Zachar Arkus was born in Brussels, Belgium, on December 25, 1909, to a Jewish Russian family. His father, Yakov “Jacques” Arkus, was a mining engineer, and his mother, Rachel Kogan, was a medical student. Following a divorce, his mother partnered with Josef Duntov, an electrical engineer, and the family adopted the hyphenated last name Arkus-Duntov out of respect for both men. The family moved to Berlin in 1927, where Arkus-Duntov developed a passion for motorcycles and automobiles, beginning with a 350 cc motorcycle. He graduated from Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg in 1934. In 1939, he married Elfriede "Elfi" Wolff, a dancer with the Folies Bergère in Paris.
After France surrendered during World War II, Arkus-Duntov and his family obtained exit visas and traveled to New York. In 1942, he and his brother Yura established the Ardun Mechanical Corporation, producing parts for ammunition and aircraft. Ardun became known for their aluminum, overhead valve cylinder heads for the Ford V8 engine, designed by George Kudasch, which increased power output. Arkus-Duntov attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1946 and 1947 with a Talbot-Lago, but failed to make the race both years.
Arkus-Duntov moved to England to work on the Allard sports car, co-driving it at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1952 and 1953. He then joined the Porsche team, achieving class wins at Le Mans in 1954 and 1955 with the Porsche 550 RS Spyder. In 1953, he joined General Motors after being impressed by the Chevrolet Corvette on display at the Motorama in New York City. He began at Chevrolet as an assistant staff engineer on May 1, 1953. He became Director of High Performance Vehicles at Chevrolet in 1957.
In 1956, Arkus-Duntov set a stock car record ascending Pike’s Peak in a pre-production 1956 Bel Air. The same year, he drove a Corvette to a record-setting 150 mph over the flying mile at Daytona Beach. A conflict arose with Chevrolet chief designer Bill Mitchell over the design of the C2 Corvette "Sting Ray," specifically the split rear window, which was widely criticized and replaced the following year. In 1962, Arkus-Duntov’s Grand Sport program was halted by General Motors management due to fears of antitrust concerns.
In 1956, Arkus-Duntov designed and constructed the Corvette SS with a magnesium body for the 24-hour Le Mans race, but the car experienced brake problems and retired after 23 laps at the 1957 Sebring race. He also began work on the Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle II (CERV II) project in 1964.
Arkus-Duntov was inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame in 1973, the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1991, and the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1994. He was also a member of the National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame, inducted in 1998. An exhibition dedicated to his life and work was held at the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Center for Russian Émigrés in Moscow in 2012. His ashes were entombed at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Pulitzer Prize winning columnist George Will wrote in his obituary that "if... you do not mourn his passing, you are not a good American."
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