[VIDEO] Legendary 1963 Z06 Gulf One Race Heading to Mecum Kissimmee

With a little over two weeks left in 2021, we’re counting down to the new year and the annual January auction frenzy. Many significant Corvettes will be up for grabs. Most notably, the legendary 1963 Z06 Gulf One racer will be crossing the Mecum red carpet in January 2022.

Gulf One is well known throughout the Corvette hobby and considered the most successful factory-backed production racing Corvette of the C2 era. It’s one of 14 specially assigned Z06 racers and one of two allotted to Yenko Chevrolet in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. It would be driven by Grady Davis, the executive vice president of Gulf Oil Research and Development who’d been successfully racing Corvettes since 1961.

The car was delivered to Gulf personnel at the St. Louis Corvette plant in October 1962 and subsequently driven to their corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh. There it was prepared at Davis’ direction and promptly shipped to Puerto Rico for the Puerto Rico Grand Prix. On its maiden voyage, “The Flying Dentist” Dr. Dick Thompson drove Gulf One to the first class win of its illustrious career. A victory at the “Refrigerator Bowl” in Marlboro, Maryland soon followed. After that, the car was off to Daytona where Thompson took third overall and first in the GT3 class.

Next up was first place overall at the SCCA President’s Cup at Marlboro, Maryland, another win in the A/Production class at Danville, Virginia, and capped off by victory at Road America. It completed the season as the most successful of all the Specially Assigned Z06 Corvettes.

The car was purchased in 1991 by collector and racer Rich Mason who had restorer Chet Bunch bring the car back to its 1963 Sebring 12-hour livery. Today the car retains its prominent rear fenders, two-bar finned aluminum knock-offs, the racing fuel filler, running lights, and Plexiglas windows. Other unique content includes the manually operated headlights, rear deck-mounted fiberglass brake-cooling scoops, and the specially-designed aerodynamic hood.

After its rebirth, Gulf One traveled the show circuit building adding to its already-impressive resume. In 1993 it won the NCRS Special Interest Award at Cypress Gardens, Florida, participated in the 1998 Chip’s Choice at Corvettes at Carlisle, and won Best Competition Car at the 2013 Greenwich Concours d’ Elegance. It participated in the 1994 and 2009 Bloomington Gold Special Collections. 2013 also marked Gulf One’s induction to the Bloomington Gold Great Hall. Additionally, it’s graced the pages of many magazines. Today its fully documented including its complete ownership history featuring Grady Davis’ Gulf letters to Don Yenko and Zora Arkus-Duntov among other documents.

We last saw Gulf One cross the auction block back in 2009 at Mecum Kissimmee where it changed hands for $1.05 million. 13 years later it’ll return to Kissimmee this time being offered from John Justo’s ridiculous collection of classics. While we have no idea what this car is worth now, it’ll make for some must-see TV when Lot R384 crosses the block in January.

Mecum’s Kissimmee auction will take place January 6-16 at the Osceola Heritage park. TV coverage on Motor Trend will be announced at a later date.

Source:
Mecum Auctions

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