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The public was ready for something really exciting. Actually what happened was the first of many Corvette "bait 'n' switch" setups with the automotive press. Road & Track said in January 1959, "We predict that this will be the year of big changes for the Corvette." Rumors had it that Chevrolet was going to release a completely new Corvette for 1960.

Rumors were fueled by speculation concerning the radical Q-Corvette. Unfortunately, this highly advanced 1957 design never made it past the clay model stage. However, the Q-Corvette's styling would eventually become the 1963 Sting Ray Coupe. What really fanned the flames was the XP-700 show car. This was your basic, overdone show car that was used to test the public's reaction to some new styling ideas. Since Bill Mitchell often drove the car, some saw it as just an executive perk. That may have been partially true, but XP-700 clearly showed us the upcoming "boat tail" design for 1961. We'll cover the XP-700 in the next issue.

So after all of the press-fed anticipation, the 1960 Corvette was somewhat of a letdown. Anticipating this reaction, Zora Arkus-Duntov had planned some good stuff under the hood . Advertisements announced, "major breakthrough in design and metallurgy and metallurgy." Aluminum heads would be standard on both versions of the optional fuelie engine. This improvement saved 53 lbs. and bumped the power rating from 250 to 275 hp for the hydraulic lifter version and 290 hp to 315 hp for the solid lifter fuelie. Extra power came from an enlarged injection plenum, improved combustion chamber design, larger valves and higher compression. Unfortunately, casting irregularities killed the exotic new heads.

Disappointments and setbacks aside, the 1960 Corvette was still an improved car. A rear stabilized bar was now standard, along with a thicker front stabilizer bar, eliminating the need for stiffer springs. An optional racing package included stiffer shocks, quicker steering and finned brake drums with cooling scoops. Aluminum was used to save 18 lbs. on the bellhousing and the fuel injection cars now used an aluminum core radiator.

On the race track, Briggs Cunningham took a team of three Corvettes to LeMans and finished in 8th place overall. This was a huge feather in Chevrolet's cap, having much more status than a class win at Sebring. It clearly let the Europeans know that the Corvette was here to stay. - K. Scott Teeters

Here's the story...
Illustrated Corvette Series No. 127 - Briggs Cunningham's 1960 Le Mans Racing Corvette

Thirty nine years before the ‘99 C5-Rs arrived at Le Mans, there was another Corvette team that took Le Mans by storm. GM’s official position may have been, “we don’t race,” but that didn’t stop Zora Arkus-Duntov from making hot parts for racers and coincidentally taking his vacation on the same dates as important racing events. Sports car racing was relatively new to Americans and considered the realm of the small European cars. But Duntov and a few select friends had a different agenda.

Briggs Swift Cunningham‘s passion for racing began in 1930 and included not only cars, but yacht racing. Briggs was a wealthy financier and poured millions of dollars into his racing enterprises. In the ’50s he racked up dozens of sports car wins and took the America’s Cup in ‘58 He had a passion for creating racing teams and raced anything that was fast - Ferraris, Mercedes, Porsches, Maseratis. But when the big V-8 Corvettes started winning sportsman races, Briggs took notice.

Meanwhile, back in Detroit, Duntov was always looking for people to champion his Corvettes. In 1960, the rules for the GT 5000 class allowed big-engine cars to race at Le Mans. Briggs loved speed and Duntov loved seeing Corvettes raced. Cunningham built a 3-car team and Lloyd Casner fielded a similar looking Corvette. The four big-engine,white Corvettes lined up first and were an imposing sight to the Europeans.

Compared to the C5-R and the C6.R Corvettes, the Cunningham and Casner cars were amazingly stock. The cars were prepared by Alfred Momo with help from Duntov, Frank Burrell, and a few other Corvette engineers. All used a basically stock 283 / 290-horsepower Fuelie engine with cast-iron manifolds, side-exit exhausts, and an oil cooler. Racing drum brakes were used and the car road on Halibrand magnesium knock-off wheels, and racing tires. An over-sized gas tank was added with a center-mounted, quick-fill gas cap. The interior had a roll bar, special instruments, racing bucket seats, and an adjustable steering column. The hardtops were bolted on and all of the cars were white with blue stripes. Corvettes were tough-looking, fast cars at Le Mans in 1960.

Le Mans is all about speed and endurance. Car #1 crashed and burned after three hours of racing. At the 17th hour, the Fuelie engine in car #2 expired. At hour #22, car #3 with Bob Grossman and John Fitch driving, experienced a broken radiator cap that lead to a blown head gasket. The engine was packed with ice and finished the race in 5th place overall and 1st place in the GT 5000 class. The Casner car finished in 21st place.

The fastest of the team cars hit 151-mph on the Mulsanne Straight with a 4:26.2 lap time. Production Vettes wouldn’t see 150-mph until the arrival of the big-blocks. Briggs Cunningham knew how to build fast, endurance cars, and Duntov was all too happy to provide unofficial assistance from Chevrolet. This was the juicy stuff of legends. - K. Scott Teeters

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Here's the story...
Illustrated Corvette Series No. 13 -1960 XP-700 Corvette Show Car

While Bill Mitchell was busy racing his Sting Ray Racer, there was an accompanying custom Corvette that was getting a lot of attention. Mitchell had initiated a policy that all new car designs would be fully functional -- no more full-size mockup "dream cars." Since Bill liked to drive his designs, the XP-700 would have plenty of power under the hood.

What's really interesting about this car is that it clearly showed styling trends that would be used in the '61 and '63 Corvette and eventually the '97 Corvette. It also showed the classic '50s era of "more is better."

The midsection is clearly stock Corvette design. Vents on top of front fender vents have no reason to be there. The sidepipes are interesting, but are too short, looking like add-ons, as do the scoops behind the doors. The twin bubble top is nicely mated with the stock windshield and clearly points towards the '97 Corvette. The mirrors are also nice.

The front of the car is very strange. In '50s excess style, everything is "bigger and better." The nose is elongated with an elliptical opening and has a scoop under it. The headlights are moved forward and also have scoops under them. The vents on the hood were used on the Sting Ray Racer '63 Racer and the production '63 Corvette.

The back end of the car was nearly perfect. A body crease leads off the tops of the fender openings and wraps around the back. Below the back edge, the license plate was mounted deep in the center. Dual taillights flank both sides of the license plate and horizontal bumpers were at the corners. The design was so well received that it was put into production for '61. It also set the shape for the back end design for the upcoming '63 Sting Ray.

Since this was a functional prototype, the interior had many features that became standard items in '61, like a parking-light warning light, dual sun visors, windshield washers, and interior courtesy lights. The narrowed transmission tunnel also made it into production. What didn't go into production were items like a periscope rear view mirror, experimental overdrive unit, and a dash-mounted chronometer.

The XP-700 was the first of the functional Corvette show cars. Later Corvette show cars would be knock-out beauties. Unlike today's show cars, Mitchell actually drove this car to work. That would never happen today! - K. Scott Teeters