Corvette history 1956-57

Index	1956-57 CORVETTE Page 1

It has often been stated that the Corvette lost money for the first 10 years of its life, 1953-63. That's strictly a rumor, unconfirmed, and since General Motors does not talk about its losses, who's really to say?

56 Vette

But there's no doubt that those early Corvettes cost the company dearly, this at a time when the car showed very little promise of any financial payback. Early sales figures painted the bleakest of pictures: 3940 Corvettes sold in 1953-54, and a paltry 700 in 1955, even with the introduction that year of Chevy's landmark small-block V-8. Thus it is hardly any wonder that GM's bean counters talked seriously about killing the fledgling 'Vette.

56 Vette

Yet Chevrolet was not giving up quite yet. Why wouldn't Chevy let the Corvette die? Partly because some people in high places saw a future in it, and partly because GM would lose face and give up a market niche by dropping the Corvette so soon after Ford introduced the Thunderbird.

56 Vette

Those who are old enough to remember the Corvette's introduction and early years from 1953 through 1955 will recall that the car arrived with a distinctly odd focus. Or lack of focus, perhaps, for no one knew just what the Corvette was supposed to be or do. Was it a sports car? Not with Chevy's "Stovebolt Six" mated to the two-speed Powerglide automatic. Was it a factory hot rod? Hardly. It wasn't even much of a boulevard cruiser, and its $3523 base price in 1954 meant one could buy a Cadillac for about the same money. It's precisely that odd focus and ultimately the 'Vette's redefinition in the 1956-57 models that's of interest here. The transformation turned out to be a minor marvel -- something that happens rarely. It was brought about by just a handful of men, and it involved not only the Corvette's survival, but the car's coming of age.

56 Vette

GM design vice-president, Harley Earl, envisioned the first 'Vette as a $1800 runabout for college kids. He had in mind a car for his on teenage sons, Jim and Jerry. But the 1953-54 Corvette came in at over $3500, nearly double what Earl had originally intended, a big difference even by Ivy League standards. Consider also that a brand-new Chevy Bel Air sold for as little as $1830 in 1954.

57 Vette

After the Corvette's brush with death in 1955, all of a sudden, surprisingly, wondrously, the car not only survived -- but it actually took on a purpose. Its odd focus resolved itself into a real, honest-to-goodness American sports car. That transformation took place in model-years 1956-57. Until then, even with the V-8 in 1955, Chevy's glass two-seater remained essentially Harley Earl's motorama show car made streetable.

In 1956-57, at tremendous cost, Chevrolet turned the Corvette into a true sports car by giving it power, handling, reliability, looks, and a defined focus. Beyond that, the 'Vette also kept coming up with unexpected perks: a Duntov cam option, fuel injection, the competition SR-2, and the Sebring SS. Those were all expensive little forays into the unexpected, into hard-to-justify territory, but thanks to those true believers in high places, the Corvette came up very quickly from humble-pie beginnings to national -- and even international -- prominence

The Corvette's godfather, of course, was Harley Jefferson Earl, all six-foot-four of him. A native Hollywood Californian, Earl as a young man had designed custom coachwork for movie stars. Taking note, GM president Alfred Sloan lured earl to Detroit in 1925-26, giving him lots of money plus a free hand to set up a corporate styling department. Earl's Art & Colour Section soon became the largest, most influential automobile styling center in the world. Earl put his stamp on all General Motors cars from 1927 on, becoming in the process America's doyen of car design.

Earl towered over other men, both physically and figuratively. He was, among other things, GM's resident maverick. He wore loud clothes, drove low-slung cars, and knew intuitively what made cars sell. During his tenure, GM set the world standard in styling. Earl was loved, hated, respected, feared, and admired, sometimes all at the same time and by the same person.

After World War II, at the height of his powers, Earl began creating a series of showcars, initially to impress GM's directors at annual new-model unveilings in New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel ballroom. These semi-private Waldorf shows evolved into GM's free-to-the-public Motoramas, which became amalgams of futuristic show cars and live stage entertainment. Held yearly from 1949 to 1962, the Motoramas -- which mixed music, dance, showgirls, and cars -- were trucked to major cities across America, giving millions of people a chance to admire GM's wealth of ideas and technology.

One striking 1953 Motorama show car was the Chevrolet Corvette. Harley Earl didn't personally design that first (or any) Corvette, but he did deliver it by Caesarian section. He also sold the idea of producing it to GM management, while Chevrolet remained one of the marque's staunchest supporters. Harley Earl retired in 1958.

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October 10, 1998