Origin of the Corvette - 1951
Chevrolet Corvette. There is nothing like it. Here are a few facts about Corvettes and its road to perfection.
In 1927 General Motors hired designer Harley Earl, who loved sports cars. Soldiers returning home after serving overseas in the years following World War II were bringing home sports cars like the MG, Jaguar, and Alfa Romeo. In 1951, Nash Motors began selling an expensive two-seat Nash-Healey, a sports car that was made in partnership with Italian designer Pinin Farina and British auto engineer Donald Healey.
However, there were few moderate-priced models, so Earl convinced GM that they needed to build a two-seat sports car. With his Special Projects crew, he began working on the new car, the "Project Opel" in late 1951. The result was the hand-built, EX-122 pre-production Corvette prototype, which was first shown to the public at the 1953 GM Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City on January 17, 1953. Production began six months later. The car is now located at the Kerbeck Corvette museum in Atlantic City and is believed to be the oldest Corvette in existence.
 | The first generation Corvette was introduced late in the 1953 model year and ended in 1962. These cars are often referred to as the "solid-axle" models since the independent rear suspension did not debut until the 1963 Sting Ray. |
The second generation of the Corvette, referred to as mid-years, had several design inspirations. The first was the contemporary Jaguar E-Type. The second was a car known as the "Mitchell Sting Ray" in 1959, after designer Bill Mitchell, because Chevrolet no longer participated in factory racing.
The inspiration for the third generation was a Mako Shark that Mitchell had caught while deep-sea fishing and was patterned after the Mako Shark II concept car. It was introduced for the 1968 model year and lasted through 1982, and at 15 years was the longest running Corvette generation.
The fourth generation Corvette began production in March 1983 as a 1984 model and ended with the 1996 model.
Production of the fifth generation Corvette began in 1997 and ended with the 2004 model year. The fifth generation was a major improvement over the long-running fourth generation, which like early Corvettes, tended to develop squeaks and rattles.
The new Z06 arrived as a 2006 model in the third quarter of 2005. It has a 7.0 L (430 CID) version of the small block engine codenamed LS7. At 427.6 CID, the Z06 was the largest small block ever offered from General Motors. The engine is the most powerful engine to be put into a GM production sports car. Top speed is 205 mph (330 km/h).
