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Business & Tech

Resident Makes His Love Of Fast Cars A Profession

Ray Zisa owns the Corvette Center in Newington.

Americans love cars and one model in particular, the Chevrolet Corvette, is an icon.  One of the top Corvette companies in the USA - the Corvette Center in Newington – is co-owned by Berlin resident Ray Zisa, who has lived in Berlin since 1998 after marrying his Berlin born-and-bred wife, Erika.

Ray very kindly took some time out of his busy schedule to show me around the premises and to talk about his love of the American icon.  “I’ve been with the Corvette Center for 33 years.  I was a friend of Bill Bartenstein, who started the company in 1964 in Hartford. 

“I bought into the business in 1978, along with some partners who have now moved on.  Bill was looking to retire to Hawaii, so he put the Corvette Center up for sale and that’s how I came into it.  I was working as a technician with Volvo at the time.  I’ve always been a Corvette guy.  I had my first ‘Vette, a 1969 model, when I was 18.  I joined a Corvette club shortly after and that was where I first met Bill.” 

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The Corvette Center moved to its current premises in Newington in 1984, where Zisa and Phil Elnitsky are managing partners.  The Corvette Center carries out restoration, servicing, body shop and performance modifications on Corvettes of all ages.  During my visit, there was plenty of activity and plenty of Corvettes waiting to be worked upon.  “This time of year business gets insane.  We can’t keep up with it.  As soon as the weather breaks, people get their cars out and everybody wants everything done.”

Zisa gave me a tour of the vehicles in the showroom/office/reception area.  The first was a blue late-model Corvette.  “This one has received progressive modifications, mostly with the engine - things that people want to modify on their cars, such as air cleaners, tuning parts, headers, cams, intakes, etc.  We did all the modifications one step at a time.  After each one, we put it on our dyno to see how much power each component added.  Our last modification was a supercharger.  This car started with around 340hp at the rear wheels and it now has 620!  It’s basically a stock-block engine that still gets 28mpg.  We then played with the suspension and brakes, things that people like to do with their cars.”

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Ray then pulled back a car cover to reveal a gorgeous black 1957 fuel-injected Corvette.  “This one came to us out of Southampton, Long Island.  The car has won every award that a Corvette can win such as a Bloomington Gold and NCRS Top Flight award.  The paint wasn’t perfect, so the owner brought the car to us to be stripped and repainted.  When we stripped it, we found that the body had collected some hideous repairs over the years so we actually re-bodied the whole car.  This particular car has a 283ci engine that makes 282hp.  This was the first year that Corvettes had mechanical fuel injection.”

We then moved through to the busy workshop area where two cars really caught my eye.  The first was a supercharged 2000 model.  “We’ve just taken the supercharger off to fit a high-performance camshaft to the engine, because the owner wanted more power.

“We carry out a lot of performance work, especially now that we have our dyno.  The dyno is a new, expanding part of our business that measures engine power levels and performance.  It’s housed in a building across the street and it gives us the opportunity to do a lot of performance-related work.  We’ve had it operational since August 2010.”

The second car that caught my attention was definitely a work in progress.  “This looks like a ’65 Corvette, but underneath the body, the chassis and frame will house completely modern technology.  It will have a 427ci LS7 engine producing 500+ horsepower.  It will also have a stainless steel chassis and late-model Corvette suspension under a stock-looking body.

“There are various names for this kind of modification, such as restomod (restoration/modification).  We’ve built around half a dozen like this and they’re all custom made.  This one is being built for a customer in Greenwich.  There are various types of chassis, engine and driveline combinations that you can use, but you start with what is basically a stock Corvette body.  We have to make a lot of alterations to that body, though, to fit the modern-running gear.”

I asked Zisa about the racecar that he had on display at the recent Frank Maratta Auto and Cycle Show in Hartford.  “The car started life as a brand-new 1990 Corvette that was ordered special for an SCCA race series called World Challenge.  In 1990, if you used a Corvette in World Challenge, you had to order a specific car from Chevrolet that was designated for that race series as it was equipped a certain way.  Chevy only made 23 of them and seven were converted into racecars.  This is one of the seven.”

Zisa explained that the Corvette Center was involved with the team that ordered that car.  “We were one of the sponsors of Baker Racing, which was out of Wilbraham, MA.  Baker Racing actually ordered three of the seven cars that were raced and they were all yellow.

“In 1990, the drivers, Lou Gigliotti and Bobby Carradine, finished the SCCA series in third place.  Shawn Hendricks was the driver in 1991 and he finished that season as the SCCA World Challenge champion.

“I’ve always wanted that car as it had such a great history.  About four or five years ago I was racing one of my other cars when I got talking to someone who told me about his historic Corvette racer.  The more he told me about the car, the more I realized it was one of the three Baker Racing Corvettes.  I told him if he ever wanted to sell, I was interested in buying, and three years later I owned a piece of Corvette history.

“I run it in vintage events and track days quite a lot.  The car still has the 350ci race motor, Delco experimental brake front package, “stock” suspension, roll cage and lightweight body panels.  I’ve driven it at Lime Rock, Watkins Glen and Pocono, where I’ll be in a week or two.  I love the car.  It’s a blast!  I also have a 1988 Corvette that I use for the same sort of thing. I’m a track instructor so I get lots of track time.”

When Zisa isn’t building or racing Corvettes, he enjoys building and flying radio-control model airplanes.  “I’m also an instructor in that, too.  I belong to a very active club based in Bloomfield.  We have a nice field with a paved runway.  It’s one of the best clubs in New England.  We put on a big event on Labor Day that features giant-scale models airplanes, including quarter and third-scale models.  It really is something to see.”

For more details about the Corvette Center, visit www.corvettecenter-ct.com.

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