The allure and excitement of the Corvette is not an element that can just be described with one sentence or photo, and the folks at Car and Driver put together a great piece illustrating the rise of this car that all of us here at West Chevy have loved for decades. As we pieced through it wide-eyed here on the lot, it did a fantastic job of showing us how this iconic vehicle rose through the ranks to get to where it is today. During the early 1950's, it was evident that a powerful sports car was necessary to assure that the GM namesake would remain successful.
First produced under the code name Project Opel, the sports car was a very American take on the British sports cars of the time, pieced together from a fiberglass body, and a 3.9-liter straight-six engine mated to a fairly minuscule 2-speed automatic transmission. After making its debut to a very warm reception during GM's 1953 Motorama show in New York City, the Corvette became the fairly rare entrant that then went on to be mass-produced on the line. Production was slightly rushed following the model's debut, the two-seat roadster uses fiberglass body panels, and relied on the much more powerful Blue Flame inline-six for power source.
Chevy produced 300 Corvettes in 1953, and sold just 183 of them. Many thought that at the time, this happened because it was not civilized enough to be a touring car, nor all-inclusively engaging enough to appeal to die hard sports-car enthusiasts. During 1955, new life came in abundance to the Chevy brand, when they finally shoved their 4.3-liter V-8 under the hood in one of our most sensible plays ever. For the first time ever, the Corvette truly offered sports-car performance of an upper caliber. For the 1956 year's offering, the front end was revised, and was very reminiscent of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Coupe, while scalloped sides added a look that was a bit more distinct. A second carb was available, and raised power output to 225 horse.
During the early 1960's, the Corvette went under the knife once gain, and emerged sporting a revised front end with a new dual-headlight design for 1958... other changes include an updated interior that featured the move of the tachometer from the center of the dashboard, to a location below the speedometer in the driver's line of sight. During 1965, one of the most iconic Corvettes ever was released, and the brake improvements as well as the placement of a “big block” V-8 engine under the Corvette's hood, and this was one of those oh-so-sweet-in-red models that produced monstrous 425 gross horsepower. This power rating shot up to 435 horsepower for 1967, when there was a second 427 – cubic – inch V-8 added to the Corvette Lineup as well.
The Sharknado was one of the coolest styling essences of the late 60's, as designer Larry Shinoda had things based off of the Mako Shark II concept car. The three-speed automatic transmission replaced the prior two-speed unit, and the very powerful and appealing Stingray was on deck to enlarge the stroke of the standard V8, bringing the displacement up to 5.7 liters. The 1970's saw some pretty great Corvettes: even though this was one of the most iconic times ever, we skipped ahead on the slideshow to 1983, when Chevy released the Fourth-generation Corvette as a 1984 model.
It was completely redesigned from the ground up, and welcomed additional clearance, as well as a lower center of gravity. A 205-hp, 350 cubic inch V-8 is the only engine offered, and mates to either a 4-speed automatic transmission, or Chevy's 4+3 manual gearbox, which offered overdrive gears for two, three, and four.
The announcement of the ZR1's arrival for 2019 is making all of us here in Knoxville pretty anxious: there were many changes to the Corvette during the 2000's as well, and these were the years when it became so much more modern, and sleek. The emergence of the Z06 in 2006 was a major milestone for the brand, and many customers immediately fell in love with the lightweight aluminum frame, as well as the LS7 engine. We loved virtually thumbing through this Ode to Corvettes, and invite you down to West Chevy for a test drive of the latest and greatest ASAP!
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