06/30/2022
On June 28, 1953, workers at a Chevrolet plant in Flint assembled the first Corvette, a two-seat sports car that would become an American icon. The first completed production version rolled off the line two days later, one of just 300 Corvettes made that year.
The idea for the Corvette came from General Motors’ design chief Harley Earl, who started developing plans in 1951 for a low-cost American sports car to compete with European makes like MGs, Jaguars and Ferraris. The project was code-named “Opel.”
In January 1953, GM debuted the Corvette concept car (pictured below) at its Motorama auto show at the Waldorf Astoria New York. It featured a fiberglass body and a six-cylinder engine. According to GM, the car was named for the “trim, fleet naval vessel that performed heroic es**rt and patrol duties during World War II.” The Corvette was a big hit with the public at Motorama, and GM soon put the roadster into production.
The first Corvette was hand-assembled and featured a Polo White exterior and red interior, two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission, a wraparound windshield, whitewall tires and detachable plastic curtains instead of side windows. The car carried a price tag of $3,490 and could go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 11 or 12 seconds, a fairly average speed.
In 1954, the Corvette went into mass production at a Chevy plant in St. Louis, MO. Sales were lackluster from the outset, and GM considered discontinuing the line. However, Ford Motor Company introduced the Thunderbird around the same time, and GM did not want to appear as bowing to a competitor. In 1955, the Corvette's survival was buoyed when it was equipped with a more powerful V-8 engine. It went on to earn the nickname “America’s sports car” and become a pop culture icon via numerous references in movies, television and music.
