Concept Cars

1957 Chevy Corvette racer sets historical price record

A unique Chevrolet Corvette SS Project XP-64 built by the legendary engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov 68 years ago has found a new owner this week for U.S. $7,705,000.

CarBuzz says that the highest auction price of any Corvette was at $3,850,000, so the prototype racer nearly doubled it.

Despite sharing the name with the “civilian” Corvette, the XP-64 had virtually nothing in common with it. It was a completely standalone car with its own design. Chevrolet knew what it was doing when it put the Corvette nameplate on it, though, because sales soared after a few racing events.

The XP-64 is based on a chromium-molybdenum steel frame and magnesium bodywork. A 4.6-liter V8 drives the wheels with 310 PS (306 hp / 228 kW). Back in its glory days, the racer could accelerate to 290 km/h (180 mph), making it one of the fastest vehicles in the world. Unfortunately, it was also highly prone to mechanical failures and scored no major accolades in motorsports.

This particular example had been driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss back in the day, the listing points out.

Editor: Andrew Raspopov