The Chevrolet Corvette C1 is a sporty car produced from 1953 through 1962. It's the first-generation of Chevy Corvettes advertised and built by Chevy.

Layout

Vehicle manufacturers didn't start to concentrate to car models until the 1920s, as the fashion of a vehicle might be equally as significant to some as to how well the car runs. What Henry Ford did for auto production principles, Harley Earl did for auto layout. Earl convinced GM that they needed to construct a twoseat sports-car. The end result was the 1953 Corvette, unveiled to the people at that year's Motorama car show. An American flag was incorporated by the original Corvette emblem in the design; since associating the flag with a product was frowned upon, this was later dropped.

The outside body was made from a radical new composite material called fiberglass, chosen in part because of steel quotas left-over from the war. Underneath that radical new body were conventional Chevy parts, including the "Blue Flame" inline sixcylinder truck engine, 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission, and drum brakes from Chevy's regular auto line. Although the engine's output was raised somewhat, thanks to a triplecarburetor intake exclusive to the Corvette, functionality of the car was decidedly lackluster. Up to that time, the Chevrolet division was GM's entrylevel marque, known for excellent but nononsense automobiles. Nowhere was that more apparent than in the Corvette. A Paxton supercharger became available in 1954 as a dealerinstalled option, considerably enhancing the Corvette's straightline performance, but sales continued to decrease.

ArkusDuntov backed it with a threespeed manual-transmission and just took the new V8. That change, likely the one most significant within the auto's history, helped turn the Corvette from a twoseat curiosity into a genuine performer. Additionally, it earned ArkusDuntov the rather erroneous nickname "Father of the Corvette".

The very first generation is generally called a solidaxle, based on the proven fact that separate rear suspension (IRS) was not available until 1963.

Fuel-injection

The very first-generation started in 1953 and finished in 1962, with the addition of optional fuel-injection in 1957. This new induction program first saw regular use on a gasoline engine two years earlier on the MercedesBenz 300SL "Gullwing" roadster. Even though the Corvette's General Motors-Rochester fuel injection system utilized a continuous movement style fuel injection system rather than the diesel style nozzle metering system of the Mercedes' six-cylinders, the system however created about 290HP. In 1962, the GM SmallBlock was enlarged to 327 in^3 (5.4 L) and created a maximum of 360 hp (268 kW). Other early options contained Power windows (1956), hydraulically controlled electricity convertible top (1956), durable brake and suspension options (1957), and four-speed manual-transmission (mid 1957).

1960 Chevrolet Corvette Fuel Injected 4-spd Start Up, Exhaust, and In Depth Tour