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Friday, November 09, 2001

By Donald I. Hammonds, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Want to know more about America's sweetheart? And no, we're not talking Katie Couric here. We're talking Vette.

Named after a small warship used during World War II, the first Corvette actually was a show car -- they called them dream cars in those days -- that debuted in 1953 for General Motors' "Motorama," a traveling show of its lineup.

	The 1953 Corvette

The car was the brainchild of GM styling maven Harley Earl, who kept his company in the forefront of auto fashion for years, starting with the Cadillac LaSalle, a car that brought color and style to the industry. But it was a legendary engineer who was considered the car's "father," Zora Arkus-Duntov, who nourished and furthered the Corvette's performance over the years.

The Corvette was GM's response to all those GIs who had returned from Europe savoring such nifty European sports cars as the MG, and to the burgeoning hot rod market that hit the United States in the early 1950s.

The first production model was introduced in June 1953, and was made in Flint, Mich., before production was moved to St. Louis after the first year. Talk about roughing it -- the first Corvette didn't even have roll-up windows. As with many sports cars of the day, you'd have to make do with side curtains. Even the top had to be raised manually.

And would you believe that the first Corvettes were powered by Chevy's "Blue Flame" six-cylinder engine -- a tamer version than what was available in the Bel Air, Two-Ten or One-Fifty sedan back then? The first Corvette V-8, a 195-horsepower, 265-cubic-inch engine, was not introduced until 1955.

Corvettes were restyled for the first time in 1956, a year when two Corvette trademarks -- a cove or sculpted out area on each side of the car, usually in a contrasting color, debuted.

In 1958, a dummy air scoop and chrome slashes were added, becoming early trademarks of Chevy's sportster. That same year, Corvettes became well known for offering fuel injection on their engines.

In 1961, the rear end of the Corvette was dramatically changed to a rounded look that was really a prediction of styling glories to come in a couple of years.

It also was the last year for those wide whitewalls -- narrow band ones were used in future years.

Then there was 1963 -- what a year!

Out came the stunning new Corvette Sting Ray, one of the best known cars of all time.

It was a sleek, out-of this world fastback with hidden headlights, a split rear window (which was dropped the following year), and an overall design that suggested the look of its namesake, a stingray fish.

The name "ZO6" also was introduced that year. Only 199 of these race ready Vettes was produced, and the next time we'd all see that nameplate was this year when it appeared on another run of limited production, high-performance Corvettes.

Easily one of the most popular Corvettes of the 1960s was the 1967 model.

Though it looked little different from earlier versions, the styling refinements -- mainly leaving off all the chrome and emblems -- made it the pinnacle of design at that point for the Corvette.

It also included the option for a full-blown racing engine -- the L88. Though it officially had 430 horsepower, the true output reportedly was around 600 horsepower! Chevy says 20 L-88s were produced.

The years 1968 through 1983 brought a completely new Corvette, this one also known as Sting Ray with even more pronounced bulges over the wheels, a futuristic interior, famed hidden headlights and roof panels that lifted off on the coupe.

In 1984, a high-tech Corvette featuring a "birdcage" style frame, clamshell forward opening hood, and cross-fire fuel injection was introduced.

It was immediately dubbed "the best production sports car on the planet" by Motor Trend magazine, which named it Car of the Year.

One milestone of the past decade was the introduction of the Corvette ZR-1 in 1990, powered by an all-aluminum, double overhead, LT-5 V-8, which produced an astounding -- for that time anyway -- 375 horsepower.

To unleash its power beyond a certain point, a special key had to be turned -- and then look out! You could tell a ZR-1 from other Corvettes of that year by the square taillights and a convex, rather than concave, rear end.

The current Corvette generation, known as the C5, was introduced in 1997.