60 Years and Counting for the Corvette

They’ve been in production for 60 years and counting and no other car in the world can claim that footnote in history.  It’s America’s favorite muscle-car and since the first one rolled out of the factory, one and a half million have been produced.

The first Corvette models were pretty disappointing.  Only 300 were made in the first model year.  Each of them were white with a red interior.  It had a small engine and an automatic transmission.  But when Ford introduced the Thunderbird, Chevy was put on notice that if they wanted to compete they had to up the performance.  So each year beginning in 1955 they offered bigger and more powerful engines.

It was just this past Sunday that the 2014 Corvette Stingray – the 7^th generation of Corvette was introduced at the Detroit Auto Show.  It’s the first overhaul in nine years.

But it was on this date in 1953 that the very first Corvette was introduced at the Motorama Auto Show at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.