Built in the December 1967 production run and first registered in 1968, Chassis No.194678S405765 started life as a Silverstone Silver C3 Corvette 427 big block, optioned with a manual 4-speed heavy-duty close-ratio transmission, before it was purchased by Sacramento native and racer Randy Bryan to compete in events with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).
With the support of local Sacramento companies and sponsors, Bryan tasked Jim Herbert with race car preparation - Herbert was the pioneering SoCal Top Fuel drag racer and preparer at Don Tognotti’s ‘Speed Shops’, and latterly his own ‘Performance World’ brand. Herbert and his team would build the Corvette into SCCA ‘A Production’ full-race specification – resplendent in Tognotti’s Auto World and Sacramento Office Furnishings Centre's distinctive metallic green and white colours. From the remaining SCCA logbooks and records still with the car, Bryan competed in a combination of 16 SCCA Western Conference and National races across 1976 & 1977, switching between L88 454ci big block (iron) and 427ci ZL1 aluminium big block race engine configurations. This SCCA specification was essentially the same as the Group 4 Corvette C3s that were competing at Le Mans and in the World Championship throughout the late-1960s through until the late ‘70s.
By 1978, Bryan and Herbert had further developed the car with the addition of an IMSA specification Greenwood ‘wide body’ kit, entering the big ‘vette into California based IMSA Camel GT races. Still carrying Tognotti’s livery, Bryan entered the Monterey Triple Crown Camel GT Challenge at Laguna Seca in April 1978. Competing in the GTO class and facing the challenge of the GTX class factory-built Porsche 935s of Hurley Haywood, George Follmer, Peter Gregg, Dick Barbour Danny Ongais, Bob Bondurant, the Wittington Brothers and McLaren-built works BMW 320 Turbo of David Hobbs, Bryan was classified 10th in GTO.
Bryan entered one last race in the July of 1979, at the Sprite Grand Prix Winston GT race at Sears Point International Raceway. With an increased field of factory and customer specification Porsche 935s, and the same standout drivers and teams of that era of IMSA Camel GT racing, Bryan was a DNF on lap 25. Thereafter, Bryan sold the car to Dwight Davis who ran the car in both SCCA GT-1 and Trans Am races throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
After lying dormant for several years, the car was acquired by Larry Crossan, a well-known California based collector and the owner of Folsom Chevrolet in Sacramento, who returned the car back to its original L88 roadster racing period specification. During the complete frame-off restoration, Larry had his team restore the car to exacting period specification, using factory Corvette racing manuals throughout the process for reference. An incredibly rare Keith Black-prepared original ZL1 aluminium big block race engine was acquired and installed, along with the correct competition Muncie M22 transmission. In plain white livery, the car became a showpiece in Larry’s private collection and was shown at various concours events until the current custodian acquired the car towards the end of 2020 and imported it into the UK. With plans to race across the UK and Europe at events such as Le Mans Classic, the car was checked and race-prepared with the necessary Motorsport UK/FIA safety modifications, as well as being returned to the original Randy Bryan racing livery.
The car is now ready to be raced in the various 75th anniversary Corvette races all over the world this year, or indeed Patrick Peter’s fabulous CER 1 and Le Mans Classic. Complete with UK Road Registration, it is also a thunderous, and surprisingly useable weapon for road rallies such as Tour Auto and Modena Cento Ore.
