History Of The Chevrolet Corvette

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

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 Corvette that had the name Z06, which was used for the1963 Corvette racecar. The 2002 Z06 is equipped with the LS6 engine, which is a 345.7 cubic inch motor with an aluminum block and headers. The Z06 produces 405 horsepower with 400 foot-pounds of torque. The Z06 runs 0-60mph in 4 seconds and does the quarter mile in 12.48 seconds at 114.9mph. The Z06 comes only with a hard top and a six speed manual transmission, the Z06 redlines at 6500rpm and does 0-30mph in 1.79 seconds. The C5 is still in production until 2005 when Corvette plans to begin production on the C6.

In 1957, forty-three Corvettes were produced with fuel injection that pushed the cars rating up to 283 horsepower. This engine was a landmark because for the first time a passenger car engine produced one horsepower per cubic inch. From 1957 to 1961 the V-8 Corvettes came with the option of three different carbureted cars or two fuel-injected cars. Anti-sway bars were added to the Corvette in 1960. The 1960-1961 Corvettes had many options to choose from, fuel injection or carbureted cars were offered, one could also choose from many different rear axle ratios. The Corvette could come with a three or four speed manual or automatic transmission. By 1962 the fuel injected Corvette with the new 327 cubic inch engine produced 360 horsepower and did 0-60mph in 5.9 seconds. A 1953-1962 model Corvette is referred to as a C1 and each new body style Corvette produced in subsequent years went up a number, so 1963 began the production of the C2 body style, the Stingray. Bill Michell designed the 1963 model Corvette. The 1963 stingray was the first year Corvette produced a coupe and the first year air conditioning was available as an option. By this time the price of the Corvette was around $4,037 and about 22,000 cars were being produced each year. In 1965 a new engine was added along with the 327, it was a 396 cubic inch engine that produced 425 horsepower. In 1966 the 396 was replaced with a 427 cubic inch big block that would do 0-60mph in less than five seconds with a top speed of over 140mph. In 1967 buyers could purchase a competition engine called the L88, which produced 560 horsepower.

made no horsepower increase. This year the base price for the Corvette went above $15,000. The price of the Chevrolet Corvette tripled from 1971 to 1981.

By 1956 options seemed unlimited with fifteen exterior color combinations and several interior comfort items, like power windows and power top. The 225 horsepo

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