Artwork: Lee SelfZora Arkus-Duntov was born in Belgium in 1909, his parents were Russian and he was raised in Russia. He studied engineering at Leningrad University, after graduation he went to work on a number of automotive projects in Germany and Belgium. In 1940 he arrived in New York where he opened a machine shop with his brother Yuri. During World War II he worked on military projects. After the war he designed and built the famous Ardun overhead valve aluminum cylinder head conversion for the flathead Ford V8. These were used by the English Allard sports car company. He worked, drove, and raced with them until 1952 when he returned to America experienced in many aspects of auto engineering. In 1953 he started work at Chevrolet and found his way on to the Corvette program.
Zora Arkus-Duntov was just the person the Corvette needed. The fact that he was a skilled engineer and race driver made him perfect. By 1956 he had perfected the famous Duntov low lift, long-duration cam for the small block, organized a record breaking run with 3 Corvettes, and assisted in the design of the 1957 Corvette fuel injection.