Partial Chevrolet CERV I replica heads to auction

In the distant year 1959, Chevrolet invaded the world of big motorsports with a legendary test vehicle known as the CERV I (Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle). Designed by the famous Zora Arkus-Duntov, it recently found a new owner who paid $1,300,000 for it. It now turns out the car is not unique – it has a similar-looking twin.

The racer seen here was designed by a former Chevrolet employee who claims he worked with Larry Shinoda and Tony Lapine on the original CERV I. He says the two engineers had proposed a different body design for the vehicle at first, which ended up unused. He decided to bring back that design in a vehicle combining retro looks and modern technology.

The result is a unique single-seat track tool that resembles the CERV I from the side, but sports its own front and rear end. It also comes finished in a different shade of off-white with pale blue stripes.

The inside looks fairly cramped by modern standards. Highlights here include a two-color trim, a Corvair steering wheel and digital instruments.

A 6.4-liter V8 equipped with modern aluminum heads, forged pistons and a Holly fuel system outputs its torque to a four-speed manual transmission. The listing doesn’t mention how much power it makes. What we do know is that the chassis and suspension are custom and only partly period-correct.

Stay tuned to the Mecum auction next Friday, March 21, to see how much this replica sells for. It looks like no one is eager to provide estimates given the sheer exclusivity of the project, but we’d expect it to sell for a fair bit less than the original’s $1.3M.