Legend says a drummer wanted room for his kit. Greenwood's answer was a Corvette with a wagon roof and a working hatch, sold as a kit for the rubber-bumper Sharks.
CORVETTE MODELS
Greenwood Corvettes:
The Cars & Brothers Behind Them
John and Burt Greenwood of Detroit built the fastest and wildest Corvettes of the 1970s: the L88 and ZL1 racers that won SCCA titles and Sebring and ran 215 mph at Le Mans, the tube-framed wide-bodies that won the 1975 Trans-Am, and then 43 street Corvettes in five body styles (Sebring GT, Sportwagon, Turbo GT, Daytona and GTO) between 1975 and 1981, followed by the G4R and G5R on the C4 and C5.
Quick Nav: Overview · The Story · Every Greenwood · Replica or Real · Model Guides · Features & News · FAQs · All Research
The Basics
The People: John Greenwood (died 2015), racer and engineer, and his brother Burt Greenwood, who ran the shop; sons of a GM Tech Center engineer, from Detroit, Michigan
The Racing: SCCA A-Production national champion 1970 and 1971; GT class winner at the 1971 Sebring 12 Hours with Dick Smothers; Le Mans in 1972, 1973 and 1976; 1975 Trans-Am champion; the wide-body IMSA Corvettes of 1974–77
The Street Cars: 43 built between 1975 and 1981 in five body styles: Sebring GT (32), Sportwagon (1), Turbo GT (3), Daytona (5) and GTO (2); Eckler’s sold licensed kits in the same styles, so replicas are common
Later Work: The G4R body conversion for the C4 and the G5R for the C5, developed from the racing aerodynamics
The Famous One: The Daytona of 1980–82: turbocharged, finned and spoilered, $37,000 to $53,000 new, five made
Related Pages: The Callaway guide, the race cars, the special editions, the C3 hub
The Overview
Greenwood Corvettes is a automotive performance tuning and racing company specializing in Corvette sportscars and race cars founded by automotive enthusiasts and professional race car drivers, American brothers Burt and John Greenwood. Throughout his career as a professional race car driver and builder John Greenwood successfully piloted Chevrolet Corvettes in several significant races in the 1970s, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1972, 1973, 1976), the 24 Hours of Daytona (1971), and the 12 Hours of Sebring (1971).
In an effort to offset some production costs of specially tooled items and help finance their racing endeavors, the Greenwoods decided to offer a series of custom built street cars. Initially they were built primarily based on aerodynamics and styling cues, but eventually became nothing short of high speed endurance racers for the street. Between 1975 and 1981, forty-three custom made street cars based on five distinct body styles were produced by Greenwood International. The last three series – the Turbo GT, Daytona and GTO – all used turbocharged small block engines. Just as the race cars were copied, so too, were some of the street styles.
Just as the third generation Corvette left room for improvement, so did the fourth, also known as the C4 Corvettes. Production years ran from 1984 until 1996 and a slew of Corvette tuners jumped on the aftermarket bandwagon. The Greenwoods were no different in that respect, but much different in many other ways. With years of racing experience in machines that would handle more than 700 horsepower and untold g-forces, Burt and John found that in order to make the perfect street car they had to basically start with a clean sheet of paper.
As their C3 street cars evolved from their race cars, which were initially based on production Corvettes, so too did the evolution of the C4 program. Not unlike their C3 products program, the Greenwoods offered to the public various body kits, suspensions mods, and aftermarket wheels and stereo systems. As their penchant for perfection consumed them, they found that ultimately the C4 Corvette would have to be stripped down to the bare chassis and be rebuilt from the ground up using heavier duty components for most of the suspension and braking systems. Many Corvette tuners of the time would offer a supercharger here and some shocks-and-swaybars there, but few had the experience, or patience, to offer a complete package that was in effect, a completely different car. Although the Greenwood series of C4 Corvettes - the G-350, G-383, and unrealized G-572 - had some visual semblance to the stock Corvette, that is where the comparison stopped. The C5 has been improved with a double wishbone rear suspension but a lot of the other problems remain.
This page is the Greenwood story and the catalog: the race cars and every street model in order, with their pictures, production figures and guides, then the Greenwood guides as a grid and everything the site has written about the cars. The Callaway page covers the other great Corvette tuner; the race-cars page puts the Greenwoods beside the factory racers.
The Greenwood Story
From a Detroit go-kart to Le Mans and back to the street, in six chapters.
Detroit, 1960s
John Greenwood’s father flew fighters in the Second World War and then worked at the GM Tech Center, and John built his first racer from a go-kart kit with a 2.5-horsepower Briggs & Stratton. By the late 1960s he was racing Corvettes in SCCA regionals around Michigan, building his own engines, and winning.
The L88 years, 1969–71
With an L88 big-block in a 1969 Corvette, Greenwood won the SCCA A-Production national championship in 1970 and again in 1971. At Sebring in 1971 he and Dick Smothers, of the Smothers Brothers, won the GT class outright, and BFGoodrich signed him to race on its new Lifesaver Radial T/A street tires, a deal that put Corvettes on the Mulsanne.
BFGoodrich and Le Mans, 1972–73
The red-white-and-blue BFGoodrich Corvettes went to Le Mans in 1972 and 1973. After one car was wrecked, Greenwood converted his 1969 L88 convertible into car #49 with the all-aluminum ZL1 engine, rated at 750 horsepower, a rear spoiler, camber adjusters and a quick-change radiator; in 1973 it raced Sebring, Daytona and Le Mans with Greenwood, Smothers, Don Yenko and others driving, and set the GT top-speed mark of 215 mph on the straight. Restored by John Thompson in its BFG livery, #49 appeared at the Quail in 2008 and Amelia Island and Bloomington Gold in 2009.
The wide-bodies, 1974–77
IMSA’s rules let Greenwood build the Corvettes he is remembered for: a tube frame under a production body with fenders flared a foot beyond stock, enormous rear wings, big-block power well past 700 horsepower and the ‘Spirit of Sebring ’75’ and ‘Spirit of Le Mans’ liveries. They were the fastest cars in the Camel GT field, won the 1975 Trans-Am championship, and ran Le Mans again in 1976; they are the reason every Corvette racer since has wanted fender flares.
The street Sharks, 1975–81
To pay for the racing, John and Burt Greenwood sold the look. Forty-three street Corvettes were built between 1975 and 1981: the Sebring GT (32), with the IMSA flares, nose and spoiler on a production chassis; the Sportwagon (one), Chuck Miller’s Corvette station wagon reworked for the 1975 body and the only narrow-body car; the Turbo GT (three), a Sebring GT with a turbocharged 350; the Daytona (five), turbocharged, with a new nose, NACA-ducted hood, side rockers where the race pipes would be and finned fenders flowing into a wide spoiler, $37,000 to $53,000 new; and the GTO (two), the Daytona’s sister with a domed hood and hatch glass, the better car on a track. Eckler’s sold licensed kits in these styles, and an Eckler’s Daytona is not a Greenwood; a genuine one sits in the National Corvette Museum.
G4R, G5R and after, 1990s on
Greenwood came back to the Corvette with the C4: the G4R, a serial-numbered ground-effects body proven on Sean Roe’s Greenwood Corvette in the Bridgestone Supercar series, then the G5R for the C5 in vinylester, e-glass and Kevlar, with frame-mounted wings and a lifetime warranty. John Greenwood died in 2015. The race cars have been restored and sold at auction, the 1969 car most recently, and the street cars, with so few made, are among the most sought-after modified Corvettes of any era.
MORE: TWISTING IN THE WIND: THE GREENWOOD CORVETTES / JOHN GREENWOOD / THE CALLAWAY CORVETTES
Every Greenwood Corvette
The race cars and the street cars in order, with their pictures, what each was, how many were built and the guide or feature that covers it.
MORE: ALL THE GREENWOOD GUIDES / THE RACE CARS / THE SPECIAL EDITIONS
| THE CAR | YEARS | BUILT | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Greenwood L88 and ZL1 race cars (#49 and #50) John Greenwood’s SCCA A-Production champions of 1970 and 1971 and the BFGoodrich Lifesaver Radial Corvettes: the 1971 Sebring GT-class winner with Dick Smothers, Le Mans in 1972 and 1973, and the all-aluminum 750-hp ZL1 car #49 that was timed at 215 mph on the Mulsanne The ZL1 guide / The 1969 car for sale / Gounon drives it / Year page |
1969–73 | race cars; L88 then ZL1 |
 |
Greenwood wide-body IMSA Corvettes The tube-framed, fender-flared Corvettes of the Camel GT and Trans-Am years, the ‘Spirit of Sebring’ and ‘Spirit of Le Mans’ cars in stars and stripes, the fastest and most outrageous Corvettes of the decade; Greenwood won the 1975 Trans-Am championship Twisting in the Wind / The race cars / Year page |
1974–77 | race cars; 1975 Trans-Am champion |
 |
Greenwood Sebring GT The first and most numerous of the street cars: the wide-body IMSA look (flares, nose, rear spoiler) on a production C3, sold complete or built to order; 32 of the 43 Greenwood street Corvettes A 1976 GT / Special editions / Year page |
1975–81 | 32 built |
 |
Greenwood Sportwagon The Corvette station wagon: Chuck Miller’s chrome-bumper Sportwagon reworked by Greenwood for the 1975 body with a longer roof, side glass and a hatch; the only narrow-body Greenwood street car, one Greenwood-built car among the 43 and 20 to 25 Sportwagons in all counting the kits sold through Eckler’s The guide / Year page |
1975 | 1 of 43 (20–25 with kits) |
|
Greenwood Turbo GT The Sebring GT with a turbocharged 350, the rarest of the wide-body street cars Twisting in the Wind / Year page |
1976–79 | 3 built |
 |
Greenwood Daytona The most extreme Greenwood: a new nose, hood with NACA ducts, side rockers in place of the race pipes, finned rear fenders curving into a wide spoiler, a turbocharger on every car and a five-link coil-over rear on two of them; $37,000 to $53,000 when a Corvette was $18,000, which is why only five were built. Eckler’s sold a licensed Daytona kit, so replicas outnumber the real ones The guide / The Daytona Turbo with a Zora connection / A 1981 Daytona / Year page |
1980–82 | 5 built |
 |
Greenwood GTO The Daytona’s sister with a domed, side-vented hood, fender fins that stop at the fender, a taller rear bumper cover and hatch glass; the better car on a track, nicknamed the ‘Suction Cup car’ The guide / Year page |
1981 | 2 built |
 |
Greenwood G4R The C4 conversion: a serial-numbered ground-effects body with lights in the front valance, an engine scoop, hood and side louvers and a rear wing, proven on Sean Roe’s Greenwood Corvette in the Bridgestone Supercar series and then sold for the street The guide / Year page |
1990s | body conversion |
 |
Greenwood G5R The C5 conversion in vinylester, e-glass and Kevlar: front splitter, high-rise hood, rear tunnel, frame-mounted rear wing, side rockers feeding the rear brakes and a windshield fairing, warranted for the life of the car The guide / Year page |
1998–2004 | body conversion |
Greenwood or Eckler’s? Telling Them Apart
Eckler’s of Titusville, Florida sold licensed fiberglass kits in the Greenwood styles for years, so most ‘Greenwood’ Corvettes at shows and auctions are Eckler’s-bodied cars built by their owners. The real ones are documented by Greenwood, and the differences are in the details the guides describe. The short version:
| MODEL | GREENWOOD-BUILT | WHAT TO CHECK |
|---|---|---|
| Sebring GT | 32 | Greenwood build records; the complete-car fit and finish; the IMSA-style nose and spoiler on a production chassis |
| Sportwagon | 1 (20–25 with kits) | Greenwood’s is the 1975 redesign with the longer roof, side glass and hatch; the chrome-bumper Chuck Miller and Eckler’s cars are the kit |
| Turbo GT | 3 | A Sebring GT body with Greenwood’s turbocharged 350 and documentation |
| Daytona | 5 | A turbocharger on every real car, two with the five-link coil-over rear; BBS three-piece wheels; the NACA-ducted hood and fins curving into the spoiler; the Eckler’s kit is the common replica |
| GTO | 2 | Domed, side-vented hood without the Daytona’s ducts, fins that end at the fender, taller rear bumper cover and hatch glass |
The Greenwood Model Guides
The site’s guide to each Greenwood Corvette: the ZL1 racer, the Sportwagon, the GTO, the Daytona, the G4R and the G5R.
FAQs
What is a Greenwood Corvette?
A Corvette built or bodied by John and Burt Greenwood of Detroit: the L88, ZL1 and wide-body race cars of 1969–77, the 43 street Corvettes of 1975–81 (Sebring GT, Sportwagon, Turbo GT, Daytona and GTO) and the G4R and G5R body conversions for the C4 and C5. Each is in the catalog above.
How many Greenwood Corvettes were built?
Forty-three street cars between 1975 and 1981: 32 Sebring GTs, one Sportwagon, three Turbo GTs, five Daytonas and two GTOs. The race cars were built one at a time; the G4R and G5R were sold as serial-numbered conversions.
What did a Greenwood Daytona cost?
$37,000 to $53,000 in 1980–82, when a new Corvette was $18,000 to $22,000, which is why only five were built. Every Daytona was turbocharged; two had a five-link coil-over rear suspension.
Is my Greenwood real or an Eckler’s kit?
Most are kits: Eckler’s sold licensed fiberglass in the Greenwood styles for years. A real one has Greenwood documentation and the details the guides describe (the Daytona’s turbocharger and BBS wheels, the GTO’s domed hood, the Sportwagon’s 1975 roofline). The table above lists the tells.
What did John Greenwood win?
The SCCA A-Production national championship in 1970 and 1971, the GT class at the 1971 Sebring 12 Hours with Dick Smothers, and the 1975 Trans-Am championship, with Le Mans starts in 1972, 1973 and 1976; his ZL1 car was timed at 215 mph on the Mulsanne in 1973.
What was the Greenwood Sportwagon?
A Corvette station wagon: Chuck Miller designed the original for 1968–73 Corvettes and sold it through Eckler’s, and Greenwood redesigned it for the 1975 body with a longer roof, side glass and a hatch. Twenty to twenty-five were built in all, one of them by Greenwood as one of the 43 street cars.
What are the G4R and G5R?
Greenwood’s body conversions for the C4 (G4R) and C5 (G5R): ground-effects noses, hoods, rockers and frame-mounted wings developed from the racing cars, sold as numbered kits, the G5R with a lifetime warranty on the parts.
Where can I see a real Greenwood?
The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green displays a genuine Greenwood street car, the restored #49 ZL1 has appeared at the Quail, Amelia Island and Bloomington Gold, and the race cars surface at auction, the 1969 car most recently.
