When someone thinks of a corvette, they think fast, exciting, and fun. It's hard to believe that the idea for a car that we look at as the American dream car, came from Europe during a period when everything seemed to be a nightmare.
Servicemen stationed in Europe during the World War II became attracted to the sporty British MG, a two-seater sports car limited to a small elite group. Shortly after the war Ed Cole became chief engineer of Chevrolet, He quickly tripled the engineering staff, hiring on Harley J. Earl, a former serviceman who had witnessed the innovation of the sports car, to bring a new image to Chevrolet.
On June 30, 1953 the first corvette rolled off the assembly line. The name of the corvette came from a fast type of royal navy warship It was only available in red and white interior and the suggested retail price was around thirty five hundred. The sales of the 1953 corvette were substantially less then expected, only 183 of the 314 cars produced were sold, due to high price and lack of performance.
The only new parts on the corvette were the fiberglass body and the upgraded six-cylinder engine producing 150 hp at 4200rpm. The V8 engine for General Motors began to be developed in 1954; it produced 195hp at 5000rpm and was installed in all 1955 corvettes. Sales were extremely low again that year but all that would change the following year.
Harley Earl designed another Corvette for 1956; this is regarded as a classic among corvettes and helped the corvette become the legend that it is today. It proved itself on the racetrack, which helped to increase sales to ensure the continuation of the corvette. Since that year it has been the best performing American production automobile almost every year. .
In 1963 power steering became available in the corvette as well as independent rear suspension. Emission control equipment was added to the 1968 corvette, 9 months before federal law required it to be.