DREAM GARAGE 40/41

From business hospitality facility to personal automotive entertainment venue for family and friends, the Fischers’ units prove the versatility of M1 Concourse’s selfcontained garages

IF THERE’S ANYTHING THAT REALLY demonstrates the flexibility of the units at M1 Concourse, it’s Garages 40/41. When the Fischer family originally commissioned architecture agency INFORM Studio to design the space, father-and-son team David Fischer Sr and David Fischer Jr were looking for an area to use as corporate hospitality for their chain of premium car dealerships. The two adjoined garages were kitted out to a high specification for exactly this – and used extensively, to great success.

And then everything changed, and suddenly Garages 40/41 were no longer needed for the business quite so frequently. So, what to do?

David Fischer Jr explains...

“At first we used the facility for a ton of different manufacturer events; it was very synergistic with our business. I remember that our first event was a Lamborghini ride and drive, because that was one of our franchises.

“We would do a lot of different customer events like that. And also, with brands such as Porsche, it was more performance and track oriented. We did several events out there [on the M1 circuit] with Porsche.

“But then we sold that side of our business; we sold the largest chunk of our company, yet we still have a smaller chunk. So it’s something a little different now – it’s mostly personal use, just friends, family and co-workers.”

This has actually worked out well for the family, because David Fischer Sr loves collecting cars and enjoys displaying them at M1 Concourse – a Porsche 959, Jaguar XJ220 and Shelby Mustang GT350 just to name a few. Although they’re stored elsewhere, David Sr now has the perfect place to exercise them – and David Jr drives his own cars on the M1 Concourse track as well. Yet the ownership of Garages 40/41 nearly didn’t happen at all, as the latter recalls.

“We, being in Detroit, went through a very rocky time in 2008-09 with the global financial crisis. There were a lot of very significant issues in our town and in our business; we had some significant hiccups to deal with.

“I knew M1 Concourse’s Paul Zlotoff and Brad Oleshansky via a business association we’re in. They’d approached me about M1, and I thought it was a great idea. Yet at the time I thought it seemed a bit more like a discretionary thing; a nice-to-have, not a must-have.

“So I didn’t jump on it immediately. But then they had to get, I think, 100 units sold in phase one to get it to launch, and they started making great progress towards that. I’m like: ‘Okay, this thing’s going to grow!’ So we jumped in and ended up with two units together, down in the southwestern corner.”

Local architecture practice INFORM Studio, which designed the M1 Concourse Event Center along with several more of the car condos, created the style for Garages 40/41, which was added to with artworks chosen by the family.

“M1 has got a lot of traction in our town,” adds David. “If you pick a city like, say, Chicago, you know that they have X number of vintage classic-car registrations in the market. In Detroit, it’s ten or 20 times that.

“Our town just has a lot of automotive enthusiasts and a lot of history. So M1 Concourse is a good fit with Detroit.”

Thanks to INFORM Studio architecture and design practice. Details at www.in-formstudio.com.

To celebrate the 70th year of America’s Sports Car, we look at the icon through its eight ages – from GM’s answer to the post-war onslaught of European roadsters to a bona fide supercar

WORDS: NATHAN CHADWICK

FOR 70 YEARS, CHEVROLET’S CORVETTE

has been a true American icon: it’s more than a car, it’s a folk hero. Naming the model after a small warship was apt, because the plucky Corvette has been a thorn in the side of highbrow elitist European exotica on both road and track since its very inception. Offering blistering performance at a tantalizingly achievable price, it gives the ultimate bang for your buck.

For much of its life it blended light weight with dependable and easily tunable, frontally located V8 firepower, but with the latest version motive thrust is delivered from behind the driver’s head. It means those who have always claimed that the Corvette could never be a true supercar, due to some stuffy notion of exactly what ‘supercar’ defines, now have nothing to complain about. The Chevrolet has become a bona fide candidate, but as we’ll discover through our guide to the breed, it’s consistently been a super car – even if that’s not always been the case when delivered fresh from the factory. It is, after all, one of the most tunable models you can buy, whatever the era.

The Corvette has weathered the storm of imports, the 1970s fuel crisis and Detroit’s era of malaise, and is now holding firm in an epoch of electric propulsion. It’s the only mainstream production two-seat sports car made by a major US manufacturer, and it has recently shifted to its mid-engined set-up to take the model into the true supercar league. The future promises 1000bhp EV versions, but whatever the dedicated team at Bowling Green, Kentucky has in store for the Corvette, its place in history as America’s Sports Car is assured.

First generation: C1 1953–1962

KEY NUMBER: 300 – the number of Corvettes hand-built in Flint, Michigan.

The Corvette prototype stunned the world when it was unveiled in New York in 1953. It was the culmination of GM’s styling boss Harley Earl’s dream to build an affordable sports car to battle the steady stream of European imports.

Such was the car’s impact that GM was caught on the hop – the demand was so strong, the Corvette was rushed into production just six months later. Although many of the mechanical underpinnings were taken from other parts of the GM empire, the lightweight plastic body stayed, despite earlier plans for a steel version. This helped to reduce weight; useful, because the rather wheezy 150bhp 235ci Blue Flame engine needed all the help it could get. Customers were disappointed to find somewhat limp performance and a two-speed auto gearbox, a far cry from the zesty performance of British sports cars.

Sales began to tail off, and the project was nearly canceled – but the arrival of the 265ci small-block V8 and three-speed manual in 1955 reinvigorated the car. The key was Zora ArkusDuntov, who pushed for the drivetrain upgrade, and instigated further changes via a 1962 facelift.

The ’55 update included a new body and more power – between 210bhp and 240bhp – once the straight-six was binned. Marketing material played up the performance credentials; not only could you specify high-performance cams, but later years brought fuel injection, racing wheels and suspension, and much more. Duntov also briefly took the Corvette on-track, with the SS.

The car was facelifted again in 1958, adding more chrome and a four-headlamp set-up. For the final two years of its life, the C1 Corvette was updated to twin taillights – a styling signature that has remained with the model ever since –while the by-now-283ci engine was upgraded to 327ci, offering a fuel-injected peak of 360bhp.