Original Corvettes are the pride of the Bowling Green community. These unrestored treasures are held in such high esteem that they are lovingly worshiped, as if they were mythic Greek gods. To some owners, they are. While there are many fourth-generation Corvettes still parading around in their factory-applied paint, as well as a good supply of late Seventies-era Stingrays, there aren't as many original mid-year model Corvettes remaining--and even fewer solid-axle models. This Aztec Copper beauty is one of the few that has safely escaped the restorer's touch.
This Corvette has spent most of its life in California, where the warm, dry climate prevented any rust from forming on the frame, chrome plating or ancillary metal components. But the heat did dry out the upholstery to the point where it couldn't be saved, so one of the previous owners installed seats made with the pattern that was used for the 1961 model year. Current owner Bob Handschiegel, of Hampshire, Illinois, had the seats reupholstered with a correct 1956-pattern kit from noted Corvette interior specialist Al Knoch. That's been the only change: The remaining upholstered interior parts, such as the door and kick panels, dashboard and carpeting, are all original to the car.
For the 1956 model year, Chevrolet built 3,467 Corvettes, which was a huge increase from the year before, when only 700 were made. A limited palette of six colors was offered this year; only 402 Corvettes were finished in the striking shade of Aztec Copper that adorns our feature car. Of those, 166 were treated to the two-tone option that finished the side coves in contrasting beige--but as you can see, this car was not one of those. Nonetheless, the old lacquer that this car was sprayed with at the factory in St. Louis, some 54 years ago, is original to the car. Apart from a few scratches, chips and the familiar star cracks that are common to old fiberglass bodies as they age with their factory-applied finishes intact, the paint is in phenomenal condition.
Back in the mid-Fifties, the performance market was still in its infancy. But thanks to the fire that Oldsmobile fueled with its Rocket V-8 seven years before, an increasing number of car buyers wanted a taste of that performance--especially Corvette buyers, who always wanted as much power as possible. That is why, when purchasing one of those 3,467 Corvettes built for 1956 (all of which had the 265-cu.in. V-8), a staggering 88.9 percent of buyers checked off RPO-469 on the order form. This popular engine option got them a pair of four-barrel carburetors sitting atop a special aluminum intake manifold; this dual-quad setup increased the power output from the standard 210hp to 225hp. The four-barrel Carter carbs you see here are the original carburetors fitted to this car when it rolled along the assembly line, and they still retain all of their original components, springs and linkage. And the engine still pulls strong--helped, no doubt by Bob's use of 100-octane Av Gas, and Formula Shell straight 30W oil.
It wasn't until the 1957 models that Chevrolet offered a four-speed manual gearbox on Corvettes. For 1956, the two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission was fitted to 1,570 cars, with the remaining 1,510 Corvettes equipped with the three-speed manual. But at some point, this car's second owner, from whom Bob bought it, had the old Powerglide replaced with a period-correct Borg-Warner T-10 four-speed. Bob told us, "The four-speed was installed many, many years ago at Harry Mann Chevrolet in Los Angeles; I have all the receipts for the work that was done. I have a friend who has a year-correct Powerglide transmission for it, but at this point in time, I do not want to change it."
At the time of our photo shoot, which took place on the day of the 2010 Bloomington Gold Corvette meet, the odometer had registered just 58,848 miles. That means that this car has only averaged 1,110 miles per year since it was first built. According to Bob, "This Corvette was originally bought by Bob Watson in 1956, who sold it to his sister and brother-in-law, Jack, in 1958; I have the loan papers from that sale. Jack and his wife drove this Corvette until 1970, when it was parked in his mother's garage."
"This is one of the better examples that I found of this design that I had come across," Bob said. "I bought it in May 2006, and brought it home to Illinois in our trailer. While the paint has some checking, the car has not been modified or abused, apart from a few minor items that had been chromed, so it seemed like the best car to restore at the time of purchase. Still, it took almost a month to get it driveable. We power-washed the undercarriage and rebuilt the brake system as the brake fluid dried up. The differential is still painted the original red oxide; we cleaned the undercoating off the rear axle and all the original yellow factory markings appeared. The stencil numbers on the left side of the frame are faintly visible."
He continued: "The steering is still tight for its age, which makes this Corvette a real pleasure to drive--it's like turning the clock back. I would like to really wring it out, but one has to remember that there's only a 265-cu.in. small-block under the hood, so the rewards are not worth breaking it. For what it is, it is fun to drive. However, you have to remember what you are driving, because although the brakes stop the car, they are far short of the brakes we are used to today."
From a purely aesthetic point of view, what Bob likes most of this particular model Corvette is its simple styling. He told us, "I like the design, especially the front end. I never had a specific reason for that until Hemmings told me why. The December 2008 issue of Hemmings Motor News had an article on the 1956-'57 Corvette; in part, it stated 'GM designers shot for the moon when they emulated the Mercedes 300 SL.' It's true; I always liked the look of the Mercedes, but never put the two together."
Although he's been tempted to make his Corvette perfect once more, Bob's been persuaded by many to keep it as is, and to refrain from eradicating the car's past with a new coat of paint. "My original intent was to restore the car, but many Corvette enthusiasts have discouraged me from doing so," Bob said. "One day, I intend to rebuild the engine so it will be dependable, although I will not repaint the engine or any of its ancillary components, so it will remain, at least from the exterior, as original-looking as possible. I also plan to rebuild the power top mechanism, but that's about it for now. And although the exterior paint has a lot of cracks in it, it really doesn't look too bad from 50 feet away. I use IBIZ wax to protect the original paint, followed by an application of DuPont Finesse to buff it out. But for the time being, I'm just going to straighten the cove moldings, continue to clean things and keep it running good.
"Keep in mind that Duntov did a flying mile in a 1956 Corvette at 150 MPH, thus saving the Corvette. Its future was doubtful prior to that run, but this test became a great selling point. It's because of that history that I bought a 1956 Corvette rather than a 1957 Corvette."
And it's for that history that Bob plans to keep his Corvette as original as possible, a figure worthy of being kept on a pedestal and admired.
