Duntov at the wheel of the Chevrolet Experimental Research Vehicle, CERV 1, a single-seater that he designed and constructed as a platform from which he and his fellow Chevrolet engineers could explore high-performance ride and handling characteristics under extreme real world conditions. Photo: GM Media Archive
Heroes

Zora Arkus-Duntov

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Duntov at the wheel of the Chevrolet Experimental Research Vehicle, CERV 1, a single-seater that he designed and constructed as a platform from which he and his fellow Chevrolet engineers could explore high-performance ride and handling characteristics under extreme real world conditions. Photo: GM Media Archive

Destiny often has a hard time happening, seldom more so than in the case of Zora Arkus-Duntov, the champion of the Chevrolet Corvette. He made his way from Brussels to Detroit via Leningrad, the Russian revolution, Berlin, Nazi persecution, along an escape route through Marseilles and Lisbon to New York, eventually taking the Harley Earl-designed 1953 ’Vette under his wing and keeping it there, battling most of his life for its rightful place in American society.

His battle is the stuff of legends. The fact that the Corvette has been with us in one form or another for around 60 years and seven generations is the best testimony to that.

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