A Short Story about the Filipinetti – Greder L88 Corvettes
By Etienne Henrion and edited by Wayne Ellwood
| THEN | ||
| Vin 194378S410300 | Vin 194378S408067 | Vin 194679S706401 |
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| Filipinetti, 1968 | Filipinetti, 1968 | Greder, 1970 |
| AND NOW | ||
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| Swiss Collector | Robert Dubler | Robert Sarrailh |
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Marie-Claude Beaumont, Zora Arkus-Duntov, Henri Greder |
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From time-to-time enthusiasts will write to the Registry of Corvette Race Cars with new information or corrections. Some amazing stories arrive totally unsolicited. A definitive update on the history of the Scuderia Filipinetti L88 Corvettes, and a third (subsequent) Henry Greder car, is a case in point. Mr Etienne Henrion, wrote to us to clarify a few facts. When asked if the web site could use his emails, Etienne volunteered to write out the story in full narrative format. In the end, Etienne went well beyond the LeMans component and covered virtually every race of these three cars. Since the level of detail would make for a rather long email, we've edited the text to a summary of the LeMans efforts. But if you want more, drop us a separate note and we'll send you a full version. At first, this story may not sound right. But that’s because many of us have taken our information about the Filipinetti-Greder cars from some rather cursory magazine articles. Some readers will be more fully informed and, to them, this may not be news. Still, it bears repeating. For myself, I always knew that 2+2=3. Even if it sounds like new math, the 2 Filipinetti Corvettes plus 2 Greder Corvettes really do equal only 3 Corvettes or, if you prefer, one of the Filipinetti Corvettes became Greder’s first Corvette, while the other Filipinetti car and Greder’s second Vette are two different cars. The pieces of the puzzle that had eluded me concerned the Garant-Giorgi 1968 Le Mans Corvette (entered by Filipinetti as # 4). Most race records show that Garant had crashed this car in its first race, 1968 Le Mans. But it is less published that this car was not written-off. It was subsequently returned to service, under different owners. As usual, tracking these cars is best done by careful attention to the VIN numbers.
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