A custom-built C8 Corvette dedicated to Le Mans winner Briggs Cunningham C1

Posted on April 30, 2021
Modified
A custom-built C8 Corvette dedicated to Le Mans winner Briggs Cunningham C1

In 1960, Briggs Cunningham was a car and sailboat builder, avid racer, and co-founder of the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America).

One of his cars, racing number 3, finished 8th overall and won its class. Today, this car is one of the most prized American sports cars of all time.

To commemorate the car and the victory, Cunningham Automotive of Lewisville, Texas, modified 60 C8 Corvettes in the same livery as the C1 racer. One of those cars, known as the Cunningham 60th Anniversary C8 Corvette, will be unveiled at the 2021 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, May 20-23. The car will be offered through a fundraising sweepstakes for the Chip Miller Amyloidosis Foundation, with the winner to be chosen on October 1.

The Cunningham 60th Anniversary C8 Corvette is expected to begin deliveries in the second quarter of 2021. Like the Le Mans-winning C1, this contemporary car will have a white exterior accented with blue stripes.

But there is more to the Cunningham 60th Anniversary C8 Corvette than just a special paint job: the 6.2-liter V-8 engine has been given a Lingenfelter engine upgrade to deliver 600 horsepower. The main upgrade is a high-flow intake and exhaust system. The car also gets unique aero elements, upgraded suspension and brakes, and HRE forged aluminum wheels designed to match the Halibrand Kidney Bean wheels used on the original Cunningham Corvette.

Interestingly, one of the three original Cunningham Corvettes will be offered at the RM Sotheby's auction to be held in conjunction with the Amelia Island Concours. The car is the long-lost No. 1 car that Cunningham himself raced with William Kimberly. They never finished the race, and the car was sold numerous times shortly after its Le Mans appearance, disappearing from the radar in the 1970s. Finally, in 2012, they were discovered in a warehouse in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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