June 30, 1953 mass production of the Chevrolet Corvette, the first American sports car, began. It was created with the goal of winning the American market from the European sports models Jaguar, MG and Aston Martin that flooded it. The first Corvette models were two-seater roadsters. The body was made of carbon fiber on a tubular frame. All cars were painted white and the interior was done in red colors. But the model’s debut was unsuccessful: an outdated 3.9-liter six-cylinder engine with 150 hp paired with a dual-band gearbox did not allow to obtain impressive dynamics. Two years later, when an eight-cylinder engine with a volume of 4.35 liters (195 hp) was installed on the Corvette, and the automatic transmission was replaced with the manual one, sales increased sharply. In 1956, changes were made to the body design and soon the Chevrolet Corvette became a cult car.
Cover: Pikabu
