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    The CORVETTE Guide
    The CORVETTE Guide
    The CORVETTE Guide
    Ebook148 pages1 hour

    The CORVETTE Guide

    By Dick Thompson and Donn Hale Munson

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    THE STORY OF AMERICA'S FIRST MODERN TRUE SPORTS CAR
    ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION (1958): “ For nearly a quarter of a century the American highway was without a domestic automobile which could accurately be labeled a true sports car. The names Stutz, Mercer, Dusenberg, Kissell and a host of others—including some as recent as Cord and Auburn have almost vanished from the American automotive vocabulary. The names and the magic they invoked are almost meaningless to the present generation of Americans.
    No native name to replace them appeared until 1952 when the Chevrolet Division of the General Motors Corporation gave birth to the Corvette …”
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEdizioni Savine
    Release dateSep 19, 2015
    ISBN9788896365625
    The CORVETTE Guide

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      Book preview

      The CORVETTE Guide - Dick Thompson

      Record

      1. THE CORVETTE IS BORN

      For nearly a quarter of a century the American highway was without a domestic automobile which could accurately be labeled a true sports car. The names Stutz, Mercer, Dusenberg, Kissell and a host of others—including some as recent as Cord and Auburn have almost vanished from the American automotive vocabulary. The names and the magic they invoked are almost meaningless to the present generation of Americans.

      No native name to replace them appeared until 1952 when the Chevrolet Division of the General Motors Corporation gave birth to the Corvette.

      Since then, the marque has won for itself shining honors which promise to engrave themselves deep and lastingly into not only American but international automobile history. But this has not come about easily.

      Nobody can accurately report how many times the car that was to become Corvette died aborning on Detroit drafting boards, or in the test areas well hidden from car-curious America. The model that did see the light of day in 1952 was neither conceived nor delivered without pain and protest.

      For, in the beginning, the Corvette was merely a stylist’s dream— a smartly designed body disconnected in fact and fancy from a truly complete automobile. General Motors, like all large automobile manufacturers, builds many mock-ups purely for research in styling and engineering.

      These mock-ups are the result of a conglomeration of ideas that range from the sublime to the ridiculous, from conservative to so extremely futuristic that they would shake up a space ship builder.

      Very few of these designs are ever seen by the public. The majority are destroyed and their designers are steered into other avenues of approach. Only constant trial and error and complete exploration of all designs results in mass produced cars which one day make their appearance in showrooms throughout the world.

      Pure research has limitations. The dreamers who hunch over drawing boards must, at some period of their careers, see their brain children born or the creative urge is strangled.

      Policy Paves the Way

      It was perhaps in the light of recognition of that fact that one of the designs of the Chevrolet Division was encouraged after it caught the eye of company policy making men. Anyway, with a constant post-war flood of European sports cars entering the American scene, it could also have occurred to Chevrolet that building a two seater sports type car might just be sound business.

      But, unlike the European procedure of designing this type vehicle from the wheels up, the genius that is the real heart of Detroit took another approach. Pleased with the smart body styling that today still distinguishes the Corvette, the powers sent it to the engineering division with orders to design a chassis for it.

      The Corvette was in a period of gestation.

      To the body and the newly designed chassis were added standard Chevrolet passenger car components which were either slightly modified or redesigned to fit the new requirements. This, in the opinion of veteran sports car pilots in this country, proved to be both the Achilles’ heel and the making of the car. Because it nearly proved a fatal blow and, at the same time, a breath of life in the American sports car scene.

      Compromise is the keynote when you are creating a sports car from passenger car components. If a sports car is designed from the ground up, most problems can be solved by strict adherence to the design. But when parts are redesigned or modified some problems remain completely unsolved. Other engineering headaches are solved just enough to justify the use of stock parts.

      One of the first experimental Corvettes. This car is owned by Jerry Earl. Photo by Dave Wheeler.

      The Corvette is a masterpiece of compromise.

      It is full of stock and slightly modified components which have met with amazing success. Just how successful we’ll see later on. But it suffices to say here that the original Corvettes did not set the sports car world ablaze.

      In fact, their initial appearance was greeted with considerable skepticism, much of which was justified. One of the early limitations was the fact that the only engine available was a standard six cylinder model. It was great for puttering around town—very durable and economical, but no powerhouse. In all honesty, Chevy made no big claims for the mill. Its horsepower per cubic inch astounded no one; but development and refinement soon raised the horsepower from a modest 102 to a very creditable 150.

      In the very early Corvette days, the only transmission available was an automatic transmission trade-named Powerglide. It is fine in passenger cars but no four-speed stick pusher would touch it. Sports car drivers raised on MG’s, Jaguars, Alfas and other European imports turned their noses up at Detroit’s offering.

      And since Detroit was offering a car with a lot of gloss, Americans demanded a few more extras than the car offered. The tried and true I-never-put-the-top-up drivers raised no clamor for side windows but the general public did. Side curtains will be tolerated by the real enthusiast if his car has really sock performance to back up its Spartan interior.

      The early models of the Corvette we re more suited for street driving than for the track or road course, but modifications soon promoted them from city pavement to high speed racing.

      So the first Corvette emerged a loudly heralded thing of beauty . . . but as far as sportscar drivers were concerned, it was a beast.

      Enter a Real Engine

      Chevrolet’s production of a new V-8 engine marked a milestone in Corvette’s career. It was decided to produce a true sportscar.

      The new V-8 in its most advanced form produced more horsepower than any had dared dream possible from a large pushrod type engine. Even its designer was pleasantly surprised.

      Through advanced camshaft and valve train design, plus a short stroke, revolutions per minute of an unheard-of level were being churned up. Maximum horsepower was developed at 6000 rpm. And for a short duration you could wind it up to a safe 7000! Now, this is not an astounding number of rpm for a racing engine, but it was really something to reckon with in a large V-8 straight off Detroit’s production line.

      Of course, with this much soup beneath its sleek hood many two-seater drivers eyed the Corvette as a red hot track and road potential.

      I was among the earliest of these, having gained experience on imported machinery ranging from MG’s and Porsches to Jaguars. To own, drive, and particularly race a Corvette in those days required the patience of a saint and the tolerance of a supreme court justice. Because you never put one down on a road course or track without being subjected to the most vociferous attacks from drivers and fans alike.

      But I believed that, if not immediately, sooner or later Corvette would be gathering its share of checkered flags.

      I ran a Corvette at Upper Marlboro, Maryland, on the original course, a tight, twisting circuit that kept you working even in the smallest cars. My first runs were just for practice. Frankly, the car was a mess.

      It was right off the showroom floor. It had soft shock absorbers, soft springs and brakes so unpredictable that every time I applied them—even on straightways—I spun out.

      The Real Beginning

      From 1953 to 1956 there were no radical changes in Corvette. It remained a comfortable, rather smart street car that quite frankly made a spectacle of itself and its

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