Documented
Zora Arkus-Duntov was a General Motors engineer. After seeing the Corvette at the 1953 Motorama in New York, he joined Chevrolet. He retired in 1975. The National Corvette Museum inducted him in 1998, GM-Chevrolet category.
What is not in dispute is the job he did inside Chevrolet: taking a fiberglass two-seater off a turntable and making it a sports car the factory would stand behind.
Museum narrative
The museum’s Hall of Fame copy says he changed the Corvette from a turntable darling into one of the most respected sports cars in the world. That is their wording for a documented engineering career. This page does not add race results, hill-climb times, or finishing positions.
The forthcoming novel is not his engineering manual. It is Elfi’s years beside him, and the making of a machine. Working title First Lady of Corvette. Expected September 2026. Not for sale yet.
Until then, the same author’s The Woman on the Bonnet is out now. Sourced notes on Eleanor Thornton are on the Bonnet blog.
Sources: National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame page for Zora Arkus-Duntov (1998, GM-Chevrolet category); Chevrolet employment from 1953 and retirement in 1975 as a matter of public record. No race results listed here.