The Formula for a Sports Car

Find a '59 Corvette with a carburetor and then documenting it as an original 290 horse fuelie is excitement enough, but also finding out your restoration project is a former SCCA race warrior amounts to Straight Axle heaven. Even though there may not be obvious signs of a fuel injected history, other than the badges, which are easy enough to add you may still come across a rare find. The faded face of a high-rpm tach is the first hard clue of a fuelie. Further, windshield wipers on the right hand side, where this system is on the left on carbureted Corvettes.

    A fuelie, came in two configurations the RPO 579  the 250 horse or 579D  the 290 horse.

Those in the know, knew that the tach cable for the 290 horse Corvette ran off the back of the distributor and was shorter than the 250 horse tach cable, which snaked to the generator.

     You can use the 1959 NCRS judging manual to document it as a 290 horse gauge. When you pull the body, if you notice a 4 x 6-inch plate welded to the top of the frame on the passenger side foot well that's the brace for the roll bar. Of course, a roll bar hints at racing, which is why it's wise to begin a title search through DMV.

    Buying a new Corvette in 1959 was like buying a sports car virtually ready to race, provided just a few certain options were checked on the order form.

     A guy would order his Corvette with a race car disposition, which didn't take much extra in those days. He started with the top rated 283, a 4 speed, RPO 686 metallic brakes, and posi traction rear axle. To ready his '59 for the track, a guy simply installed a roll bar, taped numbers on the doors, taped the headlights, and popped off the tiny hub caps that came with the metallic brake option. Most guys also specified radio delete to subtract weight. With the top down, the solid-lifters tapping away, and the 4 speed clicking through the gears, a radio is difficult to hear even in a muffled street Corvette of this era. You don't need one. The engine was already playing sweet Chevrolet music under the hood.

    Fellow racers of the era, included Don Yenko, of Yenko Chevrolet and Donna Mae Mimms, with her famous "Think Pink" Corvette. Many racers got to  meet Zora Arkus Duntov many times in those racing days.

     Just 333 Corvettes came with the RPO 686 metallic brake option in '59. Michael Antonick's Corvette Black Book shows that the 290 horse 283 was ordered in quantities of 745 for 1959. Combining RPO 579D  the engine  with RPO 686 metallic brakes makes for one rare combination, we are sure.

     However, if you restore one of these Corvettes and you get the urge, you can easily prep it for competition by, adding a roll bar, tape numbers on the doors, tape the headlights, pop off those little hub caps, and hit the track.