page_title: Chevrolet Corvette (C2)
section_title: Grand Sport
hierarchical_section_title: Chevrolet Corvette (C2) / Grand Sport
caption_attribution_description: 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport raced by Bob Bondurant
context_page_description: The Chevrolet Corvette (C2) is the second generation of the Chevrolet Corvette sports car, produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1963 to 1967 model years.
context_section_description: In 1962 Duntov initiated a program to produce a lightweight version based on a prototype that mirrored the new 1963 Corvette. Concerned about Ford and the Shelby Cobra, Duntov's program included plans to build 125 examples of the Corvette Grand Sport to allow the model to be homologated for international Grand Touring races. After the GM executives learned of the secret project, the program was stopped, and only five cars were built. All five cars have survived and are in private collections. They are among the most coveted and valuable Corvettes ever built, not because of what they accomplished, but because of what might have been.
  The cars were driven by famed contemporary race drivers such as Roger Penske, A. J. Foyt, Jim Hall, and Dick Guldstrand among others. Dick Thompson was the first driver to win a race in the Grand Sport. He won a 1963 Sports Car Club of America race at Watkins Glen on August 24, 1963, driving Grand Sport 004.
  Chassis #001 is owned by former banker and car collector Harry Yeaggy of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was purchased for $4.2 million in 2002.
  Chassis 002 is a part of the permanent collection at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The car is in running condition, and is the only Grand Sport body which is original and unrestored. Also on display are a replica body and a spare 377 cubic inch engine, which were commissioned by the car's previous owner, Jim Jaeger, for participation in vintage racing without damaging the original components.
  Chassis #003 is owned by car collector Larry Bowman. It was bought in 2004 for an undisclosed sum.
  Chassis #004 is part of the Miles Collier Collection on display at The Revs Institute in Naples, Florida. This chassis was used in the Rolex Monterrey Motorsport Reunion in 2013.
  Chassis #005 is in the private collection of Bill Tower of Plant City, Florida. He was a former Corvette development engineer and also owns several historically significant Corvettes in his collection.
  The Corvette Grand Sports were raced with several different engines, but the most serious factory engine actually used was a 377 cubic inch displacement, all-aluminum, small block with four Weber side-draft carburetors and a cross-ram intake, rated 550 hp (410 kW) at 6400 rpm. Body panels were made of thinner fiberglass to reduce weight and the inner body structure 'birdcage' was aluminum rather than steel. The ladder-type frame utilized large seamless steel tubular side members connected front and rear with crossmembers of about the same diameter tubes. Another crossmember was just aft of the transmission and a fourth one at the rear kick-up anchored the integral roll cage. The frame was slightly stiffer than the 1963 Corvette production frame and was 94 lb (43 kg) lighter. A number of other lightweight components were utilized to reduce overall weight to about 800 pounds less than the production coupe. Initially the Grand Sport project was known simply as "The Lightweight".
caption: 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport raced by Bob Bondurant
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