Chevrolet
Corvette Grand Sport

Why it matters

The Grand Sport was Chevrolet's purpose-built answer to Carroll Shelby's Cobra: a lightweight racing Corvette that was much closer to a sports-racing prototype than a modified road car. GM's management stopped the programme early, so only five chassis exist, which makes the Grand Sport rarer than either the Cobra Daytona Coupe or the Ferrari 250 GTO.

How rare is it?

Six separate kinds of rarity – never combined into one number.

Each kind of rarity is rated separately and never combined.

Production

Every figure says what it counts.

Independent counts (e.g. engine and colour) are never combined into a calculated figure. Surviving examples are never presented as original production.

History

Zora Arkus-Duntov drove the Grand Sport project as a lightweight Corvette able to beat the Cobra. Where a standard 1963 Corvette weighed about 3,200 lb, the Grand Sport came in at roughly 1,900 lb. GM chairman Frederic Donner ordered the lightweight programme ended, and only five chassis were completed; Arkus-Duntov kept developing the cars unofficially. Because they fell outside normal production specification, the cars raced in SCCA C-Modified and were campaigned in private hands from 1963 to 1965, including at Nassau and Sebring.

Technical specifications

Engine

Transmission & drivetrain

Chassis, body & dimensions

Performance

“Not yet verified” means no source has been checked for that value yet. Nothing is estimated to fill a gap.

Identification guide

How to tell an original from a replica or later conversion.

Only five chassis were built and they are individually known: roadsters 001 and 002 and coupes 003, 004 and 005 (chassis 003 carries number 30837X100003). Period features include a one-piece fibreglass body shell, Plexiglas side and rear windows, fixed headlamps, Halibrand magnesium knock-off wheels and Girling disc brakes with aluminium calipers; eight cooling holes in the rear valance below the taillights, first punched on 003, were later adopted on the other cars.

Sources

Each number links to the exact facts it supports.

1. 1
   Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Coupe - Chassis 003 Level A Wouter Melissen · Ultimatecarpage.com · 2009-06-01

   • Numbers built: 5 (2 converted to Roadster)

   Accessed 2026-11-12
2. 2
   RM Sotheby's Monterey 2026 – 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport (chassis 003) Level B

   • 5 chassis constructed (3 coupes and 2 cars later converted to roadsters)

   Accessed 2026-11-11
3. 3
   1963 Corvette Grand Sport Race Car Ultimate Guide Level B CorvSport

   • Of the five original Grand Sport Corvettes ... all still survive today
   • a 377 cubic-inch V8 engine
   • a 377 cubic-inch V8 engine that featured aluminum heads
   • capable of turning out 550 HP at 6,400 RPMs
   • 550 HP at 6,400 RPMs
   • An all-new chassis was designed, making significant use out of aluminum

   Accessed 2026-11-12
4. 4
   C2 Corvette (1963–1967): The Complete Sting Ray Guide Level B CorvSport

   • All five survive, three as coupes and two as roadsters
   • five were built on a tube frame
   • thin hand-laid fiberglass body with Plexiglas windows

   Accessed 2026-11-12
5. 5
   1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport (Monterey 2026, chassis 003) Level B RM Sotheby's

   • Girling disc brakes with aluminum calipers

   Accessed 2026-11-11