From time to time, we all like to take a look back in history for any number of reasons. Some of it may be that we enjoy seeing how far we have come as a society or with our technological advancements. Sometimes it serves as a reminder of things we are better off not repeating, just as it can portray a lifestyle or tradition we may want to bring back.

In this case, we would like to look back to a period of time before man had walked on the moon, and the automotive technology in America was just coming into full swing. Not only is it a story about a special car, but it is a story about what a few men can do when faced with a challenge, and the type of impact they can have on the future of design.

 

Ferrari – I Think Not

Many of us–at least the more recent generations–were commonly introduced to automobiles and motorsports by our fathers. When you’ve been in the garage from the time you could walk, you tend to feel like the car culture is in your blood.

Jerome C. Earl was no different as he was the son of the famed Harley Earl, know by many as the Father of the Corvette. Harley Earl had the vision and determination to create the first Corvette and move it into production in 1953, bringing about the beginning of America’s sports car.

We should also mention that the Father of the Corvette title is often shared amongst another important man of the era, Zora Arkus-Duntov. Duntov was also a key player in the project and would go on to build a life based around high-performance Corvettes. In fact, GM recently trademarked the name “Zora” as many believe this could be the name of Corvette’s first mid-engine car, a life-long pursuit of Duntov.

Considering his upbringing and the fact that he was living in the Golden Era of Racing, Jerome C. Earl, known as Jerry Earl, was drawn to the world of competitive road racing.

While a Corvette may seem like a natural fit for a person in his shoes, the Corvettes of the ’50s were simply not able to effectively compete against the European-built sports cars like the Jaguars, Porsches, and Ferraris, just to name a few.

Because of this, Jerry Earl was racing a Ferrari and doing relatively well. Unfortunately, some of the General Motors executives caught wind that the young Earl was racing an Italian sports car and were less than pleased. Shortly thereafter, Harley Earl was called into their offices.

While the conversation was kept relatively quiet, we can imagine it consisted of a statement like, “Mr. Earl, we have recently acquired information about the fact your son has been racing a Ferrari. While we can’t fault your boy for pursuing a life of automotive performance, we do have a reputation to maintain and a new brand to build. We appreciate you as an employee and hope you can continue to spearhead the Corvette for us. Accordingly, we believe it would be in your best interest to lure your son out of that Italian sports car and into something a little more… Corvette.”

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As you can probably appreciate, Harley Earl acted quickly with his son’s car choice and we’d guess it was not phrased in the form of a question. With that disaster averted, the real challenge still lay ahead for the Earls as they were tasked with outfitting a C1 to compete with the best sports cars the world had to offer.

 

The SR-2s

In 1956, Corvettes were built in the St. Louis facility, and it was here that 1956 Corvette #2522 would leave the plant and head for the GM Styling Studio in Warren, Michigan. Under the shop order 90090, the real work began that May.

There were over 17 engineers working on the car in multiple shifts each day to ensure its completion for the 1956 racing season. On June 13th, the new Vette was complete and ready for its racing debut. It was registered with the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) and received its competition number, 144.

Ten days later, the car was entered in the June Sprints at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Jerry Earl took the car out for a practice session but he was relatively unfamiliar with the car. He may have pushed a bit too hard too soon, and wound up spinning off track. The car was quite a different animal than Earl’s Ferrari and it would take some getting used to. Luckily there was no damage to the SR-2.

Dr. Dick Thompson jumped in the cockpit and drove the car throughout the six-hour race, finishing in a decent position. He did have some some thoughts with the car however, noting it needed more horsepower and a decent drop in the weight department.

Jerry Earl continued to run the car for the remainder of the season in the Central Region SCCA races. This car was initially the first “low fin” design, in which the fin was the same height as the rear deck lid instead of soaring well above it as in the later versions.

This first SR-2 had a longer nose than the “high fin” and also incorporated fog lights in lieu of the turn signals, aerodynamically shaped cones in place of the headlights, and side-mounted air scoops near the end of the coves for increased cooling capabilities.

During the winter months, the car underwent a few changes, some in alignment with Dr. Thompson’s suggestions. The new edition was a “high fin” design and sported a special 331 cubic inch, fuel-injected engine bolted to a new 1957 four-speed tranny. The fog lights were also replaced with special parking lamps, which directed air through screens and onto the backing plates of the front brakes for improved cooling.

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Photos courtesy of: Corvette Mike

The doctor also recommended a diet plan, so to speak, so the stock interior was removed, lightweight seats were borrowed out of a Porsche Spyder, and a few other parts were swapped for fiberglass counterparts, resulting in an overall weight reduction of about 300 pounds. Not bad!

A Smokey SR-2

The second SR-2 to be constructed was done so for Bill Mitchell. The famous racing driver and engineer of the era, Henry “Smokey” Yunick, prepared the engine and worked on improving the braking system for the car. Yunick was in full agreement with Thompson, as the street-going Vettes of the time tipped the scales at around 3,000 pounds.

While the first car shed about 10-percent of its weight, there was still plenty of room for improvement. Thanks to removing more unnecessary bulk and using more lightweight materials, the SR-2 (2.0, if you will) weighed in at a respectable 2,300 pounds.

Yunick also did some massaging to the engine by stroking and boring the original 283 out to a full 336 cubic inches. Other changes included an all new Rochester fuel injection system, more body finessing and brake ducting, as well as air ducts on the front fenders which helped move more air to the engine. To top it all off, the car sported a whopping 48-gallon fuel tank.

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In 1957, the car ran 152.886 mph at the Daytona Speedweek and again ran 152 mph on the beaches of Daytona, driven by Buck Baker. The car continued to race at Sebring and Nassau, but sadly never hit the French pavement at LeMans, as Chevrolet officially withdrew from motorsports right before the event.

The very first Corvettes to wear the “SR” name were debuted at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1956. To this day, no official meaning of “SR” is known. Some believe that it stands for Special Racing, while the majority of the public refers to them as the Sebring Racers. Perhaps it has some other secret meaning that we will never decode, but either way it seems to be a fitting title for the special Vettes at this point.

That being said, the commotion and attention by the SR-2s and the minds behind them is believed by many to have saved the Corvette program for years to come. If there was not such an interest in the cars initially, we may have never seen the following six generations.

A Race Car For The Streets

At the time, it was not uncommon for GM higher-ups to drive modified or custom vehicles, in fact Bill Mitchell was rather well known for doing so.

Harlow Curtice was the president of General Motors at the time and was rather inspired by the look of the SR-2 race cars. He thought he should have a street version of the SR-2 for his personal use.

The GM styling staff took car number #1636 off the assembly line in 1956 and began the transformation.

Aside from the factory options, GM really went to town on the custom work from this point forward. The car received SR-2 bodywork which included: an extended nose and louvered hood, large chrome-styled turn lamps, a rather unique shark fin styled-trunk lid, a stunning stainless steel hardtop with a blue leather headliner, multiple chrome and stainless accents, special emblems, and a rather unique metallic blue paint scheme which was Curtice’s own special color.

In addition to a number of other hand-fabricated pieces both functional and decorative, the GM team went on to add a bit more muscle than the street cars were running at the time. This car received a 283 cubic inch V8 equipped with fuel injection. The power was ran through a special T-10 Borg Warner four-speed gearbox and finally though a 3.36:1 rearend. The car also received a full set of Daytona wire wheels instead of the Halibrands ran on the race cars.

Finally, there were many fine appointments made to the interior such as carpets and leather, both done in a rich blue. Lastly, standard seat belts, a day/night time rearview mirror and spare tire were added to maintain street functionality. Quite the custom ride!

Final Thoughts

We all are used to hearing that this era in our history was a simpler time, though if you think about it, their technology was just as cutting edge as ours is today; it’s all relative. “So what’s the difference?” we asked ourselves. We are not so naive as to think that the world hasn’t changed since then, and in a lot of ways for the better. Many of us may find mobile phones to be an irritant for example, but on the whole, people have more opportunity than ever before.

That being said, maybe we need to learn from our past and get back to a time when personal projects were acceptable for the car company higher-ups. Perhaps this would help foster a little more trial and ingenuity to bring back a time when automobiles were truly something special for more then just the car guys. After all, the men and women who got us to where we are today didn’t do so by following all of the rules.