Chassis No. 308375109427

This 1963 Corvette Split Window Coupe was purchased by Billy Fortune shortly after obtaining his driver's license, the fulfilment of a dream for the car-crazy teenager. Within a few years, the suburban New Yorker successfully entered the car in quarter-mile drag races and time trials with the Long Island Corvette Owners Association. By 1967 he had completed a race school at nearby Bridgehampton and, after more races in 1968 and 1969, he decided to get serious. Speedwin Automotive Engineering in Hauppauge, New York built and installed a fuel-injected 327 cu-in small block along with a 1969 M22 "Rock Crusher" four-speed manual. Interior weight was trimmed and Koni shocks fitted on all four corners along with a roll bar, larger diameter sway bars, F41 heavy-duty springs, and disc brakes. The Corvette's fiberglass body received a make-over as well, dropping its heavy steel bumpers and trim and a fresh coat of paint in light metallic blue.

The car was on track in time for the 1972 SCCA racing season competing in the SCCA New York Region B-Production Championship and the North Atlantic Road Racing Championship. Fortune had immediate success with his '63 split window and was named SCCA Rookie of the Year. As fantastic as Fortune's 1972 race season had been, tragedy struck with a cancer diagnosis and, a short time later in 1973, Fortune passed away. The car was retained by the family for the next 40 years until it was discovered by Bruce Silber while roaming a local yard sale in 2009. When the cover was lifted Silber "nearly passed out from the thrill of the discovery." In 2015 Silber was allowed to purchase the car to become its next caretaker. Later that year the car was taken to Vette Dreams of West Babylon, New York, for a frame-off restoration with an emphasis on preserving the inherent originality.

The car was disassembled with parts cleaned, inspected, and reinstalled. Wear items were replaced, yet a substantial effort was made to keep it as it would have been when raced in the early 1970s. Recently, the engine was removed and rebuilt, in addition to much other mechanical attention by Autosport Designs of Huntington Station, NY, of which several pages of invoices are on file. Today, the car remains a time capsule of sorts, something that can rarely be said of those competition machines entered into the cut-and-thrust battles on the racecircuit. Today the car would be just as at home on the lawn of The Amelia Concours d'Elegance as it would be on the track yet, of course, it will be up to the next caretaker to make that all-important and exciting decision.