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Subaru Forester Generations: Through the YearsRelive Corvette Greatness with this Grand Sport Replica
The C2 Grand Sport Corvette is one of racing history’s greatest “what if” moments, a brilliant racecar that never got its due in competition.
The Legend Returns
American sports car owners love their hen’s teeth-rare iterations, the one-of-three examples built on the third Thursday in May of 1970 with both an LS5 and painted in Gobi Beige. For no owners is this truer than for Corvette guys. They know in their bones there’s something special about their car, whether the rest of the universe acknowledges it or not. Indeed, there are rare and special Corvettes with the perhaps the rarest and most special being the original C2-generation Grand Sport of 1963.
It’s vanishingly unlikely that the random Corvette guy at your local Cars & Coffee will have one of the five original 1963 Grand Sports ever built, but if you snatch up this impeccable replica-build we found on Carsforsale.com, you could be that guy, or at least some version of him. So, what’s the story behind the ’63 Grand Sport? What makes it the Ferrari 250 GTO/Shelby Daytona of Corvettes? And why are some replicas worth the money?
The Grandest of Grand Sports
Rewinding to the Corvette’s early days we find the first-generation car began without a V8 under the hood. It wasn’t until a newly hired GM engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov made his pitch for giving the car an extra two cylinders did the Corvette graduate to a V8 in 1955. In fact, it was at GM’s New York Motorama debut of the Corvette where Duntov got the inspiration to apply for work with the company. His skills and devotion to the Corvette eventually earned him engineering stewardship of the project, which included the next-generation C2.
Duntov wanted the new C2 Corvette to have a dedicated racecar version for GT competition with the ultimate goal being the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The only trouble, GM was still party to the AMA (Automotive Manufacturers Association) agreement among US carmakers to stay out of racing. The “Lightweight” project was therefore developed by Duntov and team in that greyish realm of the skunkworks with the hopes of final approval once preliminary engineering had been completed.
Just five Grand Sport C2 Corvettes were built. They carried thinner, and therefore lighter, fiberglass than the regular Corvette. They were fitted with a larger 36-gallon fuel tank, a Posi-traction rear end, and motivated by a 337 cu.-in. V8 tuned to 550 horsepower. Suspension was upgraded as were the brakes. Duntov had hoped to get approval for at least the minimum 125 cars required for FIA homologation requirements, but the GM brass decided to keep within the letter of the AMA agreement, dashing any hopes of a production version of the Grand Sport Corvette.
The existent Grand Sports did make it to competition, but without factory support. Drivers like Bob Bondurant and Roger Penske raced the few Grand Sports. In 1963, Dick Thompson took an SCCA race at Watkins Glen behind the wheel of a Grand Sport. Though the cars showed promise, the lack of factory support doomed them to be rapidly eclipsed by newer GT cars from the likes of Ford, Ferrari, and Porsche.
In the end, the Grand Sport Corvette is one of racing history’s great “what might have been” stories. Today, all five original cars are in private hands, occasionally making their way to museum exhibitions, like the one I attended at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. The original Grand Sport Corvettes are about as rare as collectable racecars get, right there with the Ferrari 250 GTO and Shelby Daytona.
Next-Gen Grand Sports
Automakers are loath to squander a storied nameplate. So, naturally, the Grand Sport name returned to the Corvette for a series of special editions and high-end trims starting in 1996. For the final year of the C4/fourth generation, Chevrolet produced a limited 1,000 examples of the new Grand Sport Corvette. All were done in brilliant blue paint with a large white racing stripe down the middle of the car. The Grand Sport was powered by an LT4 5.7L V8 making 330 horsepower and paired with a six-speed manual transmission.
Chevy brought back the Grand Sport name for the sixth-generation Corvette, positioning it between the Z51 and Z06. Fitted with a widebody kit, the Grand Sport was now running an LS3 6.2L V8 making a healthy 436 horsepower married to a close-ration six-speed manual. The most recent use of the Grand Sport name was on the C7 Corvette. This version featured mag-ride, a more robust anti-roll bar, and Brembo brakes among its accoutrements. It ran a LT1 6.2L V8 good for 460 horsepower.
The Precedent for High End Replicas
This is all to contextualize the C2 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport replica we found listed on Carsforsale.com. The seller explains this is a factory-authorized continuation car, a GM-licensed replica fabricated using original molds. This car is powered by a 6.2L supercharged LSA V8 crate motor putting down 556 horsepower, well in keeping with the original car’s output. The car features side pipe exhaust, power steering, power windows and AC, as well as leather seats and a period correct racing livery.
Listed at $189,000, this Grand Sport Corvette is a lot of money for a replica. However, there is a good amount of precedent for high-end replicas, especially on famous racing/performance cars built in low numbers. Today, original AC/Shelby Cobras are worth millions of dollars. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get the Cobra experience for much less, fabricators like Factor Five have built entire businesses around recapitulating the legendary Cobra at a more “affordable” price of between $70,000 and $100,000. The same can be said of Ford’s legendary GT40, replicas of which can exceed $200,000.
Given the bespoke nature of the original cars, it makes sense that recreating the likes of the GT40 or the Corvette Grand Sport is a costly endeavor in itself. For its part, this Grand Sport Corvette replica looks about as clean and accurate as you’re likely to encounter. And between the modern amenities, the killer crate motor under the hood, and overall rarity, we’re not betting against the seller getting their asking price.
