The Corvette debuted 68 years ago today

On January 17, 1953, the Chevrolet Corvette prototype was unveiled at the Waldorf-Astoria New York hotel in Motorama. But the car we recognize today as synonymous with (relatively) accessible sportiness was not as popular when it first appeared.

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Harley Earl, chief designer at GM at the time, was convinced that a two-seater sports car was the way to go, and introducing a good one could make an impression in what was then a European-dominated market. People were curious, so Chevy had to make sure she met her expectations.

Of The story:

The car featured a full fiberglass body, white exterior and red interior, a relatively unremarkable 150 horsepower engine, and a starting price of around $ 3,500 (tax not included or AM radio and optional heater). In an effort to give the Corvette an air of exclusivity, GM initially marketed the car to invitation-only VIP customers. This plan met with less than desirable results, as only a portion of the 300 Corvettes built that first year were sold. GM abandoned the VIP policy the following year; however, Corvette sales continued to disappoint. In 1954, GM built around 3,600 of the 10,000 Corvettes it had planned, with nearly a third of those cars unsold by early 1955.

To make matters worse, customers at the time simply weren’t impressed with the Corvette. The fiberglass body suffered from poor quality. The doors could open while the car was moving. Water has flowed everywhere. GM has done its best to make sure newly produced cars don’t have the same issues, but it’s hard to correct a bad first impression.

Having said that, a Popular mechanics An investigation published in late 1954 found that half of the Corvette owner, who also owned a foreign sports car, said the Corvette was superior to its international competition. Another 19 percent said their Corvette was, at the very least, on par with the foreign competition. Apparently GM was on to something.

And then Ford launched the Thunderbird, a rival to the Corvette. If there hadn’t been a serious competitor attempting to occupy the same market space, we might have seen the Corvette take off from the batches, left to become nothing more than a footnote in the automotive history. But with Ford waiting behind the scenes, GM took another shot at the Corvette.

I must say that the investment has paid off. The 500,000th Corvette was built in 1977, the millionth to come in 1992. The Corvette has become a staple of the sporting Americana – certainly worthy of the weaknesses early in its life.