang and GT40.
With a total ve-year production of 117,964 the
C2 Sting Rays hardly qualify as rarities. However those
that have survived without abuse or modication
have gained increasing recognition for what they are:
genuine classic sports cars, the best America could
build and, as such, commanding global admiration
and respect.
One of twenty L88 Corvettes built in 1967, this racer
logged over 150 wins for its owner-driver Cliff Gottlob.
Theyre pictured after finishing second in class and 11th
overall in the 1970 Daytona 24 Hours, Dave Dooley co-
driving. Underscoring its display of endurance, Gottlobs
L88 was driven 1,626 miles from Kansas to Daytona,
raced 24 hours, then driven back home to Kansas.
479 PRODUCTI ON CORVETTES PROFI LED: 1966 1967
1966: Units built27,720
1967: Units built22,940
'66 '67
ILLUSTRATIONS BY KEN RUSH
19681969 see page 533
established 1950
Automotive Reference
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Corvette
Americas Star-Spangled
Sports Car
The Complete History 1953-1982
by Karl Ludvigsen
Price: $149.95
Bentley Stock No: GCSS
Publication Date: 2014-07-04
ISBN: 978-0-8376-1659-9
Hardcover, 9 in. x 10 1/2in.
Case quantity: 1
784 pages
989 photos, illustrations and diagrams
The Complete History 1953-1982
CorvetteAmericas Star-Spangled Sports Car: The
Complete History, 1953-1982 takes the reader behind
the scenes during the early decades of Corvette design,
engineering, brand development and racing competition.
Award-winning automotive historian Karl Ludvigsen weaves
together a technical examination of each model year with
the compelling stories of the GM staffers and privateer
racers whothrough equal parts talent, passion and sheer
force of willkept the Corvette program thriving against
heavy odds. Ludvigsens up close and personal telling of the
Corvette story captures the human drama and erce rivalries
that fueled the American car industrys golden ageand
resulted in some impressive Detroit muscle.
When it was published in 1973, Star-Spangled Sports Car
broke new ground as the rst book devoted entirely to a
single car model. It has since been credited with helping to
kick-start the exciting Corvette hobby. Four decades after its
original publication Classic and Sports Car declared, Karl
Ludvigsens Corvette history remains the bible.

Now the award-winning author has fully revised,
reorganized and expanded his Corvette bible, devoting
784 pages and 989 photos and illustrations to the complete
history of the C1, C2 and C3 generation cars. As fast-paced
and exciting as the cars it describes, this is a book for anyone
who ever drove a Corvetteor wanted to.
BentleyPublishers
.com
bentley_gcss_new.product.announcement.pdf
The author and Zora
consult during test
drive of CERV II in
1970.
Chapter 36: Racing
Four by Four
Tony Lapine
airbrushes a
rendering of the
XP-755 in 1961.
Chapter 19:
Mitchells Motors
A
v
a
ila
b
le

J
u
ly
4
, 2
0
1
4
My early education and inspiration related to Corvette history
came from my original 1973 copy of Star Spangled Sports
Car.
After 40 years of use, wrinkles, torn dust cover, and dirt stained
pages, it has served as the number one source to help tell the
stories of the cars and people inducted into the Great Hall

.
David Burroughs Founder, Bloomington Gold
Karl Ludvigsen with
Corvette creators
Zora Arkus-Duntov
and Bill Mitchell.