Today, the Duntov Corvette is seldom noticed. Most Corvette owners don't even know of its existence. It may be one of the rarest Corvettes ever produced. Eighty-six are thought to exist, but no one is very sure of this. There seem to be only 27 with consecutive ACI/Duntov serial numbers, but even that history is cloudy. None of it really matters at this point since the last one sold for just over $13,000, which was less than the average '80 Corvette.
It's hard to decide if the Duntov was more about an attempt by ACI to sell cars or if it was Duntov's attempt to prove that GM was wrong when they denied him his dream of a turbocharged Corvette. The only thing we can be certain of is that the dream died.
The final irony was that Zora Duntov never even got an example of this car. One of the provisions in his contract was that he would be given a car after the first 100 examples were sold. That never happened. In a 1991 interview when he was asked about the Duntov Corvette, his only reply was, "The less said about that car the better."
Richard Newton's most recent book is 101 Projects for Your Corvette 1984 - 1996. He has also written two other best-selling Corvette books. One deals with the '68-82 Corvettes, How to Restore and Modify Your Corvette 1968-82, while another deals with the Sting Rays from '63-67, Corvette Restoration Guide 1963-1967. All of these books are available from MBI, www.motorbooks.com or (800) 826-6600.