jim lockwood

That cockamamy story surfaces from time to time, usually propagated by someone wanting to puff up the value of their GS replica.

Note this line from that web page:

What do you see wrong with this? Go ahead think about it. I'll wait here.





Give up?





OK, there NEVER WERE ANY ROADSTER MOLDS!

Roadsters were made by chopping the roofs off two of the 5 coupes.



Now, did Dean lift molds from a donor GS? Um, maybe, sort of. Jeff told me he sold a set of body panels to Dean and, wonder of wonders, Dean began producing bodies shortly thereafter.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but if you look at the frame under our D&D prototype and compare it to the MAI frame under my #80 GS, you'll see more similarities than differences.

Just sayin'......


Jim

keystonefarm

Jim what year was your D&D produced by Dean ? I remember an article in a magazine many years ago featuring a coupe and roadster GS offered by MAI . A red roadster and a Blue with white stripe coupe.
---------------- Ken

ReadyEddie

I recently located the original owner of my D&D Roadster. He said he knew Dean and was the first to order a roadster from him, but it may have been the 2nd or 3rd built. It is #021.

Ed

jim lockwood

Construction on our tube frame D&D prototype was started in '92 and completed in '93.

Prior to our car being built, D&D built a white coupe body which rode on a stock, Sting Ray frame. There were some magazine articles publicizing this car. Last I knew, it was in southern CA.

Although there are other D&D bodies on stock frames, all of them that I know of were built several years later.

I think I know the red MAI roadster...... it was at Bloomington in '83. If we are thinking of the same car, it has rectangular headlights.


Yours is certainly one of the very first roadsters. When built, it had the off-center steering rack which was a trait of the early cars up to but not including #039, built by John Hinckley (JohnZ).

John recognized the error and insisted that Dean correct the steering geometry in his car. All cars after his also got improved steering geometry.

(Our prototype had the goofy geometry when we got it. In early '07, we paid Dick Guldstrand to re-engineer the steering.)

In the 15 or so years I've tracked Grand Sports, I've encountered only one with an earlier serial number than yours, this one which is #020 and lives in Florida:



Having said that, let me add that I believe sequential serial numbers probably started with #020 and there are none with a lower number. I think it's possible #020 is the 2nd tube frame D&D and that yours is the 3rd.

So what about our prototype? Its serial number is actually the Julian manufacturing date in lieu of a sequential number.

I've never seen another D&D with a Julian date for a VIN.

Jim

Edit: Weeelllll, maybe I mis-spoke. The European coupe I mention a few posts farther down has a lower VIN. I'm unclear about whether it was built before or after #020 and #021.

ReadyEddie

Jim, what you have said seems to coinside with what I learned and I think mine was completed in'93. The VIN number is also welded into the driver's side frame tube in the engine compartment.

ReadyEddie

Jim, I have seen pictures on the internet of one in Sweden that looked identical to mine when I got it(ie same #2 livery and same center dash switch plate ect.) I wonder what number it is?

Mr. Wizzard

Do you have any pics of your car posted on the internet?
LW

jim lockwood

Is it on the top side of the frame tube or the bottom?

The VIN on ours is on the bottom of the frame, and was hand "drawn" by someone laying on beads of weld to form the numbers.

Jim

Edit: You've also got a VIN plate on your door hinge pillar. Does that VIN agree with what's on the frame?

jim lockwood

Can you find a link to pictures of this car? I'd like to see it.

In Europe, there is also a very early coupe, s/n "DDGSC003". You can tell it's an early car by two features (besides the VIN): It's got the lowered nose, common to all the 1st design bodies and it's got the molded-in air inlets for the front brakes.

Other than our prototype, it's the only other D&D I've seen with those inlets.

Jim

catchme76

Hey guys! Just an update I wanted to share!

Chevy High Performance magazine April 2014 issue! Check out my Vette's feature article!

ReadyEddie

Jim,
My VIN is done the same as yours in weld beads, but is on the top side of the frame.Yes the numbers agree. I also have a 63 corvette vin tag and trim tag that was obtained when it was in Calif. which it is now registered under.

When I search the internet the car in Sweden does not showup now, but there was one with a lady standing in front of it in front of a lake. Then there were other pictures showing her and her husband at a car show I think. The reason I remember it was there was an article about it in Swedish.

ReadyEddie

Larry,
There are additional pictures of my car in "Albums" and there is an article in the April 2013 issue of Corvette Magazine. I am sorry I have not learned to post additional pictures on here.

You may remember me when we met at the Cowtown show last year. I did not have my car in the show. It will be in the Dallas Autorama this coming weekend.

Ed

jim lockwood

Have you ever examined the underside of the frame? I'm curious about whether there is a number stamped into the bottom of the #2 crossmember, where it joins with the driver's side long frame tube.

Ours has the Julian date the frame was manufactured stamped there.

Jim

groovyjay

Excellent addition to the 001's history:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miles...17403478289437

ReadyEddie

I think I found the one in Sweden.http://www.tv2.no/underholdning/broo...t-3601357.html

jim lockwood

A little tough to read. I couldn't make out anything which looked like a reference to the VIN.

ReadyEddie

I've looked at it again and I think I can make out that is in Oslo, Norway and is owned by a Christian Ferr. I can see a reference to D&D, has a 1971 350 SB and has 1994 ZR1 suspension or brakes. If that is the case it was probably built after mine. I just thought it was amazing that it looked so similar to mine.

groovyjay

That car is actually in Norway and that's the same car Saint's been talking about here.

ReadyEddie

D&D Grand Sport #DDGSC003 is being offered for sale on ebay and is located in France. Jim it has the front air ducts which you have discussed before. It also indicates that it was built in 1990? I could not tell if it has the narrowed frontend.

Ed


Just noticed where the silver w/black strip coupe sold by Crown Motors a few years ago was being offered for sale also.

jim lockwood

Ed,

Thanks for pointing that out. I've downloaded all the pictures from the auction and added them to my files.

I don't buy the notion that DDGS003 was made in 1990. Follow my reasoning:

The earliest public mention of D&D Grand Sports which I've seen was in the Dec. 92 issue of Corvette Fever. The article in that issue is about the D&D coupe which was built on a stock chassis. Regarding tube frame D&D Grand Sports, the article says:

"The true Grand Sports were built on a special tube chassis, and D&D has recently [emphasis added] begun offering a replica of that frame using the suspension of the current generation Corvette."

I doubt that the concept of "recently" would reach as far back in time as two years prior to that article.

There are other factual errors in the listing which further cast doubt on the 1990 manufacture claim:

" Full set of genuine Halibrand wheels. " Well, no. Those are PSE wheels, aluminum replicas of the original magnesium Halibrands.

"Suspension, steering, brakes, front and rear end come from a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1" Well, no. The suspension is first generation C4 which was never used on ZR1s. Also, ZR1s used 13" front rotors which won't fit inside the 15" PSE wheels.

Don't misunderstand. I think the car itself is pretty neat.

It's the only other D&D I've seen, besides our prototype, which includes the front brake cooling ducts. And it's clearly an early car. It's got the sloping front and the GM steering rack as well as the early Halibrand KO adapters.

It's just not exactly as described in the EBay listing.

Oh, didja happen to notice in the picture of the left rear wheel/tire that the tire is flat spotted? Someone misjudged their braking point as they approached corner entry!

To actually get around to answering your question.... yes, the suspension has been narrowed.

Jim