1957 #00 Corvette Dave MacDonald's 1st Race Car Vintage FI Racer (Tribute)

1957 Chevrolet Corvette Description

1957 Chevrolet Corvette Vintage Race Car - West Coast Racing Heritages/n E57S104555
Racing legend Dave MacDonald had one purpose for vin # E57S104555... racing. He started by drag racing the car and then moved to something that lasted longer by adding turns ... road racing. Dave was a crowd favorite and was nicknamed the "Master of Oversteer" for his wide open style of drifting through turns at full speed. He was revered for his kind smile, willingness to lend a hand and a foot that stayed buried in the throttle. Vin #4555 is best remembered as the original "00", where Dave began his road-racing career. He raced competitively against other famous drivers i.e Bob Bondurant, Tony Settember, Buford Lane, Doug Hooper, Peter Culkin & Hap Richardson. His first race was at Willow Springs Raceway on February 13-14. He drove the Corvette to a fourth place finish, behind winner Bob Bondurant in Saturday's preliminary race, and then won Sunday's feature race to record his first ever victory. In his four-year racing career, MacDonald competed in 115 races with 47 victories and 69 top-three finishes. In July 1962, Zora Arkus-Duntov selected Dave MacDonald and Dick Thompson to test-drive the new 1963 Corvette Sting Ray at the General Motors Proving Grounds in Milford, Michigan. MacDonald was inducted into the 2014 class of the National Corvette Museum's Corvette Hall of Fame.

After numerous successes in the Corvette, Dave moved to a 1961 model, and in that same year won the V/P Pacific Division SCCA Championship for his sponsor, Don Stevens Chevrolet. Dave kept the car however for a while longer until selling it in the winter of 1962 to his friend and Shelby co-driver, Joe Freitas. Joe wanted to continue to campaign the car and has completely rebuilt the car from the ground up more than once over the years. This included a fresh frame as well as new body. The car does come with an original piece of fiberglass from the nose of the original body. He would successfully campaign the car until 1965. In 1990, historic racing brought the car and Joe back into the sport. Joe restored the car to its original racing condition with the help of his old mechanic, Jack Bayer, who built the motors for Joe in the 1960's, and his original sponsor, Bill Bader. Joe would campaign the car from 1999-2002 at many historic races.
The car displays with original livery (#77 was Joe Freitas's number), has nice paint with period graphics and very few small blemishes. Joe tastefully finished the car with daytona weave carpeting, original style door trim, door panels, custom bolstered drivers seat in the original deluxe waffle pattern and optimally placed experimental type shifter.
The chrome trim is nice with minor aging. The torq thrust wheels are like new. The car is equipped with a full-width roll bar. The original instrumentation and dashboard are in place and are supplemented by a modern Auto-Meter tachometer and a vintage style Stewart Warner oil temperature gauge. The overall feel of the interior is pleasingly vintage, making this car very much at home in prestigious vintage settings. The engine compartment is extremely correct.
In the fall of 2002 Joe would finally sold vin #4555 to James Castle. Castle campaigned the car in multiple historic events over the years, most recently in the 2013 Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion.
The Corvette is ready to return to the track on a moments notice. It comes with Dave MacDonald's original California title. E57S104555 has been noted as being "extremely correct" for a vintage racer by Jim Gessner and has been engineered to be competitive in the vintage circuit.
Watch Dave MacDonald Drifting a King Cobra!