1956 Racer
My 1956 Corvette has spent nearly its entire life as a race car. It raced in Sports Car Club of America B Production the first 35 years of its career and the last 27 years have been spent vintage racing, mainly with the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association and Historic Sportscar Racing events, but also with Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula and Historic Motor Sports Association.
The car was built by Jerry Bakker and Jim Swan. Jim and Jerry wanted to get into the speed shop business. At the time, Jim Swan was working at his family's Pontiac dealership in suburban Chicago and was an officer in the US Army Reserves. Jerry Bakker was working as an engineer at Sun Electronics, the manufacturer of Sun Tachometers, which were very popular during the 60's with drag and road racers. Sun also manufactured diagnostic, electronic testing and monitoring equipment used in the automotive repair business. Jerry was also Sun's representative at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He would set up the magnetos used on Indy cars in the late 50s and early 60s. Together they founded Motor Sports Research located in Des Plaines, Illinois a Northwestern suburb of Chicago.
They needed a way to test their ideas, theories and services and they felt there was no better way of doing that than building a winning race car. They bought a 1956 Corvette from the service manager of a Pontiac dealership. As Jim describes it, "I bought the car as an average condition turquoise, low performance 1956 Corvette street car. The title and the VIN plate support that. We didn't care since all we needed was the frame, rear end and body. We planned to call the car a '57, using the number 57, since it was essentially a 1957-spec car when done." Motor Sports Research removed the 265 cubic inch engine and installed "a brand new highly enhanced 283" cubic inch engine which was introduced in 1957. The induction system was a Corvette fuel injection unit that they cut in half, added a section to the center and re-welded it to increase volume, fuel mixture and improve air flow. The car was known as "the fastest 283 in the country."
Source: Andy Bolig - Corvette Online