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RPO Z06
Great expectations were set as the second generation of Corvettes
emerged from Chevrolet's creative process. The split-window
was an issue between Bill Mitchell and Zora Arkus-Duntov. Bill
won the first round about the split-window only to lose the fight in
MY 1964 when it disappeared.
Besides, in MY 1963, Zora had something else on his mind. R a c i n g! Five years before the Split-window 1963 appeared, the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) banned all forms of
factory-backed competition. In 1962, Carroll Shelby (at right) had approached Chevrolet about
building light-bodied Corvettes for racing and was turned down. He then
turned to Ford and the Cobra - Corvette rivalry was born...as was the legend
of the AC Cobra.
How did Corvette racing happen with the AMA ban firmly in
place?
 Zora Arkus-Duntov's ingenuity and skill produced both a way around the ban
and a premier race-ready Corvette...the RPO Z06 Special Performance Equipment
option, a creative approach to producing a turnkey race car.
The original Z06 Corvettes were limited production. Only 199 were
built over five production runs. The first cars were built for established
racers such as Mickey Thompson (pictured above center between Arkus-Duntov and
Shinoda. Six cars were built in October 1962 and sold to the dealers
that sponsored Corvette race teams. These cars were picked up at the factory in
Saint Louis and driven on the road to California. Within weeks the Z06 Sting Ray
had won its first race at Riverside.
In October, 1962 four new Sting Ray racers debuted at the Los
Angeles Times Grand Prix in Riverside, California. Although three
of the four race cars were sidelined by mechanical failures by the end of the
race, the fourth...entered by Mickey Thompson and driven by Doug Hooper...took the checkered flag beating the best of Europe and the new
Shelby Cobra to boot! One of the five 1963 Z06s turned over to
Mickey Thompson (with the telltale M/T) for racing is pictured at left.
 Over two thousand Corvettes were ordered with the fuel-injected, L84
solid-lifter "327" with 11.25:1 compression ratio and 360 horsepower. ...but
that was just the entry ticket for the Special Performance Equipment option.
Besides the Special Performance
Package and the L84 engine, additional extra cost options were
required before the package could be ordered. These included a
four-speed Muncie transmission (instead of the standard Borg-Warner), and posi-traction rear
end...increasing the effective price of the Z06 option to well over one half the
price of the car! (The Z06 option at $1,818.14
plus the other required options ($661.75) added up to
$2,479.89...more than half the base price of $4,252.)
The Z06 option included unique dual
circuit power brakes with sintered metallic linings, that were
larger than the standard metallic linings, vented backing plates,
larger finned brake drums, cooling fans in the drums, self adjusters
that work going forward instead of the standard when backing.
Chevrolet had a problem with the aluminum wheels
holding air, the tires were tubeless and the wheels were porous. These wheels
were never
delivered on a customer ordered car until the middle of the 1964 production run.
However, in December, 1962 Chevrolet dropped the knock-off wheels and 36.5
gallon fuel tank (which took up most of the space behind the seats) which were
initially required for the Z06 option, reducing the price of to an acceptable $1295.
The 36.5 gallon fuel tank became option N03 when it was dropped from the Z06
package. Only 63 of the 199 Z06-optioned Corvettes were produced with the
36.5 gallon fuel tank producing one of the rarest of Corvettes.
Z06 suspension modifications included
heavy-duty rear transverse spring (7 leaves rather than the stock 9
leaves), heavy-duty front springs and specially calibrated shock
absorbers all around. Suspension elements
included a heavy-duty 1 inch front
anti-sway bar and much stiffer than normal springs and shocks factory installed
at all four
corners. Initially offered only on the coupe, Chevrolet later offered the Z06
option on the convertible, but there were no takers.
...and certainly the 1963 with RPO Z06
enabled Zora to say when referring to the 1963 Sting Ray, "For the first time I now have a Corvette I can be proud to
drive in Europe."
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