Fuelies Fuel Injected Corvettes 19571965 - Cartech Author:Robert Genat Throughout American culture, there have always been people and sometimes — objects that are famous enough to be recognized by a single name. In the — automotive world, buzzwords for greatness include Hemi, Shelby, and Fuelie. — Corvettes manufactured between 1957 and 1965 and equipped with a fuel — injected small-block engine are given special respe... more »ct, and they remain some
of the most desirable Corvettes ever built. In that era, Fuelie was the
slang term used to describe any fuel injected Corvette. In addition to the
rough exhaust note created by the high compression ratio and long-duration
camshaft, the fuel injection units emitted a distinctive hiss at idle. In
their day, the fuel injected Corvettes were the fastest cars on the street,
road course, or drag strip.
Developed by Zora Arkus-Duntov and built by GM s Rochester division, this
fuel injection unit turned the docile small-block into a super performance
engine that had as much visual impact as it had horsepower. When released in
1957, the fuel injected 283 cubic inch engine developed 283 horsepower one
horsepower per cubic inch. The last of the fuel injected Corvettes developed
375 horsepower.
Fuelies celebrates nine years of production of the Corvette, the Corvette
engines, and the fuel-injection units that transformed the car into an icon.
The fuelie Chevrolet s extensive racing resume is not neglected, with an
entire chapter devoted to accomplishments on the track. There is even a
chapter on passenger car installations and coverage of other fuel-injection