Mecum Auctions calls “Gulf One” the most desirable 1963 Corvette Z06 of them all! Delivered from Yenko Chevrolet to Gulf Oil’s Grady Davis in October 1962, this Corvette Z06 was race prepared and rushed down to the Puerto Rico Grand Prix where it scored its first class win. With the “Flying Dentist” Dr. Dick Thompson at the wheel, the Gulf Oil sponsored Z06 became the most successful factory-backed production racing Corvette of the C2 era.
In addition to the Z06’s historical racing achievements, the Corvette itself is significant as it represented at the time the most dramatic advance in production Corvette performance. Of the 21,513 Corvettes produced in 1963, Gulf One was 1 of only 14 regular production Corvette Serial Numbers assigned specifically for competition and it was the first of 2 Serial Numbers assigned to Yenko Chevrolet specifically for competition.
After the win at Puerto Rico, Gulf One took the A-Production class win at Marlboro, Maryland in January 1963 and then was prepped for FIA competition for races at Daytona and Sebring. Thompson and Gulf one placed third overall and first in GT3 class at Daytona in February behind two Ferrari GTO’s, but a disappointing gearbox failure at Sebring marred the car’s impressive qualifying performance.
Thompson barnstormed Gulf One across the country, winning 1st place overall at the SCCA President’s Cup at Marlboro, Maryland and the A/Production class at Danville, Virginia and Road America. In all, Gulf One saw more racing combat in more venues than any of the other “Specially Assigned” factory Z-06’s and was always at the front of the pack.
Today, the Gulf One Corvette Z06 has been restored and appears as it did on the starting grid of the 1963 Sebring 12 Hours. Mecum will auction the Corvette this Saturday around 2:30pm at the annual Mecum Kissimmee auction in Central Florida. On hand to witness the sale as well as meet and greet fans is the “Flying Dentist” himself, Dr. Dick Thompson.
CorvetteBlogger will be spending some quality time in Orlando with both the NCRS Winter Regional Meet and the Mecum auction featuring 750+ cars. I’ll have results and auction videos early next week.
Sources:
Mecum
Related:
Breaking News: Corvette Grand Sport #002 Fails to Reach Reserve
1962 Gulf Oil Corvette Sells for $1.485 Million at Pebble Beach
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