Grand Sport?

[James2]

After showing my Nova GS around a little this question came up. Where did the Grand Sport name come from and what car had the fender stripes first?

Edited September 7, 2013 by James2

[Ace-Garageguy]

To the best of my knowledge, the "Grand Sport" name was first applied to a Corvette for the lightweight racing prototype in 1962. This was by no means the first use of the name "Grand Sport" applied to a car, however.

http://www.racingicons.com/gs/

http://www.racingicons.com/gs/gsdiff.htm

Two diagonal stripes on the left front fenders of real race cars are variously referred to as "Sebring Stripes" (partly sometimes explained because Sebring, unlike most races, was run clockwise...the L.F. fender stripes supposedly aided car identification), "rookie stripes", and "team stripes". There is much disagreement over these terms, but the stripes on the C4 Corvette GS are just a little styling flash that appeared on the one-year (1996) edition of 1000, LT-4 powered Corvette GS packages that marked the end of C4 production.

Edited September 7, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[LokisTyro]

I'm not exactly sure where it came from, but Renaults, Talbots, Amilcars, Morettis and probably tons of others used the Grand Sport name well before any Corvette. The two stripes may have been launched on a 'Vette though and are often referred as hash marks. Cobras among others used the hash marks in the 60's.

[Art Anderson]

What about the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport, which was a pure GT race car?

[Ace-Garageguy]

What about the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport, which was a pure GT race car?

See post #2.

[Roadkill2525]

The BRE 240Z and 510 stripes are part of the design of Peter Brock's car which used the Nissan factory colors. Fender stripes and hood bands are used to tell apart cars of the same team using the same livery.

[LokisTyro]

Some people have said they could indicate which side the drivers wheel and such were on to keep them from entering the wrong side during driver changes. I can't really see the benefit unless you weren't watching the in-car driver get out. I could see it helping during LeMans starts if a driver was unfamiliar with the car, I guess. In any case it's fun to read all the "rumors and speculation" of their purpose on the internet.

[johnbuzzed]

Leave us not forget the Buick GS cars.

[Blown03SVT]

Leave us not forget the Buick GS cars.

Pretty sure in the case of the Buick's it was just a model line differentiation moniker. In the case of the late model Corvette is was a special edition based on actual racing history and heritage.

[johnbuzzed]

You're probably right about the Buicks. I never heard of a Nova GS...

[James2]

I never heard of a Nova GS...

REALLY?

[johnbuzzed]

REALLY?

Uhh, yeah. Really. There were (and I think there still are) some special versions of cars that were produced for different geographical areas- probably had something to do with demographics. Off the top of my head I can think of the Mustang California Special, which I just Googled and got a lot of results. I did the same for the Nova Grand Sport and got just about... nothing. I'm not inferring that they never existed; I'm just saying that I never heard of the car (which really doesn't mean diddly squat) nor could I find anything on Google (ditto). That's life.

Edited September 11, 2013 by johnbuzzed

[Blown03SVT]

Never heard of one either. If there were to be a such a thing I would like to see it. Sounds like a phantom what if model. I do know there was a Buick Apollo GSX (based on the Nova platform). But in typical 70's fashion it was a tape stripe and emblem performance model.