Noble knew that the tach cable for the 290-horse Corvette ran off the back of the distributor and was shorter than the 250-horse tach cable, which snaked to the generator. Luckily, whoever had disconnected the tach cable had laid it up under the dash. Jerry was happy to see it was the short cable, indicating the 290-horse 283.
     After buying the car, Noble was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof to get the tach out of its housing, where he discovered “1548804” to document it as a 290-horse gauge, thanks to the 1959 NCRS judging manual. When he pulled the body, he noticed a 4 x 6-inch plate welded to the top of the frame on the passenger side foot well. Jerry told us, “All of the sudden, it dawned on me that this plate was where they ran the angle brace for the roll bar.”
     Of course, a roll bar hints at racing, which is why Noble wisely