DZAUTO

Does anyone want to comment on whether or not rear brake scoops on a 56 were installed ON THE LINE in St. Louis (like those on the two cars below)? No one wanted to on the L88 subject.

Plastic Pig

wind em' up and watch em' go....

AZDoug

Looks like JC Whitney accessory parts to me....

Doug

DZAUTO

Nope, they're Chevrolet installed parts. The question is whether they were installed on the line in St. Louis or after they came off the line.

joe58

DZ,
have you checked the book "Corvette Guide" written by Dick Thompson in 1958? It has some info about the racing options available in the 50s.

DZAUTO

Joe,
I know what the options were, but the issue here is whether or not these brake scoops on the 56s (56 ONLY) were installed ON THE LINE in St. Louis. The copper car above has been restored as close as possible as the supporting documentation indicates.

NCRS has lost one of their most valuable historical contributors because they refused to allow that copper 56 to be judged as a FACTORY (St. Louis) built car. The documentation is more than adequate to support these handful of 56s as factory built cars.
So, does anyone have any support or contridiction that they were factory built cars??????

KyleDallas

Really cool option Tom.... Im surprised something that trick isn't
better documented...I sent you a PM on Dick Thompson but Im not sure it
helped..If I was pure D guessing I'd say road racing/endurance would have been their application... I will do a search in some of the racing venues
and see if I hit something.....
Sad to loose a hobbyist because he could not get a hearing...

SebringBill

Yup.

Now, can I prove it? Absolutely not.

Wish Frank Burrell was still around.

Best I can say is that Steve Koss and Frank both (though at seperate times) confirmed that the scoops on #2823 were the real deal. Neither mentioned as to when/where they were installed.

Since the 6 cars involved were all within 11 serial numbers (according to Ken Kayser) that's the main reason for "yup." It would surprise me if 6 cars were shipped back to MI as opposed to parts shipped to St Louis.

dgsmith

I believe the 6 SR's were refitted because supposedly Z. Duntov brought one (more) of these specific cars to Daytona in Feb. 56. None of the three cars at Daytona had these scoops (or Halibrand wheels). I think they were fitted to cars later because of brake problems discovered before Sebring in March. Four were raced at Sebring. The other two were sold to individuals to make the series legal for Sebring. All had Halibrand whells.

DZAUTO

All of the old Sebring pictures that I've seen show the scoops in place. Also, John's SR1 (as it has become known) which is the copper car, is the former "Chicken coop" car. That's because it was discovered wasting away in a chicken coop many years ago (was it Mike Hunt who did an article about this car many years ago?).

john neas

The scoops and wheels and a number of other brake and suspension parts were added to the three Daytona Beach cars when they were raced at Sebring. These three Sebring Cars (#1, #5, and #6) all had 1955 chassis with a 1956 body. A fourth car was added for Sebring, #7, which had 1956 serial #1009 (ninth car built), and was given engineering #6911 for Sebring.
Ed Cole and his group went through all the corporation functions to begin selling Corvettes with race options to customers. This was Cole's plan to help save the Corvette.
Since the side scoops were susceptible to damage from hanger and garage doors and hay bales, the rear brake ducting on the 1957 and 1958 RPO 684 cars was changed to the front radiator area through the rocker panels. Possibly a mistake as the rear brake ducting in 1957 and 1958 proved to be ineffective and was discontinued in 1959.
The 6 SR cars built on the St. Louis production line in June, 1956 (Sebring was in March) were built as saleable units and were sold as such. All parts had production part numbers. The major automobile magazines of the time talked about the availability of the options to customers.
It might be noted that also in 1957 the race option RPO 684 was not available until after Sebring.
There appears to be much misinformation and confusion about these cars and I would appreciate the opportunity to correct the record.
The copper SR car will be at Carlisle and I will be available to answer questions or visit about the cars.
Regards

DZAUTO

John,
Did I have the information correct about the "Chicken coop" car?

desertpilgrim

The short answer to the original question is that the scoops were added to #7 at Smokey's in Daytona and the copper car got its scoops on the line. Probably at Heavy Duty assembly at St Louis, so "after the line but at St Louis".

DZAUTO

I just had a phone conversation with John Neas, and here is some more accurate information that he passed on to me.
His 56 SR1 car (the copper car above) is in fact the "Chicken coop" car that Mike Hunt discovered in North central Illinois and wrote about 30yrs ago. The car wasn't actually in a building that had chickens in it, it was just in an old shed, gathering dust and wasting away. But the article itself was titled "Chicken Coop Car" (or something to that effect). This is also one of the 6 cars built at the St. Louis plant (WITH FACTORY INSTALLED SCOOPS), that is, they were installed at the St. Louis plant. His 56 Sebring racer is THE one genuine 56 body on a 56 frame that was specially setup, BY CHEVROLET, to be raced at Sebring.
I have worked on both of these cars (I built the std bore, Dec cast 265 in the Sebring car), therefore I am somewhat familiar with both (as well as his SR2 car). Once upon a time, I noticed that the rear brake scoops on the Sebring and SR1 cars were slightly different shaped and wondered why. I'm sure the reason is because one was built with the scoops added in Jan 56 (not at St. Louis) and the SR1 cars were built with their scoops at the St. Louis plant. John plans to have the (copper) SR1 at Carlisle---------------------stop by, look it over, talk to John (allow plenty of time to visit with John, he likes to talk to people about his unique cars and their background)!

63Corvette

John, Tom,

Fantastic information on wonderful historic cars. I appreciate your candor, and willingness to speak with truth on these great old cars.

SebringBill

Just another coupla tidbits:

Ken Kayser says he has a part number for a grille that goes over the side scoop to keep flotsam and jetsam out.

I haven't be able to confirm if the one grille that came with my white SR-1 (when I owned it-apparently the first one built; #2823 - John's copper car is #2834, the last one built!) is indeed the correct part. It sure looks rather "bubba-ish" to me. Then again, so was the heavy duty brake stuff as compared to 1957.

BTW, if ya wanna see my old SR-1 in action find a copy of Corvette News Vol 1 #3 and read the article about the 1000 mile rally around Lake Michigan; there's two pictures of a white 56 with side scoops and Halibrands in the rally. Also, the "Chicken Coop" article (from the late 70s) also mentions another similarly equipped car that Mike had surveyed - #2823!

Nice to see ya here, John!

KyleDallas

Great thread guys.... some of the more interesting information I've read
this year.. on any forum... or in any media publication for that matter..
thanks, Kyle

K2

Here is the sCoop.

DZAUTO

Yep, that is exactly the article I'm talking about! What was the date on Mike's article?

joe58

looking through some Corvette books
Dick Thompson's 1956 race car dosn't have the rear scoops in the photos I found and there is a picture of Fitch's 1956 speed run car at Daytona with no rear scoops and then saw this picture on member Tyler T's web site Sebring 1956 clearly shows rear scoops