Today, 69 years ago, Chevrolet presented the impressive Opel

Today, January 17, 69 years ago, Chevrolet presented the Corvette for the very first time. The manufacturer showed an example of two open chairs at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. The model formed the basis of a rich family tree. Today the family has eight generations.

It was in the early 1950s that General Motors began to create a new model. The project had to remain a secret from the outside world, because the car company wanted to surprise friend and foe when presenting a sports car. As a diversion, the project was given the name ‘Opel’. As you can hear in the accompanying video, the Germans themselves knew nothing about this.

Disappointing sales figures

Chevrolet released on the 17th in question^e prototype in January 1953, but it took several months before the first production model crossed the production line. Very few examples were built in the introductory year of 1953, 300 to be exact. In the following year, Chevrolet significantly increased the production of the sports car, but the volume did not reach the planned level. They were stuck on more than a third of the goal. Even the following year. Within the ranks of the American sports car manufacturer, the idea quickly arose to take the Corvette out of production.

Fiberglass body

The Corvette with its fiberglass body in white body color and red interior trim did not look high quality. Moreover, the upper part of the line turned out to be completely waterproof. In addition, the existing six-cylinder engine with 150 hp was considered insufficient, especially when the competition began to react to the Corvette. The ‘Vette got off to a terrible start. The model was saved by the introduction of an eight-cylinder engine, while the build quality and finish were improved. The Corvette finally rolled off the starting blocks.

1000 hp and four-wheel drive

The rest is history, because now we have reached the eighth generation and the plans for that version are big: four-wheel drive, electric and more than 1000 hp. The manufacturer offers the Corvette C8, as shown internal model hot, as an open version with a removable roof panel and an electrically operated folding roof. At this time, only one power train is available. The fast Z06, the top model of the time, has already been delivered and will soon go into production.

Sjoerds Weetjes Corvette

In this classic episode of Sjoerds Weetjes, Autovisie editor Sjoerd van Bilsen takes you back to the 1950s, when Chevrolet was working on the very first Corvette. (through Youtube)