Lifelong love story began at the Waldorf-Astoria

On a cold day in January 1953, a love affair began at the General Motors Motorama at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York.

Zora Arkus-Duntov was among the thousands captivated by the Corvette concept car. But Arkus-Duntov looked beyond the car's sleek styling and saw its potential as a technology and image leader for General Motors.

"Mechanically it stunk, with its six-cylinder engine and two-speed automatic transmission," Arkus-Duntov said of the original Corvette, according to Zora Arkus-Duntov: The Legend Behind Corvette, by Jerry Burton. "But visually it was superb."

Arkus-Duntov was born in Belgium in 1909 to Russian parents and grew up in Russia. Then he studied engineering in Germany, where he developed an interest in racing — a desire that would play a big role in his future and the Corvette's.

The outbreak of World War II drove Arkus-Duntov and his wife, Elfi, from France to the United States. The development of a harmonic balancer for heavy machinery during the war years earned Arkus-Duntov his first patent and recognition for his engineering talents.

But Arkus-Duntov loved cars. With his brother, Yura, he built a business selling cylinder heads and parts that would wring more power from Ford flathead V-8 engines. Early hot rodders flocked to the products, sold under the Ardun name.

Arkus-Duntov's reputation grew with his work with the English automaker Allard, which built race cars powered by the Ardun engine.

Five months after Arkus-Duntov saw the first Corvette at the Motorama, he walked into General Motors headquarters in Detroit to start his new job as a staff engineer. His racing and engineering reputation helped him get the job.

At that time, engineer Ed Cole was on a mission to shake up the staid image of Chevrolet and GM with engineering advances, and hires like Arkus-Duntov were to be the means to reach his goal. Cole was putting the finishing touches on his crowning achievement — the small-block V-8 engine — which he already was planning for the Corvette.

Arkus-Duntov's first assignments at GM were general engineering projects. He got his first crack at the Corvette when he was asked to solve handling problems with the original car. From that point on, Arkus-Duntov and the Corvette were inseparable.

Horsepower and handling were the keys to transforming the Corvette from a good-looking car into a good-driving car. Arkus-Duntov pursued both with a vengeance. On his watch, the Corvette got fuel injection, a manual transmission, stout disc brakes and a better suspension.

But Arkus-Duntov's passion for the Corvette and racing frequently put him at odds with GM's staid corporate bureaucracy. More than once he had to be reined in by his bosses for transgressions such as flaunting the corporate ban on auto racing in the 1960s. Yet his prowess as a racer — he helped prove the power of Cole's small-block V-8 with record-setting drives up Pikes Peak — enhanced his reputation, and the Corvette's.

But Arkus-Duntov didn't get everything he wanted. In a quest for a Corvette that was perfectly balanced for handling, he argued that the Corvette should become a mid-engine car.

That effort spanned the last decade of his GM career. And there were prototypes, including one with an aluminum body. But the high cost of a mid-engine car, at a time when GM and the industry were struggling to meet new safety and emissions regulations, killed the project.

Arkus-Duntov retired from GM in 1977, handing the Corvette over to new chief engineer Dave McLellan. He became popular at Corvette shows and gatherings, celebrated as the "father of the Corvette." He also pursued his passion for speed with boats and airplanes.

Arkus-Duntov died in April 1996 at 86. His ashes are part of a special exhibit at the National Corvette Museum near the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky.