Meet the Fleet – Sportscars: Corvette C2 “Fuelie” Coupe

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

It’s amazing how hard it is to find the Auto World body of the C2 coupe without the blown engine sticking out of the hood. The one with the blower is easy to find, and that one would be a fine addition to the muscle car fleet, but no one raced a blown big block on a road course against Ferraris and Jaguars; wanting a C2 for my vintage sports car fleet, it appears I only had two colors to choose from; a dark metallic blue one with a white stripe on the hood, or this bright yellow one. Both versions are now going on 20 years old and are becoming quite difficult to obtain.

Fans of the C2 Corvettes mostly seem to like the big block cars due to their intense acceleration and speed. Not I; I’m a small block guy. The C2 isn’t my favorite ‘Vette (the C3 gets that honor) but if I were in the market for a C2 and was hunting for the one I consider the best, there’s no question that my choice would be the 1965 L84, with its Rochester fuel injected 375HP 327 V8, a 4 speed, and disc brakes. This was the best balance of power and handling, and while the fuel injected cars could be difficult to live with (they were especially hard to start in cold weather), their drivability once they got going gave them almost European-like characteristics; their going, stopping, and turning abilities made them the equal-if not the better-of the best our friends in the Old World could offer.

That’s the combination you’re looking at here; “Yellow Fever” is a factory-bonafide  ’65 “Fuelie” that’s been a racing car since it was new; sold at the famous Baldwin Chevrolet in Long Island, NY, the car was immediately spec’d out by its first owner as a racer and campaigned in various SCCA events all over East Coast for years. It was retired from active duty in 1972 and shortly thereafter sold to a second owner who made only a half-hearted attempt to returning it to road use, leaving nearly all of the upgrades done for racing in-place. From that point on the car’s history “goes dark” likely from lack of use, since it appears to have racked up very few miles in the ensuing years; the odometer showed only 35,000 miles when current owner Pete “Straightline” Strickland acquired it in New Jersey; at that point the car was still running and functional, though it needed a thorough “going over” to return to the track. That work took a couple of years, but Strickland brought “Yellow Fever” to Drag City for the 1983 racing season and has been racing there ever since. He’s won a few races, but while he’s not the fastest on the track, the car’s provenance as a real vintage racer has won him numerous fans. Strickland and his team are making improvements all the time, and there’s definitely a lot more racing to come for this piece of automotive history.