1961 Chevrolet Corvette - Rarity + Detail = Top Flight

It's what turned Corvette into the car to beat in road racing in the early '60s-and it helped this Vette become a top scorer at judging time. When the 1961 racing season began, Corvette had proven itself in races around the world, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring. That's because Zora Arkus-Duntov and the other Corvette engineers tasked to make America's Only True Sports Car a world-class racer put plenty of effort in at the GM Tech Center and Proving Grounds as well as trackside, where they could see what the Vette's strengths-and weaknesses-were.

That's how Chevrolet was able to offer a host of racing-related options on the car starting in 1956. By the time the '61 model run began, that list included not just a high-output 283ci V-8-with up to 315 hp in fuel-injected form-but also a heavy-duty brake and suspension package, RPO 687.

That was among the options on a '61 Corvette that now resides in Tom Longo's garage on Long Island.

Eventually, he met up with Corvette restorer and collector Brian Cochrane, who owned one of the 233 big-brake '61s, a Roman Red one. "I wanted to buy his car, but he didn't want to sell it," Longo recalls. So he kept a lookout for another RPO 687 '61, which he found for sale in Maryland. This car-finished in Ermine White-had been sitting in dry storage for about 20 years, after its owner found out how rare it was.

Two decades of storage, on top of two decades of use (including drag racing by previous owners), meant that it was restoration time. But Longo didn't tear into it right away. "I didn't want to screw up the car," he says. "That was my biggest fear, that I would do something wrong with it. This wasn't a regular, base-model Corvette; it was a special car." His research gave him a stack of Corvette reference books that was about a foot high, plus loads of information specific to the '61 and its big-brake and fuelie options.

Longo accomplished the four-year resto project with plenty of assistance. "The biggest help came from Gail Parsons, who passed away last summer," he says. "He had quite a few Vettes over the years, and a number of big-brake cars." According to Longo, Parsons had amassed a treasure trove of original General Motors, Chevrolet, and Rochester engineering drawings and blueprints, especially ones covering the Rochester mechanical fuel-injection system found on the RPO 354 315hp 283.

While Longo's '61 was intact and complete when he got it, there was plenty that needed replacing-which he did, thanks to his friends. "Everything on that car is what it's supposed to be, and it's mostly original or N.O.S.," he says. "Any of the stuff that wasn't there, I was able to find N.O.S. parts to replace them with." That includes a set of correct RPO 687 sintered-metallic rear brake shoes that he got from Parsons' wife, Maxine.

Longo says that includes fasteners, an area in which supplies of N.O.S. parts have long since vanished. "Every nut and bolt on that car was blasted," he says of the hardware whose edges were showing their age. "If it's been taken off several times, you start to see the edges wearing down. Every one of those edges that was peened-over from the wrenches was fixed and straightened here in my lab before I sent it out to be cadmium-plated or black-phosphate-coated."

The body got its share of attention, too. Grant Herbster stripped off the old paint before the crew at Mad Creations in Deer Park, New York, got it ready for paint. Mad's owner, Michael DiLavor, expertly sprayed a new coat of Ermine White.

Like a new big-brake Vette running away from its A/Production competition back in the day, Longo's '61 tallied a very high score the first time out. Needless to say, it's now a Top Flight car.

What's it like to drive? "With the quick steering, when you're driving it at a slow rate of speed, it's a handful," says Longo. "Once you get the car up to speed, it drives very nicely." He takes it out to run it at least once a month, weather permitting, "Whenever I take it out, even if it's just to get gas in it, it always draws a crowd."

Those big brakes don't give him a problem, either, thanks to the way he restored them. "If they're put on a lathe and cut with a fine cutter, then hit lightly with sandpaper to [yield] a smoother surface, the brake linings work pretty well. It's when they're not addressed correctly that there may be a problem."

Longo's advice for anyone who's looking to buy a Corvette, be it their first one or next one? "Right now is one of the most opportune times to do it. The market is down, and because of that the car market is down as well. I'm in the process of restoring a '62 that I bought from a friend of mine. It's a running driver, and when I get done with it, it will be a Top Flight car.

"If you're interested in doing that, this is the time to get a car. Without a doubt, it's cheaper to buy the car already done than it is for you to buy one, take it apart, and restore it."