Harley Earl was an automobile design expert at Chevrolet who noticed the influx of small European sports cars into the United States after World War II. He knew there was a market for a two-seat roadster and convinced Chevrolet to introduce their own version: The Chevrolet Corvette.
In 1953, the first Corvette’s were unveiled. The cars were unique in their construction. Instead of the steel bodies common for the time, the Corvette was actually built from a much lighter material-fiberglass. This innovation, combined with its Earl-designed appearance, however, was still not enough to make the car an overnight success.
At the time, Chevrolet was known for producing inexpensive, but unexciting vehicles. The Corvette, despite its sex styling and innovative construction was “just another Chevy” at heart, and lacked the performance sports car enthusiasts craved. The original Corvettes featured a less-that-impressive V6, a two-speed automatic transmission, and a brake system taken directly from the regular Chevy line. In essence, the original Corvette was a sports car in appearance alone. Sales lagged and there was even talk of discontinuing Earl’s pet project after a few years.
Sales were simply too low. Although the fiberglass design wowed potential buyers and critics within the sports car industry and the appearance of the Corvette was beyond reproach, the car simply lacked the kind of performance those searching for a true sports car expected to find.
Then came Zora Arkus-Duntov, the Russian