What other car elicits such widespread admiration as the Corvette? And I'm talking about every single year, from the first production car in 1953, right up until the latest Corvettes that are rolling off the line in Bowling Green, Ken. To prove that point, I'm including a slideshow at the end of this article with pictures of every single year the Corvette was produced. I took every one of these pictures myself, mostly at car shows around Kansas City.

Also, even though this blog entry is mostly about the pictures, I know there are at least a couple of people who read the stories, so I feel obligated to throw in a little Corvette history here too.
GM design legend Harley Earl initiated a team of designers in 1951 to come up with the initial Corvette design. Inspired by British sports cars of the day, the Corvette was to be a truly American interpretation on the true, two-seat sports car.

One little quirk on the original concept cars was that it had crossed American flags in the logo, as opposed to the crossed checkered and Chevrolet racing flags we know now. After displaying the car a few times with the American flags, it was determined that using the American flag in a logo was illegal.
From the looks and construction department, the Corvette was truly revolutionary in 1953. The art of building fiberglass car bodies wasn’t exactly perfected yet, and the 300-or-so Corvettes produced that first year were hand-built on the assembly line. The idea of a fiberglass body was so unusual, that the first several Corvettes didn’t even start because of grounding problems.

The ’53 Corvette wasn’t as amazing under the skin as the exotic bodywork may lead you to believe. Chevrolets of the time relied on an inline six-cylinder engine and effective but primitive suspension components, and the Corvette basically utilized the same technology, albeit in a smaller package. Yeah, that engine was dubbed the “Blue Flame Six”, and featured dual, side-draft carburetors, but the Corvette wasn’t really considered a performance tour-de-force until the small-block V8 came along a couple of years later.

When the Corvette was introduced in 1953, it was a dream car. People weren’t supposed to be able to actually buy something like this. It was just a glimpse into the future. Yet, there it was, driving around out on the street all beautiful and exotic lookin’. Right out there with the regular cars.

That’s right, America’s sports car. Lots of sporty little numbers come and go. Some of them are pretty cool in their own right. But none of them have the staying power in this country as the Corvette. It is designed by Americans, built by Americans, and caters to what Americans crave—world-class power and finesse at a price that is conceivably attainable to the average person. It was that way more than a half-century ago, and it still holds true today.

Looks great - love Corvettes myself. You're on your own on models after 82 - cant tell em apart myself. But since you mentioned it...that 69 is a very unoriginal for 69 colour. ;) But it IS a 69!
ReplyDeleteCould call me re. your 61 Corvette. Tomorrow thurs. 12-13 before 9AM? Bruce Rauscher 402-489-4148, Lincoln, NE. Thanks.
ReplyDeletejohn - yeah, they had a yellow color, but I'm not sure it was that bright. I like that car, though.
ReplyDeleteBruce - I obviously missed your deadline. That's actually my dad's car. If you want to e-mail a question about it, just send it to kcissclub@hotmail.com. Thanks!
I grew up in Wood River, IL right across from St Louis. When dear Dad would take the family to Famous Barr Dept Store for shopping we would drive by Natural Bridge & Union Blvd where the Corvette Assembly Plant was. I could see the new Vette's parked in a back lot waiting to be loaded on car haulers to be delivered. Great memories. Dad said the old St Louis Browns baseball stadium use to be across the street from Corvette Plant. I was told by a man in church that the Corvette Plant had the highest number of UAW union grievances filed out of of all the GM plants. That was "supposedly" one of the reasons that influenced GM to move plant to Bowling Green and Wentzville.
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