Has the Corvette Strayed from Its American Heritage?

The Chevrolet Corvette has always symbolized the American struggle and continued survival. This car is the working man’s supercar, but is that what it is today?

The first versions of the Corvette appeared in 1953, giving us a new two-door sports car with tons of power and style that captured the attention of anyone looking its way. This car became a symbol of true Americana, but it wasn’t an easy road for the Chevy gem. Many times over, the Corvette faced extinction and might not have continued on without some creative thinking and pure desire.

The 1950s weren’t easy for this Chevy

Although the Corvette is truly America’s sports car, it almost didn’t make it into the 1960s. The debut of 1953 and through the decade brought trouble for this low-selling sports car. Sales never rose to at least 10,000 units per year, which would have canceled nearly all other cars at GM, but not this one.

Once it finally caught on as an important part of the automotive landscape, it enjoyed strong sales and made it to the mid-1980s before any further challenges took place. This success was mostly due to Zora Arkus-Duntov and Dave McLellan, who spearheaded the Corvette program for many years.

The C4 model kind of sucked

The Chevrolet Corvette almost didn’t make it to the C5 model. The C4 version was selling poorly, and GM was on the brink of bankruptcy. This could have been the end of the Corvette, and it actually was supposed to be the end if it weren’t for some creative thinkers at GM.

The money that would have been used to create the C5 Corvette had to go to the full-size sedans under the GM brands. This meant instead of a new Corvette, GM was ready to give us the Pontiac Bonneville, Buick LeSabre, and Oldsmobile Eighty Eight. Of course, this lineup of sedans wasn’t going to satisfy any Corvette enthusiast.

The C5 was saved

Thankfully, Joe Spielman and Jim Perkins found a way to finance at least part of the development of the new C5 Corvette. With the help of Russ McLean, the program was on its way to salvation. Of course, almost like writing it for a movie script, the team had 90 days to build a testing mule for the North American Strategy Board Concept Approval meeting. This meant working with an outside team to build the car.

The resulting car wore the C4 body but had a full set of new underpinnings, which made it much better. The C4 model was mired by complaints, but the new C5 model concept was completely different and much better. This new car was excellent, and when Perkins pointed out that the Corvette had been on the cover of more than 800 magazine covers since it arrived in 1953, it was time for GM leasers to finance the program once again.

The C5 was one of the most successful GM cars of the 1990,s and the C6 built on the back of that success to continue the dominance of this great American sports car. Trouble appeared once again before the C7 model began.

The C7 was almost dead due to bankruptcy, but…

New vehicle programs went under review as GM declared bankruptcy in 2008. There were two new programs on the chopping block a new full-size truck program and the C7 Corvette. The Corvette lost and was supposed to be gone from the market.

Thankfully, passionate Corvette team leaders at GM once again saved the car by showing the U.S. Treasury Department that this car made money and the C7 was important to that goal. This was enough to keep the Corvette and its Bowling Green assembly plant going.

Is the C8 Corvette a stray from its heritage?

Parents struggle to give their children a better life than they had themselves. The same can be said of the rough road of the Chevrolet Corvette. This American sports car started slowly and faced down cancelation at least twice to get to the amazing C8 model. This mid-engine version of the Corvette is the first of its kind. What many don’t realize is that the first chief engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov, wanted to build this car as a mid-engine sports car from the beginning.

The C8 Corvette isn’t straying from its heritage but a car that finally accomplishes what it could have been several generations ago but never was. In a way, this car is the culmination of heritage and honors its early roots in the best way possible by using a powerful mid-engine build to create the most amazing Corvette ever made.