Visual Corvette History C1 - C8
See how America's sports car went from a country-club cruiser to a performance icon.
Chevrolet was in a sales slump in the early 1950's, and like many within the bow-tie division's ranks, brand manager Thomas Keating was eager to reverse course. His solution? Ordering up a sports car for General Motors' bread-and-butter nameplate. Produced under the code name Project Opel, the sports car was a distinctly American take on the era's British sports cars, cobbled together from a fiberglass body and a 3.9-liter (235-cubic-inch) straight-six engine mated to a two-speed automatic transmission (really).
After making its debut to a warm reception at GM's 1953 Motorama show in New York City, the Corvette became the rare entrant to go on to be produced for customers. Too bad there wasn't much lust among buyers for the 300 1953 model Corvettes that Chevrolet ultimately built, an inauspicious start to the bloodline that became America's sports car. You already know there's a happy ending to this story, but swipe through to see how that story developed:
Note: below link has a wonderful assortment of Corvette photos
Source: Car & Driver - Greg Fink
Posted 1/29/21