11-05-2025
1955 Chevrolet Corvette Test Bed Is Our Auction Pick of the Day
This chassis, EX87, was the first Corvette to have a V-8.
Piloted by Zora Arkus-Duntov and Indy 500 winner Mauri Rose, this car is steeped in GM history.
The bodywork and V-8 are replacements, but the chassis still bears some tell-tale signs of its test-bed history.
The current Corvette ZR1 features a midship-mounted, twin-turbocharged V-8 good for 1048 horsepower. That's not an expected power output, that's a resolution number for your computer screen display. But wind the clock back and you can draw a direct line from the most powerful Vette of all time to this V-8-powered first-generation C1 Corvette.
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Pick of the day at Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos) is titled as a 1955 Chevrolet Corvette with a 327-cubic-inch V-8 fitted, but it is so much more than that. This is chassis EX87, the car driven by father-of-the-Corvette Zora Arkus-Duntov to more than 160 mph at General Motors' Arizona proving grounds, the test bed used to prove that a V-8-powered Vette was the way forward for the breed.
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The Corvette kicked off its lineage with three hundred hand-built Polo White examples in 1953. Think the beginning of the Fallout Netflix series of 1950s Americana: lots of futuristic optimism, chrome, and shiny curves. The Corvette was America's idea of what a sports car might look like, but while the front-to-rear weight distribution was pretty balanced, the six-cylinder powerplant wasn't really up to the task.
Mauri Rose, a GM engineer and a three-time Indy 500 winner, knew that a V-8 was just what the Corvette needed. He had, after all, headed up the team that created the Chevy small-block V-8. Originally an unsold 1954 model, EX87 was the first Vette fitted with V-8 power by Rose, then later handed off to Arkus-Duntov for further development.
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By 1956, GM had a dedicated V-8 Corvette ready to go, so chassis EX87 was separated from its bodywork (which was fitted to another car) and had its Duntov-tuned 307-cubic-inch V-8 and manual transmission replaced with a two-speed auto and a 265-cubic-inch V-8. Later, a 327-cubic-inch V-8 replacement motor was fitted.
The bodywork is 1955 spec, but the spine of this car is infused with early Corvette history. Had Rose and Arkus-Duntov not convinced GM's bean counters with this machine, the Corvette may well have gone the way of the Ford Thunderbird. Instead, the modern, mid-engined Vette is the kind of thing that has Ferrari owners mopping their sweaty brows like in that scene from Airplane. The ZR1 is a beast, and this is its genesis.
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Further, this example has been in the same ownership for 57 years, a lifetime by collector-car standards. It comes with the expected reams of documentation and correspondence, and some neat test-car features like a tow hook for mounting speed-measuring equipment. It's a very pretty car, in a Richard Scarry–looking sense, but the history here is the draw. Indiana Jones might tell you that this proto V-8 Corvette belongs in a museum. Instead, you have the chance to park it in your garage.
The auction ends May 19.
Brendan McAleer
Contributing Editor
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. Read full bio
