Post World War II, senior figures at General Motors saw American GIs returning from Europe with souvenirs: relatively lightweight, nimble two-seater sports cars. Design chief Harley Earl had a particular admiration for the Jaguar XK120, and aimed to create an all-American alternative; although initially unsure which GM brand should market such a vehicle, he shared with Chief Engineer Ed Cole a desire to rejuvenate the image of Chevrolet, then seen as somewhat staid and unimaginative. A prototype codenamed Project Opel took shape.
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Project Opel featured a 46-piece fibreglass body, chosen to save weight, make tooling easier, and to allow the designers more freedom to create curves and rounded shapes. GM executives were initially unsure of this then-risky proposal for a mass-market car (fibreglass had, until then, been used only in very low-volume hand-built vehicles or 'specials'), but Earl and Cole were determined to push the concept through. The money men consented on the grounds that the car could effectively serve as a mobile testbed for glassfibre technology, which could then, if successful, be used in higher-volume, higher-profit large saloon cars. The budget for the project was limited, which meant that the team had to dig into the existing GM parts bin for the rest of the components and the engine, the well-proven 3.8-litre Chevy straight-six, which was modified to produce 150bhp at 4500 rpm, and paired with the Powerglide two-speed auto gearbox. Rear-wheel drive, the car rode on a simple leaf-sprung rear axle on a solid box-section frame. Its bodyshell may have been a radical departure for GM, but the powertrain and underpinnings certainly weren't.
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Design-wise, Earl styled an elegant body almost entirely free of unnecessary chrome embellishment - at a time when even the most basic American car was dripping with brightwork. The sharktooth grille picked up on other GM design cues, but the single circular headlights, with little round indicators beneath, were distinctly European. Wrap-around glass, a removable curved hard top roof, discreet front fenders and whitewall tyres completed the look. The first show car was displayed at GM's Motorama exhibition at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel, January 1953, and was so well received that the Corvette, named after a speedy naval escort boat, went into production six months later in Flint, Michigan. It was available in Polo White only with a red leather interior and co-ordinated red paint flash on the front wings and door, and in its first year, 300 were sold, costing from $3,498 with just two options available: a heater and an AM radio.
Sales didn't pick up in 1954, however, despite much praise from the media. Just 3,634 were sold, with excess production of a further 1500 unsold, so GM had to move fast. Prices were reduced to $2,774, three new colours were offered (blue, red, black) with a new beige interior option, and the engineering team started work on a revised version, fuelled by the energy of new recruit Zora Arkus-Duntov, a Belgium-born Le Mans driver and ex-Allard man. In advance of the second-generation model (C2), a new engine was fitted in 1955: the latest Ed Cole-designed small-block V8, with another 45bhp of power and reduced weight to replace the underpowered, outdated 'six'. This small-block unit (265 cubic inches) introduced new concepts such as thin-wall cylinder block casings, interchangeable heads, stamped steel rocker arms with spherical pivots, short exhaust ports, slipper-skirt pistons, an intake manifold that sealed the lifter valley and overhead lubrication through hollow pushrods - cutting-edge technology in the mid-'50s. It was paired with an improved three-speed automatic transmission.
Just 700 Corvettes were sold in '55, but anticipation of the next-generation model grew, especially after Arkus-Dunkov drove a prototype to record speeds on the Pikes Peak hill climb. He had a vision of the Corvette as a proper performance car.
