Who she was
Before anyone called her the First Lady of Corvette, she was Elfriede Wolff, born in Berlin on 25 April 1915. She was a dancer. On 9 August 1935, in a Berlin café with music and dancing, she sat across from a young engineer named Zachar Arkus-Duntov. That meeting is the first door in the book, and the Berlin note holds the source for it.
On 11 February 1939 they married at the town hall of Boulogne-Billancourt, outside Paris. The civil record, acte 69, lists her as danseuse. He signed Zachar Arkus Duntov. She signed Wolff. The wedding note walks through that page line by line.
The harder drive
In June 1940, with France falling, Elfi drove south out of Paris in a small open MG to reach her husband. That drive is the spine of the novel, and it is why the book carries its governing line: They called her the First Lady of Corvette. She had already done the harder drive. The MG drive note keeps the sources and keeps open the questions the record has not closed.
From there the road runs to Lisbon and the Portuguese liner Nyassa, which reached New York on 4 December 1940 with the family aboard. The Nyassa note holds the arrival record. Years later, her husband became Zora Arkus-Duntov of Chevrolet, the engineer the world calls the father of the Corvette. She was beside him at Le Mans in 1954, and she outlived him by twelve years.
Why the title says Corvette
The world met Elfi through the car. Most readers who find her name find it in Corvette history, at the National Corvette Museum, or in the 2022 Hall of Fame induction that made the First Lady title official. So the title says Corvette. The book is about the woman who was already brave long before the car existed.
What the book is built from
This is a historical novel, written the same way as Margot Dorée’s The Woman on the Bonnet: from the record outward. The research behind it includes Jerry Burton’s authorized biography Zora Arkus-Duntov: The Legend Behind Corvette (Bentley, 2002), the Billancourt marriage record, Berlin civil records for her parents, the 1940 passenger lists, and the National Corvette Museum’s own Hall of Fame material. Where the sources disagree, the notes on this site say so plainly rather than picking the more dramatic version.
What it will not do
It does not invent affairs, Gestapo chases, or marital fights that no source supports. It does not put words in the mouths of real people and call them quotations. And it is independent: the novel is not affiliated with or endorsed by General Motors, Chevrolet, or the National Corvette Museum. If you want to see where she rests, the museum note points the way to Bowling Green.
Where to read it
First Lady of Corvette is on Kindle now for $4.99 from North Star Publishing Group. Print is coming later. If you already know the car, this is the story of the woman who made the long drive first. If you came here for her, the notes index has every sourced door we have opened so far.
Sources: Boulogne-Billancourt marriage acte 69, 11 February 1939 (Elfriede Wolff, danseuse; signatures Zachar Arkus Duntov and Wolff). Birth 25 April 1915 per acte 69. Jerry Burton, Zora Arkus-Duntov: The Legend Behind Corvette (Bentley, 2002), meeting 9 August 1935 and June 1940 drive. New York arrival lists, Nyassa from Lisbon, 4 December 1940. National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame page for Elfi Arkus-Duntov (2022, Enthusiast Category). Kindle publication 3 October 2026, North Star Publishing Group. Independent novel; not affiliated with GM, Chevrolet, or the National Corvette Museum.