Corvette Report’s Scott Teeters blogs about New York’s ASTORIA CHAS: KO-MOTION L88 STING RAY, the Buddy Holly of drag racing!
As a lad growing up during the muscle car era in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, http://Hi-Performance CARS Magazine was my favorite car magazine. The publication had a definite East Coast flavor, and slightly favored Chevys, which was perfectly fine with me at the time.
One of my favorite cars of the day was the KO-MOTION L88, 1967 http://427 L88 drag racer, “In Memory of Astoria-Chas” 427 L-88 Corvette roadster. The story has all the elements of a legend: brutally fast, a quick car, great-looking, owned and driven to national prominence by a young fellow, not much older than myself and my Chevy pals.
Fortunately, the car is still around and looks the way it did when it set the AHRA National Record of 11.04 @ 129 mph. Later, the car ran a best-ever 10.47 et. While the L88 still runs, the current owner,http://Glen Spielberg, does not “run” the car on the strip, as he has given his word to the Snyder family that he would not restore or race the car.
Besides, the car still has its original, 40-year-old tires! Stock ‘67 L71 427/435 Corvettes were solid high 13-second cars. A Mid-10-second version was MIND BLOWING back then!
PHOTOS: Martyn L. Schorr
Continue reading ASTORIA CHAS: KO-MOTION L88 STING RAY @ http://www.corvettereport.com/from-the-archives-of-cars-magazine-in-memory-of-astoria-chas-1967-427-l88-corvette-roadster/