Meet the Fleet – Muscle Cars: ’71 Corvette LS6

• BODY: Auto World
• WHEELS: Vincent
• TIRES: Road Race Replicas

There are two C3 Corvettes in the Drag City Muscle Car Fleet: while the other car is a 1970 model with the potent LT-1 small block, today’s featured 1971 car is the big boy, the 454 LS6. It is a bit ironic, then, that it is the rat-motored car that is nicknamed “Little Red Corvette.”

Ironic, but not inappropriate; in fact, considering the classic song, what could be more appropriate? Most people know that Prince’s 1983 hit is not about a car, but great music can mean different things to different people, and it also has staying power: everyone remembers it, but it wasn’t a classic when this car was built; it was a new track in heavy rotation on FM radio when this Little Red Corvette appeared at Drag City to race in the hands of Bautista “BURNOUT” Beltran. Born in Mexico to a wealthy family, he was a driver who earned his nickname, starting off racing VW’s competitively in his early 20’s. He graduated to sports cars before moving to California where he was bitten by the muscle car bug, and what else would a sports car racer under the spell of big iron drive other than a big block powered ‘Vette?

It is true, however, that this car is not a numbers-matching original: though the red body/black interior combo is original, it started life as a 330HP 350, and when doing the rebuild to convert it to the aluminum-headed 454, Beltran was interested in performance, not in building a clone, so he chose to retain the original hood, as he preferred its appearance. The driveline was set up for road racing, with careful suspension tuning including custom made sway bars front and rear, a heavy duty limited-slip 12-bolt rear with 3.42 gears, and a custom built close ratio manual transmission with additional cooling capability. In spite of its small block beginnings, Beltran specifically chose this car because it was a “stripper”, having no power accessories, A/C, or anything else that could interfere with going fast: during the build process, he even removed the radio! While qualifying in the winter of 1984, this beast was clocked at 168 MPH on the dragstrip straight, so there’s more going on here than just a big engine, but these understeering big block ‘Vettes are notoriously hard to handle; to date “Burnout” has posted some impressive numbers, but is still chasing a tournament trophy.

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So that’s the “lore.” In reality, I bought this car on a whim; I hadn’t planned on adding another to the fleet since I already had the Daytona Yellow version, but when I saw it for sale as a body only at a very low price I figured, meh, why not? Its true that red isn’t my favorite color on most cars (there are exceptions but the C3 isn’t one of them), but when it arrived, I threw a chassis on it with a set of Vincent “Rallye” wheels and full sized silicones, and I was taken aback at how great it looked; the wheels and tires gave it a perfect stance, and I knew right there it was going to become a permanent member of the fleet!

Beyond its awesome looks there isn’t really anything particularly special about it; it’s a decent performer but not a true stand-out, a win-a-few, lose-a-few racer. The nice thing about that is there’s always room for improvement, and there’s always new things to try to get that extra edge in either the turns or the straights. A little more speed might be in order for this big block; maybe the crew at the Outlaw Garage has some ideas; a visit to the tuning shop is coming up!