Superformance '63 Grand Sport

History, Continue-ated

"They’re not kit cars,"—words you'll find in every article about Superformance Lingenfelter 1963 Grand Sport Continuation Coupes. Whatever they are, GM authorizes them, they're spectacular, and they're orders of magnitude cheaper than the real thing.

The Grand Sport story began in 1962 when, despite GM having agreed to comply with the Automobile Manufacturing Association's racing ban, Zora Arkus-Duntov's team began work on a car code-named "Lightweight." The goal was to put the Corvette on a 1,100 lb weight-loss program, with the goal of producing a car competitive enough in FIA endurance racing that it could capture the GT class trophy at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. According to FIA regulations, 125 Grand Sports had to be built to qualify for the class, but with only five coupes built, GM higher-ups found out about the project and shut it down, ordering the cars' destruction in the process. Luckily, Duntov managed to stash two of them and make sure the other three wound up with privateers.

War is Over

Of course, the ban on racing is ancient history, but lucky for us, the Grand Sport is today’s news. Without the support of General Motors, the Continuation Coupe would not have been possible, not only from a legal/licensing standpoint but also because the Coupes are built using original blueprints and molds provided by GM. While these new Grand Sports stick close to the originals' in some aspects, they carry with them much of the advanced engineering available in a new Corvette. Not only that, but they're street legal!

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South Africa's Sports Car

Continuation Coupes start life in a state-of-the-art, 300,000 square-foot production facility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The plant's skilled specialists build the Corvettes, minus engines and transmissions, using modified versions of the original molds that provide tighter gaps and fewer waves in the fiberglass. The 'glass, however, is still hand-laid, with the Superformance bodies getting four layers of strand mat followed by two layers of Coremat. Rather than temperamental lacquer paint, the new Coupes are finished in Glasurit acrylic urethane, before being wet sanded and buffed for show-quality results. Buyers can choose from a selection of custom colors or go with a number of era-correct paint and graphics schemes.

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Change is Good

Sacrifices needed to be made in adapting the Coupe for street use so the trunk lid, which on the '63 Grand Sports was merely a hatch affording easy access to the differential, is now a lid leading to an actual, usable trunk. The Continuation Coupe's IRS system, however, uses the correct style Duntov differential for the period. The Superformance Coupe improves on the original drum brakes with Wilwood discs standard at all four corners, and buyers can choose from three separate wheel designs and a whole host of rubber options.

>> Join the conversation about the Superformance '63 Grand Sport in the LS1Tech Forum

Bulking Up

The '63 Grand Sport's chassis was built from special lightweight thin-wall mandrel-bent steel tube, with aluminum birdcage body supports. Superformance's recreation uses standard steel tubing for everything, which results in a slight weight gain—a small price to pay for enhanced durability.

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Creature Comforts

As with the exterior, the interior can be ordered to suit as well, outfitted in either a spare race-style standard or with the touring package, featuring ample dollops of German leather. Power windows are an option as is A/C, via Vintage Air. Another aftermarket supplier, Michigan's Classic Instruments, supplies replica Grand Sport gauges to keep you in the game, 1963-style.

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Shopping for Horses

The original Grand Sport's aluminum block, heads, and cross-ram intake manifold were as trick as could be for an American V8 in 1963. That 377 ci small-block churned out between 485 and 550 hp, depending on whom you believe, but for today's Continuation Coupe you can pick your performance level from Chevrolet Performance Connect & Cruise, including potent Engines from Lingenfelter Performance Engineering—as well as your choice of manual or automatic transmission.

>> Join the conversation about the Superformance '63 Grand Sport in the LS1Tech Forum

The Transaction

How much will a chance to own a facsimile of racing history set you back? It depends. A Superformance Continuation Coupe goes for $109,900, and again, that's less engine and trans. The one Autoblog got their driving-glove-wrapped hands-on cost its owner $170,000, including the engine, transmission, and installation—an amount that is, for now, enough to buy a beautiful original C2 Corvette, though of course not a real '63 Grand Sport. But with so few originals, the Continuation Coupe isn't likely to move the needle on the '63 Grand Sport's legacy, or their values, the slightest bit. With slightly more than 30 Superformance Grand Sports built as of December 2017, you're already more likely to come upon a recreation than the real thing. Going forward, we have to wonder if the C2 Corvette will become the next AC Cobra, with more replicas regularly running around than genuine articles. If that happens, it will be interesting to see if and how the cost of admission for a true C2 reacts, though it's hard to argue against more Corvette goodness, in any form, in this world of ours.

>> Join the conversation about the Superformance '63 Grand Sport in the LS1Tech Forum

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