1 of 6

Write now Article Tools

By the early 1950s the enthusiasm that greeted the first new cars out of the reconverted tank factories had faded a little. The GIs who came back from Europe and England had seen and driven their smaller, more agile cars, and some had brought them over here. Those little upright MGs were fun to drive on sunny days, but on a straight road, a Ford V8 would leave them in the dust. The faster "foreign cars" were known mostly from pictures of movie actors with their expensive Jags and Ferraris. Of these, the most exotic was the Mercedes 300SL coupe with its "gullwing" doors. That car inspired the GM stylists who designed the prototype sports car shown at GM's 1953 Motorama auto show, the Corvette.

It seems funny today to call that car a "sports car." With an anemic single carburetor six under the hood, and a two-speed "slush box" Powerglide automatic transmission, about the only things sporty about it were its light weight and better weight distribution compared to the Chevy sedans. It's high price made it a tough sell, but its styling drew people into the showrooms, and in 1955 adding Chevrolet's new overhead valve small block V8, the most important engine since the Ford flathead V8, insured the model's future.

These so-called "solid axle" Corvettes eventually got things like roll-up windows, floor-shifted manual transmissions, fuel injection, and quad headlights. Then in 1963 the first independent rear suspension 'Vette's appeared, the Sting Rays, with their hidden headlights, creased fenders and the coupe's iconic "split-window" styling that lasted a year, insuring its collector value today.

The Sting Rays received disc brakes and eventually big block V8s including the famous 427, with as many as 435 advertised gross horsepower. Many consider this the peak of Corvette styling.

The next "Mako Shark" style never gained as much traction among enthusiasts, and by the time the "C4" Corvettes arrived in 1984, emission controls had sucked the life out of the cars, so that a well-tuned Saab Turbo was quicker than a 1979 Corvette.

While Corvettes up to then were successful on American race tracks, they were always considered poor cousins to the "real" Aston-Martins, Ferraris, Jaguars and Mercedes that won the Le Mans 24 hour races. With a little development the new 1984 C4s had the basics to compete. The 1991 ZR-1, nicknamed the "King of the Hill," had an overhead cam V8 that topped out at 405 hp by '93.

The C5 was introduced in 1997 with a new body, new chassis, new engine (in the same basic architecture), and a new transaxle to set it apart from its predecessor. the ZR-1 engine was gone, but by 2002 the pushrod V8 had matched the ZR-1's peak horsepower.

The present Corvette C6 is finally acknowledged to be among the very top high-performance production cars in the world. At under $50,000, the base 430 hp model is the world's best performance value. It's latest 638 hp ZR-1 version is setting new standards for production sports car value (and lap times). It is surpassed only by vehicles of such marginal utility, limited production and astronomical price that the comparison is silly. It's hard to believe it started with such humble beginnings.

Learn more about this author, Dick Stewart.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Car reviews: Chevrolet Corvette?
We want to hear your view. Write now!