CERV stands for Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle. The CERV II often gets confused with theGS-II(b), which was Frank
Winchell’s car. The CERV II was entirely Zora’s car. The CERV II was conceived early in 1962 and developed over
the next year, after the GS program was squashed. The car was built under Zora's direction between 1963-'64. Zora had it in
mind to develop a separate line of racing Corvettes but the idea got terminated by management, even though Zora had Bunkie
Knuden's support (he was Chevrolet’s General Manager). Anyway, Zora got one car built and he packed it with the technologies
he thought would make a good race car
Although the original (clay) design looked like the Grand Sport II(b), the chassis wasn't the same. It was more like
the Ford GT-40. It was a monocoque with steel subframe to carry the suspension and engine. The original power plant was the
377 cubic inch aluminum small block. Cross ram 58 mm Weber carburetors and a 10.8 compression ratio were planned but I think
they finally settled on the Hilborn fuel injection. Power output would have been in the 500 range. I don't know how long that
engine lasted but in its latter days the car was fitted with a big block. Karl Ludvigsen reported on a drive he had in the
car (Motor Trend, November, 1970) when it apparently had a ZL-1 style all aluminum engine. I don't know if that one stayed
with the car, either.
The engineering of the drive system and torque converter arrangement was handed over to GM's engineering staff. This
was the first time that anyone had tried to design a variable power delivery to each end of the car, and which would vary
according to vehicle speeds. They must have succeeded, because it was reported that the car would do 0-60 in 2.5 seconds or
over 180 MPH while still achieving 0-60 in under 5 seconds.
