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The Chevrolet Corvette, popularly heralded as America’s first sports car, didn’t always have the strength to support its beauty. In fact, for its first two years of production, the sleek ‘Vette was powered by a 3.9-liter “Blue Flame” inline-six that didn’t produce enough power to match the bold styling. That would change for 1955 when the V8 became available, but the first Corvette to use such an engine was actually made the year before.
Managed by the Lingenfelter Collection, the first V8-powered Corvette was an experimental vehicle codenamed EX-87. Based on Hemmings Motorcycle News, the EX-87 began life as a 1954 six-cylinder Corvette, but at the behest of Chevrolet, Smokey Yunick paired it with the automaker’s new 265 V8. Its 195 horsepower (145 kilowatts) was a useful upgrade over the Blue Flame Six’s 150 pony (112 kW), and the small block V8 would enter production the following year to give the 1955 Corvette enough power to take on sporty European rivals like the Jaguar XK, and Ford’s newly introduced V8-powered Thunderbird.
But that’s not the end of the EX-87’s journey. Chevy handed the project over to Corvette engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov in a bid to break the speed record. Arkus-Duntov knew the 265-cubic-inch (4.3-liter) V8 wouldn’t have the power to propel the Corvette to its 150-mile-per-hour goal, so engineers made it 307 ci (5.0 liters), and Arkus-Duntov designed the camshaft. unique to provide more power. To help it escape the wind more easily, the legendary engineer also provided the EX-87, now dubbed the “Duntov Mule,” a fiberglass interior tonneau, cropped windshield, and vertical fins that increase stability behind the driver.
With Yunick behind the wheel, the Corvette sped past the Arkus-Duntov goal with a top speed of 163 mph at the GM proving ground. In 1956, the same engine was housed in a different Corvette, propelling it to a top speed of 150.583 mph at Daytona Beach – good enough to capture the record Chevy was looking for and a huge improvement over the Corvette’s 120-mph top-speed production.
The Lingenfelter Collection recently showcased the Duntov Mule at the EyesOn Design 2022 event in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan, where the YouTube channel DTRockstar1 saw it. Zora’s camera jumping up and down and growling was clearly visible as the car made its way across the yard, sounding much more aggressive and sporting than any other Vette that had come before. As a piece of history, the EX-87 is quite interesting. But as a record-setting sports car (and the die-hard fans who followed), the Duntov mule Corvette was far more interesting.
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