1960 Chevrolet Corvette LM
Chevrolet couldn't officially race at Le Mans in 1960, so it didn't. Not on paper, anyway. The Automobile Manufacturers Association's racing ban, put in place after the fatal 1955 disaster, kept GM's name off the entry list, but Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov built the cars in secret and handed them to American privateer Briggs Cunningham to run under his own banner. This particular car, chassis 3535, wore the #1 livery at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Cunningham and Bill Kimberly sharing the wheel, backed by a factory-built fuel-injected racing engine, a Posi-Traction limited-slip differential, and a hardened suspension and brake package meant to survive 24 hours of Sarthe abuse. Modifications made stateside by race manager Alfred Momo added Halibrand magnesium wheels, a quick-release fuel cap, and a pair of lightweight seats pulled from a Douglas C-47 transport plane. Kimberly crashed the car in a rainstorm near Maison Blanche on lap 32, rolling it end over end before an engine fire ended its race. The car vanished into decades of private ownership and cosmetic changes before a 2011 rediscovery in a Florida warehouse led to a body-off restoration, completed in 2023, that returned it to its as-raced Le Mans configuration. It's coming up for auction direct from the Cunningham family.

