John Hinckley's (JohnZ) Grand Sport Replica!

[Xplantdad]

Hi, Bruce -
I've attached some photos of the '63 Corvette Grand Sport replica I built.

I built the car in 1995 from a raw tube frame and raw one-piece fiberglass race body shell I bought from D&D Corvette in Akron, Ohio (now out of business). It was built as an exact replica of Grand Sport #003 as it appeared at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March, 1964, driven by A.J. Foyt and John Cannon.


It used C4 Corvette suspension and brakes, Aldan aluminum coil-overs, an Appleton sprint car power steering rack, JAZ fuel cell, custom-made Griffin aluminum radiator, and Phil Schmidt (PS Engineering, Torrance, California) made the Halibrand replica wheels for me from the original Grand Sport patterns.


Power was a relatively mild 383 I built with Edelbrock aluminum heads and intake; engine dynoed at 430hp @ 5800 and 440 ft-lbs. @ 4600. Used an M-21 and a 3.08 cruising axle; didn't need any more gear than that, as it only weighed 2340# wet. Hedman custom-made the under-frame headers for me, and the 4 sidepipes were open - no mufflers or baffles. Also added Vintage Air A/C for summer cruising, as the D&D race body shell had no provisions for ventilation. The only production Corvette parts in the body were the door hinges and latches and the windshield - everything else was fabricated.


I put about 6,000 miles on it and sold it in 1998 to an east coast collector to make garage space for another Corvette project; one of the many cars I've built that I should have kept, but you can't keep them all and continue to build/restore new projects.

Photos attached of the finished car and a few taken during engine pre-run in the chassis before body drop; use whichever ones you like.
Regards,
John Hinckley (JohnZ)

[Belair62]

Extremely cool ...what a bruiser !!!!!!!!!!!

[Xplantdad]

I think this Corvette is totally cool! Nothing better than a Corvette race car...with A/C too boot!

Thanks John for sharing it with all of us!

[47Hammer]

When I was in my late teens there was a guy who had a Corvette that lookd just like this one sans the white stripe and numbers. He ran an Ed Pink Big Block Chevrolet with wide open side pipes and Goodyear blue streaks (slicks) on the street. The guy would run the car in the late night hours high above Los Angeles on the infamous section of Mulholland Drive and you could hear him comming for quite a ways off. What a car and with a sound I will never forget. The guys name was Charlie.

[427TJ]

I want one just like that! Breathtaking car! x 1,000

[MosportGreen66]

really neat car. Some of the replicas done right,
never get old. My hats off to you!

[Z-11 396]

what a '' fantastic '' looking car, you did a great job building it, good story, and information, thanks for sharing....kasey...

[mockingbird812]

Impressive workmanship! Thanks for the pictures and story. The talent lurking around here never ceases to amaze me.