[VIDEO] Original 1963 Corvette Grand Sport Driven at the Simeone Museum

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[VIDEO] Original 1963 Corvette Grand Sport Driven at the Simeone Museum

How many times have you seen a photo of one of the five 1963 Corvette Grand Sports?

But how many times have you actually heard the sound of that awesome 427 engine roaring through the gears on a road and producing between 500 and 600 horsepower?

Too many times it seems that a car’s life is basically over once it reaches a museum, where it just sits there and is admired by enthusiasts, but that’s not the case at the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia.

Twice a month, Simeone takes several cars from its collection of some of the most historically significant cars on the planet and drives them outside for spectators.

That was the case recently when an actual 1963 Corvette Grand Sport – not a replica – was actually fired up and driven around a parking lot to the delight of a huge line of spectators. That was a beautiful sound for sure!

Simeone’s Grand Sport is one of just two roadster versions made by Corvette Chief Engine Zora Arkus-Duntov, who had to create the five Grand Sports in secret due to the ban on factory racing by General Motors.

Zora wanted to go racing with the Corvette and was able to make these five GS’s before GM found out about them and cancelled the secret program.

The example on this video is unrestored, but it still looks and sounds fabulous more than 50 years later.

Spectators that day also got to see one of the Grand Sport’s rivals, the original Shelby Daytona Prototype, as well as a couple of Jaguar C-types actually being driven.

These are just a few of many prestigious cars you can see at the Simeone, and you can go to www.simeonemuseum.org and click on Demo Days for the upcoming schedule of the museum’s cars that will actually be used for their original purpose – driving!


Source:
SimeoneMuseum.org

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