Seems like it was only yesterday that the Corvette was born. Time flies when you’re having fun (going fast)!
On June 30, 1953, the first of a new kind of Chevrolet and a new kind of American car – Corvette - rolled off an assembly line in Flint, MI. It had only two seats. There were no roll-up windows or exterior door handles. And its body wasn’t stamped from steel but, rather, molded from reinforced fiberglass. Powered by a hotted-up tri-carb passenger car Six, the Corvette promised a driver and a passenger all of the thrills of the open road. And it delivered on its promise. You could get a '53 Corvette, above , with 2013 427 model, in any color as long as it was white!
Between 1953 and 1955 - when Chevrolet finally offered a V8 option – sales were sluggish and it often looked like it would not survive. However, 60 years later the Corvette survives – and thrives – as an American automotive and cultural icon.
“Through the years, Corvette certainly offered state-of-the-art features, designs, technologies and performance,” said Tadge Juechter, vehicle chief engineer for Corvette. “However, I think what has made the Corvette such an enduring concept is the exciting experience of driving one. No other car has delivered that experience as well, or to more people, than the Corvette.”
Barely five months before Flint plant body assembler Tony Kleiber drove that first Chevrolet Corvette off the line, above, and into automotive history, the icon in the making was little more than a designer’s dream.
Corvette was first created under the code-name XP-122 and, along with several concept cars, unveiled in January 1953 at the GM Motorama show, above, in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. At the Waldorf Astoria – and at every other Motorama stop across the country -- Chevrolet’s sporty little roadster ignited many Americans’ imaginations.
Initial plans called for about 150 Corvettes, primarily to help draw potential customers into Chevrolet dealerships. Overwhelming demand doubled the first-year production to 300 units. In 1954, Corvette production moved to a GM assembly facility in St. Louis, MO., where 3,640 Corvettes were built.
Since 1953, more than 1.5 million Corvettes have been built. The Corvette has become synonymous with American performance – from cruising Route 66 to taking the checkered flag at the world’s most prestigious road race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.Special 427 Edition Corvette convertible, above.
NOTE: Chronicles editor Marty Schorr, right, was at the 1953 Motorama, produced the first regular frequency newsstand magazine (VETTE) for Corvette enthusiasts in the mid-1970s and authored, CORVETTE, From Six to Stingray in 1973. He drives a C6 Corvette convertible.
For more information about the latest Corvette models, please visit http://www.chevrolet.com/corvette-sports-cars/?seo=goo_|_2012_Chevy_Retention_|_IMG_Chevy_Corvette_|_2012_Corvette_|_2013_corvette
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