Zora Arkus-Duntov
Zora Arkus - Duntov (* December 25, 1909 in Brussels, Belgium, as Zachary Arkus, † April 21, 1996 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan ) was an American engineer of Belgian origin. He made the Chevrolet Corvette into a bestseller and is therefore called the father of the Corvette.
Life
Zora Arkus - Duntov was born in Belgium, his father was a Russian-Jewish mining engineer, his mother, also Russian- Jewish origin, studied medicine in Brussels.
After the return of the family to Leningrad to Zora's parents divorced, and Josef Duntov, also a mining engineer, the new life companion of the mother was. However, Zora's father continued to live in the family home, and out of respect for both men took Zora and his brother the surname Arkus - Duntov to.
1927 the family moved to Berlin, where Zora, who wanted to become a racing driver originally, at the TU - Berlin completed a technical degree and in 1934 successfully completed.
In 1939 Zora, in the meantime he had married in Paris, via various detours in the United States (New York), where he began to engage together in the automotive industry with his brother entrepreneurial. Your business Ardun (the name formed from Arkus Duntov and ) supplied both Ford and the defense industry.
As a result, Zora left America and went to England, where he was active in the sports car development for Allard and also took part themselves in various motor racing as a driver.
In 1953 he went to General Motors to Detroit after he had seen during a presentation the current Corvette, optical succeeded, but found to be underpowered and too slow. Based on the relevant amendments, which he submitted to the chief developer Ed Cole and who had made an impression in the company, he was hired immediately changed the product, its philosophy and marketing and made the Corvette a best seller as well as from the company General Motors in the following years, one of the most successful in motorsport.
Zora Arkus Duntov, 1975, retired from active business life, but remained connected to the automobile and the automotive sport throughout his life.