This Experimental 200-MPH Chevy Could Sell For $2 Million

Anyone who’s a Corvette fan should know this comic book-worthy name: Zora Arkus-Duntov. If you’re up on Chevrolet lore, you’ll know that Arkus-Duntov indeed holds superhero status thanks to his role as the “Father of the Corvette.” Born in 1909, he escaped the ravages of World War II to wind up guiding General Motors’ racing flagship that remains a sports car force.

All of which is key prelude to an amazing machine going up for auction during the famed Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on the Monterey peninsula next month. Labeled simply as a 1960 Chevrolet CERV I, the ground-scraping, Formula One-looking blue and white bullet looks like it leaped out of the frames of a “Speed Racer” cartoon.

And that’s no idle comparison when you consider that with Arkus-Duntov at the wheel this land-shark hit 206 mph at GM’s Milford Proving Grounds in 1964.

Long tucked away in a series of high-profile private collections, this is the first time the CERV I - which stands for Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle - will be offered for sale, and is expected to fetch between $1.3 and $2 million, says RM Sotheby’s Alain Squindo.

“The rap sheet of what this car did is a mile long, and much of it was with Zora actually behind the wheel, not to mention other racing greats,” says Squindo, noting that the collectors who took care of the car were the kind of men who would have made sure it could run and drive.

“First and foremost, though, this car contributed greatly to Zora’s racing mentality while he was at Chevrolet,” he says. “It helped forge that company’s racing pedigree.”

As the story goes, Arkus-Duntov - who joined GM in 1953 after setting up a successful parts manufacturing business in New York with his brother - was frustrated by overheating issues with a special 1957 Corvette he was driving. So he and his High Performance Vehicle team decided they needed a mule for the purpose of testing a Corvair-type drivetrain layout.

Zora Arkus-Duntov with the CERV I in 1960. Photo: Getty Images

As drawn up on paper, the car had to be eligible for the Indianapolis 500. Its exotic skeleton consisted of a chrom-moly steel tubular space frame that tipped the scales at a mere 125 lbs., while its wind-cheating fiberglass body by Larry Shinoda (Ford Mustang) and Tony Lapine (Porsche 928) weighed just 80 lbs. Its original powerplant was a Corvette prototype-derived 289-cubic inch V8 capable of 315 hp.

But CERV I soon took on a dizzying array of guises and challenges. In fact, it first turned its massive wheels in anger on the frightening roads of Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, where it raced up and down a mile-long segment of the 14,000-foot mountain’s dirt roads some 60 times.

After middling results in that endeavor, Arkus-Duntov headed to Riverside Raceway in California. Before a Grand Prix race there, Arkus-Duntov, Dan Gurney and Stirling Moss, legends all, zipped CERV around the track before an appreciative crowd in a respectable time.

Soon, the car would go even faster. At GM’s Proving Grounds, Arkus-Duntov took the wheel and broke 170 mph. When he failed to win NASCAR founder Bill France’s $10,000 challenge for a car that could hit 180 mph lapping Daytona (CERV reached 162 mph), the engineer turned to turbocharging for an added boost. The result was a 500-hp beast whose front wheels lifted off the ground upon takeoff, leading to a Shinoda restyling for improved aerodynamics.

By 1964, CERV I was in the process of being set aside to make way for its successor, CERV II. Its last official incarnation saw it packed with its (seventh) engine, a 377-cubic inch V-8 cast by Alcoa at a reported cost of nearly $300,000. That’s the engine that rests in the car today.

Always possessive of his automotive children, Arkus-Duntov wouldn’t allow CERV I to be chopped up after its four-year run. Instead, he ensured that it was restored, and in 1972 both CERV I and II were gifted to Briggs Cunningham - whose Le Mans team Arkus-Duntov had helped with - for his expansive museum in Costa Mesa, Calif. 

When Cunningham decided to part out his gems, CERV I wound up with noted collector Miles Collier, who then sold it to the current owner.

“There’s so much about this car that’s fascinating, if you’re into racing development history,” says Squindo. “But then, if you’re mainly a Corvette fan, there’s also the fact that CERV I was the test-bed for the 1963 Corvette’s independent suspension.”

Indeed, for fans of America’s supercar, that’s enough to grant CERV I haloed status.