
Thoughts Pertaining to Youth, Hot Rodders, and Chevrolet (1953) [pdf] - gkop
https://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/history/images/zora-arkus-duntov-letter.pdf
======
njarboe
I find it very interesting how the transcript put online is not the same as
the original in significant ways. It is great that the pdf is available, but
that is not what is going to be searchable on the web (especially with the
quality of the memo text being so poor). The transcript present online does
not give any indications that the transcript presented is highly edited. Here
is one example paragraph left out that came after the third paragraph to the
end in the online transcript:

"The association of Chevrolet with hot rods, speeds and such is probably
inadmissible, but possibly the existence of the Corvette provides the loop
hole. If the special parts are carried as RPO items for the Corvette, they
undoubtedly will be recognized by the hot rodders as the very parts they were
looking for to hop up the Chevy."

I enjoyed this post quite a bit as I am interested in cars and how the
internet records history differs from the paper age.

~~~
dang
Ok, we've changed the URL from
[https://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/history/duntov_letter.h...](https://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/history/duntov_letter.html)
to the pdf of the actual latter. Thanks!

There's more information at

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zora_Arkus-
Duntov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zora_Arkus-Duntov)

[https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2010/12/16/thoughts-
pertaini...](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2010/12/16/thoughts-pertaining-
to-youth-hot-rodders-and-chevrolet/)

------
topspin
The result of this thinking was a tremendous breakthrough for GM. They
captured the mindshare of hot rodders and their V8 became a de facto standard.
It is commonplace to find these engines retrofitted into non-GM vehicles due
to low cost and availability.

~~~
VectorLock
"LS swap" is now the go to engine retrofitting.

~~~
schwap
Long, long before the LS was even a twinkle in an engineer's eye, the the 1st
generation chevy small block V8 was the most common choice for hot rods.

~~~
VectorLock
The Ford flat-head V8 would like to have a word with you.

Either way, the chevy small block (and its evolution to the LS) has been
dominant for a very long time.

~~~
csours
That's exactly what the memo was commenting on.

------
Animats
The auto industry pulled out of racing for years after a disaster at Le Mans
killed 80 people in 1957.[1]

The memo is interesting. The author is concerned about beefing up the
remainder of the drivetrain to match a higher powered engine, but not about
improving the stability of the vehicle. Today, it's all about keeping the
wheels on the ground and the vehicle pointed in the right direction. Power is
not a problem. Most racing vehicle classes today are power-limited in some
way.

[1] [http://www.superchevy.com/news/1705-the-day-performance-
almo...](http://www.superchevy.com/news/1705-the-day-performance-almost-died)

[2] [http://speedace.info/lead_wedge.htm](http://speedace.info/lead_wedge.htm)

------
csours
A couple notes: RPO means Regular Production Option - as in you can order it
from the factory with those parts.

Also, in the 50s and 60s GM's market share bounced between 40 and 50% (in fact
1986 was the first year that GM fell below 40% US market share). As such,
competition was more fierce between GM divisions like Cadillac and Chevrolet
than between GM and Ford per se. Thus the notes at the end comparing the
Chevrolet engine to the Cadillac engine.

------
cameron_b
It occurs to me that this very pattern could be seen in the iPhone development
history.

“We’re behind in the smartphone market But from what we see as the driving
factor for adoption, we need to come to market with a capable base component,
and pre-load the app environment with anything that users could want, we’ll
even make the developer ecosystem rich with expansion options.”

Being second to market can be used as an advantage

~~~
gumby
> Being second to market can be used as an advantage

The jargon for that kind of business plan is “fast follower”. Apple has
sometime chosen that approach (iPod, watch, arguably even the iPhone) to great
success, so it’s not only a small company strategy.

Another phrase used in the valley is “you can tell who is the pioneer from the
arrows in their backs”. I don’t like the term “pioneer” but the metaphor is
apt.

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rektide
Amazing write up on forming communities that can geek out obsessively over the
things & the saga of what's happening to their things.

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RickJWagner
The introduction of the small block v8 solved most of the described problems.

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anonu
> the slide rule potential of our V8 is really high

Damn, what a great line...

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backspace_
This site is not a good site to look at. I am currently on mobile looking at
the linked page. I had to scroll past about 13 ads before the actual article
started. Was not a good start.

Edit: after switching to a desktop, this site is not mobile friendly

~~~
dang
" _Please don 't complain about website formatting, back-button breakage, and
similar annoyances. They're too common to be interesting. Exception: when the
author is present. Then friendly feedback might be helpful._"

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

(We've since changed the URL - see
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24456231](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24456231))

