Chevrolet Corvette celebrates its 60th anniversary
June 30, 1953, the first of a new kind Chevrolet - in reality, a new kind of American car - came out of the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.
The car had only two seats and included neither ice nor External handles on the doors. His body was not in print but rather in a fitted molded steel reinforced fiberglass.
Despite the baby boom after the war is in full swing, it was definitely not a family car. It was a very personal vehicle heralding the thrill of the road for the driver and passenger.
Skeptics gave him little chance to continue beyond the initial production of a few dozen units. However, 60 years later, the Chevrolet Corvette has survived - and prospered - a car title and American cultural icon.
"Over the years, the Corvette has certainly been able to offer features, design, technology and performance art, says Tadge Juechter, director and chief engineer of the Corvette range. However, I think what has allowed the Corvette to persist as long is it offers exciting experience of driving.
Regardless of your social status, when you find yourself driving a Corvette, you become an Olympic athlete able to go faster, to stop more quickly and react better than anyone. Very few cars can match this experience, and no other car did not offer this experience, or more people than the Corvette. "
Just five months before Tony Kleiber, was responsible for assembling the assembly plant in Flint, only forwards the first Corvette off the assembly line to make his debut in automotive history, the icon will become was a little more than the dream of a designer.
The Corvette was first created under the code name XP-122 to provide an overview of Americans sport DESIGNED European style cars this side of the Atlantic. She was the number of concept cars unveiled in January 1953 GM Motorama show held in the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York.
World War ended recently, people who wanted to take a look to the future of the automobile were congregated there to admire the concept vehicles. At the Waldorf Astoria - and in all other countries to Motorama - the little roadster sport Chevrolet ignited the imagination of many Americans.
In fact, the Corvette was so popular that the direction of Chevrolet decided to launch a two-seater roadster into production, albeit on a very limited basis.
Initial plans called for 150 Corvette, mainly to help attract potential customers in the Chevrolet institutions distributed in 48 states then Americans. Extraordinary demand has doubled the production of the first year to 300 units. The following year, the Corvette has been transferred to a GM plant in St Louis assembly, Missouri, and 3640 Corvette were built for model year 1954.
These first Corvette were the starting point of the love story of Americans with the Corvette. Since 1953, more than 1.5 million Corvettes were built. These cars have become synonymous with the American performance - to cross Route 66 up to win the race on the world's most prestigious road, the 24 hours of Le Mans.
Over the coming months, Chevrolet will check the tires, look under the hood and take place behind the wheel to highlight 60 years of design, performance and technology of the Corvette. We hope you enjoy the journey.
