History of the Chevrolet Corve

The Chevrolet Corvette is a part of American history. The Corvette is America’s first and longest lasting sports car, however it was not an immediate success when it first debuted 1953. The Corvette has been through many changes over the years but has developed the reputation of being the American dream machine. The history of the Chevrolet Corvette and Chevrolet’s unique changes to it over the years is an interesting part of American automotive culture.

In September of 1951, Harley Earl, the General Motors chief stylist, began designing a new sports car for Chevrolet. Earl’s dream began production in June, 1952 and debuted in January, 1953 as the Chevrolet Corvette. In its first year Chevrolet produced 300 fiberglass-bodied cars in Flint, Michigan. The car came had a 102-inch wheelbase and a slightly improved Chevrolet passenger car chassis. Standard equipment included a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission and a straight six, 235.5 cubic inch engine with three carburetors and a total of 150 horsepower. The assembly plant produced no more than three cars a day. Options were practically non-existent as all of the cars were painted white and had red vinyl interior with

engines, from two new 350 cubic inch engines and four 427 cubic inch engines. In 1969 the ZL-1 racing engine was added to the lineup of engine options. The ZL-1 was 100 pounds lighter than the L88, but it cost $3,000 more. On November 7, 1969 the 250,000th Corvette rolled off the assembly line, it was a gold convertible. The 1968-1970 models were very popular with the public. In 1969 Corvette sold 38,762 cars at about $4,500 each. In 1976 Corvette sold 46,558 cars, and every one of them were coupes as government safety regulations ended, at least temporarily, the era of the convertible. From 1970-1980 Corvette had to apply to emissions standards that severely hurt the cars performance and horsepower ratings through these years. In 1975 Corvette hit a low point when the horsepower rating dropped all the way down to 165. Corvette also discontinued the convertible until 1986. Even with the horsepower ratings in the pits Chevrolet still managed to sell around 39,000 Corvettes in 1975 and 47,000 in 1976. On March 14, 1977 the 500,000th Corvette rolled off the assembly line.

By 1956 options seemed unlimited with fifteen exterior color combinations and several interior comfort items, like power windows and power top. The 225 horsepower engine and with dual carburetors, manual transmission, and a 3:55 rear end the Corvette could do 0-60mph in 7.3 seconds. Chevrolet produced 3,467 1956 models and sold them for $3,12.00.

On September 3, 1996 the first C5 model was built at the Bowling Green plant. On October 1, 1996 the first production 1997 Corvette is finished and in November it is unveiled to the press. On March 7, 1997 Chevrolet begins selling the C5 model that sported the LS1 engine, a 5.7 liter, 350 cubic inch powerplant that produced 345 horsepower. The C5 did 0-60mph in 4.7 seconds and ran the quarter mile in 13.3 seconds at 109mph. The C5 topped out at 172mph. In 1998 the C5 convertible became the fourth Corvette to be the official Indianapolis 500 pace car. In 2001-2003 Chevrolet produced a

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