A Dream Come TrueA Z06 brings back a legend
Doug
McDonald was exposed to the performance car bug at a very early age.
His brother Dave raced Corvettes when Doug was only ten years old.
Doug’s love affair with America’s sports war was not consummated until
the day his brother drove up the driveway with his new "1st production"
63 split window coupe. Dave picked up his new prize at the Corvette
plant and drove back to California to "break it in".
At the
time Dave was winning many victories driving his famous “00” 61
Corvette. In 1962 Carroll Shelby’s snapped up Dave and made him part of
the Shelby American team. Driving one of Shelby’s King Cobra’s Dave
took first place at the 1963 Times Grand Prix in Riverside Ca. Dave
raced against legends such as A.J Foyt, Roger Penske, Bob Bondurant and
Roger Ward. He set a new track record in the 200 mile event.
Dave’s
illustrious racing career was cut short when he and Eddie Sachs were
killed in a tragic accident at the 1964 Indy 500. That accident led
Indy officials to mandate a change from gasoline to methanol in all
future events. Carroll Shelby said the Dave was one of the
greatest talents in the racing world.
photo's from the McDonald family album
The
63 coupe was the car that car hooked Doug as a life long Corvette
fanatic. The Split window 63 was the last Vette that McDonald’s
would race. The 'Split window' according to Doug was the car that
finally enabled Chevrolet to stand up against the “sports car" world.
Carroll Shelby said of the 63 coupe, "I don't want to see that thing
near my shop"!) By the time Doug could afford a car Corvettes where out
of his financial reach, all he could do was dream about owning one
someday.
That
day came after Doug retired. While trying to fill his time after the
passing of his wife Doug saw a used 2007 Atomic Orange C6 Z06, and said
to himself “this is it"! The “Z” had only 14k non raced miles on
the odo. The seller told Doug that the car averaged 28+ mpg. Doug was
sold and bought the car. Doug made sure that he had some extra
funds available to customize his new toy. Doug told us he now has
a "Vette" that measures up to his "first love", the 63 split window.
The
427 ci LS7 in Doug’s new “Z” lived up to the previous owners claim of
getting 28 MPG. He told us that the ZO6 has more than enough “oomph”
for the streets. The current price of fuel and speeding tickets has
kept Doug from adding any performance mods to the “Z”. Doug like the
majority of ZO6 owners realized that the car was perfect as is. Doug
chose to personalize the cars exterior, he wanted to make it his
without overdoing it.
Doug
started by adding C6R "Jake" decals. He replaced the stock chrome
wheels with a set of black rims and added a set of matching black
headlights. In an attempt to continue with the blacked out theme all
the trim on the car was given the black treatment. A set of L.E.D.
taillights, a race mesh grill, B&B exhaust, rear spoiler and an
extractor hood were added. A crystal red stripe was applied to finish
off the look.
Doug wanted to take this opportunity to thank Chevrolet for making him fall in love again with this truly incredible machine.
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