Part One The 1953 Corvette C1 - An Underpowered Hand-Built Cruiser

The Chevy Corvette

The World's Fastest Production Car

And The 63-Years It Took To Get There

Welcome to a special ride on a 63-Year history. The unique history of one of Americas most popular. Fastest most powerful Sports cars, the Corvette. In a fast-moving, fact-filled 8 part series you'll learn (through 8 signature models) just how the Chevy Corvette came to be the fastest production car in the World today. Learn just how Chevrolet took the time to learn how to build and perfect Sports Machine and how fortunate we as drivers were to be able to come along for the ride. Below are the featured models that made sure every year re-established its dominance in the world of speed.

So come along for the ride and learn just how GM managed to successfully managed to perfectly integrate a standard V8 engine, outstanding suspension, and a one-of-a-kind transmission to create a sports machine, one of the most coveted automotive sports machines ever created in the world of automotive speed. A machine that to this day still stands firmly atop both the world of production cars.

Learn just how the Corvette against all odds still uses a V8 as its power base. Even though most Super-Car producers have long since moved up to 10, 12 and in some cases (usually $1 Million or more) the coveted V16. Yet some how the “Speed Division” at GM continues to amaze the the world of speed by somehow continuing to manipulate, integrate and increase power with the same V8 it started out with 60-Years ago.

Learn the entire life of America's fastest production Sports-Car right here! In just 8 parts, 8 models (3 of which are listed here) of Chevrolet's fastest most popular models of the Corvette;

1. The 1953 Chevy Corvette C1 – An Underpowered Hand-Built Cruiser
2. The 1963 Chevy Corvette Stingray – Speed Aerodynamics Perfectly Blended (Edmunds #16)
3. The 1990 Chevy Corvette ZR1 – A Digital Savior (Edmunds #50)
4. The 1999 Chevy Corvette C5 – A New Century A New Look
5. The 2002 Chevy Corvette Z06 - New Millennium New Dominance
6. The 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1 – A Perfect Response With A Blast From The Past (Edmunds #78)
7. The 2015 Chevy Corvette Z06 – The World's Fastest Production Sports Car
8. The 2017 Chevy Corvette ??? - What Does The Future Hold

So be sure and return as each week and catch the newest part of the series as it will be featured right here on this very website! The perfect to learn about speed, American Speed at 200 Miles An Hour! And remember it cost nothing at all to go down to your local Chevrolet dealer (your site here!) and see the brand new Z06 in person! Ask a few questions and of course take a test drive! All I can say as we know ALL Corvettes only increase in value, one can be purchased and deemed an investment. 

So sit back relax and enjoy the reading and feel to comment! 

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Part One – The 1953 Chevy Corvette C1

An Under-powered Hand-Built Cruiser

         The very first Corvette, the 1953 C1 was actually designed and created as a show car for the World-Famous Motorama of 1953 annually held in New York, as a display. It generated so much interest simply sitting as a display along with Tens of Thousands of inquiries, letters and telephone calls that followed months after. General Motors decided then and there to make it a full-blown production model and rushed into it production late into the 1953 auto year.

The Beginning

     The Chevrolet Corvette C1 was introduced on June 30th 1953 and you could pick one up for a mere $3,490. Officially classified as Sports-Car by GM, the C1 was grossly underpowered, running on only a relatively small 235 cu in. engine, especially when compared to some of the massive powerplants being put under the hood of most the sports-cars of the day.  
     Considered more of an experiment, a sort of prototype as seen by many. The Corvettes 1^st year was surprisingly a little shaky. Initially the C1 received mixed reviews from both consumers and auto-experts. Many said it was clearly due to the extremely small and underpowered power plant, the 235. Yet in a stroke of pure automotive luck, instead of being one of the fastest, the C1' was instantly recognized and classified as one of the most beautiful Hand-Built 2-Seat Convertible Cruisers ever produced! Yes, the 1^st generation of Corvettes where and still is by many actually considered as Cruisers! That's right! Even though they were aiming to create a true “Speed-Demon” they instead in a single stroke defined cruising and also gave us one of the nicest convertible ever hand-built. A beautiful 2-Seater built in vivid contrasting color, head turning, eye catching colors. It was a car meant to be driven slowly, a true cruiser, a real head-turner, eye catcher.

            The 53' Vette' was (and still is) a beautiful 2-Seater to look at both at a perfect standstill as well as in motion. With only 300 models produced, all hand-built. All 300 came in one design, one trim one that still turns heads to this day. A perfect Polo White exterior accented with Chrome stripping. The interiors all an “excited” vibrant Red which seemed to give the 2-Door a unique degree of excitement. The vibrant Red interior many drivers would later say was the most exciting part as it seemed to envelope you once you sat inside. Many believed the most beautiful part of '53 Vette overall was the Jet-Black Canvas Soft-Top, it seemed to do a fantastic job of bringing the car together. The Tires! It was the tires that actually tied it all together. Take a look at the “53 up close and you'll notice how the “White-Wall” tires is really what ties it all together. With a nice accented strip of coloring from each section of the car interior Red, exterior White and of course Soft-Top canvas Black.

                  Aside from getting such mixed reviews from consumers, the C1 for 1953 surprisingly also fell well short of GM's sales expectations. With such a rocky start and no real backing the program was nearly cancelled! We can all thank the automotive Gods. That GM quickly realized a few tweaks and adjustments made could dramatically increase speed and improve overall handling and performance on the upcoming 1954 model...and decided to give the Corvette one more year. Whew!

                   A year of learning. Even though the 1953 Corvette C1, seemed to miss its intended mark of going fast somehow it had unknowingly set the standard for Classic Cruisers. The following year however GM introduced an entirely new car, a Sports-Car. The “54 Corvette was the perfect example of “how to improve” a product...literally.

    In hindsight most would say that the 53' C1 had done what it was made to do...make a splash! Little did any of us as owners, drivers or collectors know what Chevy really had in store for us in the very near future. Especially when it came to its instant new best-seller, the Corvette.

>>>>Stay Tuned For Part Two

The 1963 Corvette Stingray - Speed, Design and Aerodynamics perfectly blended...

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