Ask Margaret
Unfortunately, the Corvette is long gone. It
once belonged to Tarpon Springs automobile
enthusiast Al Wiseman, who displayed it
at his Classic Corvettes and Collectables
on Alternate U.S. 19 in Tarpon
Springs as well as at car shows,
where it was consistently a
crowd favorite. He bought the
1965 General Motors Corvette
Cutaway that was taken from the
production line and driven only
four miles to a shop before being
converted into an exhibit. Most
of its inner workings were made
visible, including its 327-cubicinch,
Years ago, I saw an exhibit in Tarpon
Springs of a Corvette that showed how
it worked. Is it still around?
375 horsepower ramjet V8 small block engine. From its rear
end to its piston cavities, onlookers could see precisely how the
automobile operated. GM first used the car for a display in the
1964-65 New York World’s Fair, which ran for two six-month
seasons in their Futurama Pavilion.
This display model had GM’s factory exterior Nassau Blue
paint, however, the underside was painted white, and then lifts
were installed that would allow the body to raise 24 inches so
that the workings of the suspension could be seen. A mirror was
placed under the chassis in order to make its underside more
visible. The car’s frame and steering box
were painted yellow, while the upper and
lower front suspension A-arms and the rear
control arms and shocks were painted blue.
The cylinder block and heads, water pump,
water inlet, Rochester fuel injection unit, fan
clutch, bell housing, transmission and tail
shaft, drive shaft, differential, half shafts,
exhaust pipes and mufflers and steering
shaft were all painted red.
The engine had cutouts, as did both
124 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
by Margaret Word Burnside
Photography by RM Auctions
cylinder heads, the top of the fuel
injection’s plenum chamber, the air meter,
the water inlet and intake manifold in order
to expose the thermostat, the bell housing,
the transmission case and tail
shaft, the rear differential,
the exhaust pipes, mufflers
and disc brake calipers. This
allowed the viewer to see how
the parts worked.
Aside from the cutouts and
contrasting paint, what made
this display so special was that
the mechanical components
moved. Working parts in the
engine and drivetrain, the cooling fan, crankshaft, flywheel
and clutch assembly, transmission gears, driveshaft and rear
differential gears rotated slowly through the use of hidden electric
motors.
The valve covers were molded in clear plastic to allow the
articulated and polished pushrods, rockers and springs to be
seen while they moved up and down. The oil pan was also clear
plastic so that the polished crankshaft and bearing caps could
be observed in the mirror that had been installed below them.
Chrome plating dressed up everything from the engine fan to
the rear sway bars to give this working
model a spectacular look.
After the World’s Fair, the Corvette
Cutaway toured the United States, stopping
at Chevrolet dealerships and car shows. In
1968, GM sent the car to South Africa for a
Motorama event and eventually donated
it to a college there. This was extremely
unusual, since General Motors normally
destroyed these types of special models
and prototypes.
J.B., Palm Harbor
If you have any questions about the
people, places or things in the Tampa
Bay area, please send them to
“Ask Margaret” at Tampa Bay Magazine,
2531 Landmark Drive, Suite 101,
Clearwater, Florida 33761.
We regret that not all questions
can be answered.
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