Chevrolet Corvette Facts?

Many options and features on cars today were first introduced with the Corvette. Here is a list of Corvette firsts:

All-aluminum engine: 1990 ZR1 with LT5 engine; first base engine 1997 LS1.
Fuel injection: 1957 Ramjet mechanical fuel injection.
Manual transmission: 1955 3-speed.
Floor-mounted handbrake: 1963.
Power brakes: 1963.
Anti-lock braking system: 1986.
Front and rear disc brakes: 1965.
Aluminum frame: 2006 Z06.
Power steering: 1963.
Rack-and-pinion steering: 1984.
Front and rear leaf springs: 1984; previously front coil springs, rear leaf springs.
Independent rear suspension: 1963; first for US prod car.
Electronically adjustable suspension: 1989 FX3.
Run flat tires: 1994 Goodyear Eagle GS-C.
Pop-up headlights: 1963.
Traction control: 1992.
Stability control: 1998.
Xenon headlights: 2005.
Head-Up display: 1999.
Navigation system: 2005.
Air conditioning: 1963.
Leather seats: 1963.
 
i own a repair shop and i can tell you one thing that not many people know of,,in early 1953 there were 50 corvettes built all out of aluminum,,and they didn't have the technology to make the paint stay on them,,it fell off with in days of them being produced,so they scrapped the idea of aluminum,and went to fiber glass in 1954 when they were released,,but the true fact is the 50 that were manufactured actually got sold to the employs of general motors,and to this day only 10 of them are known to exist,where the other 40 are remains a mystery,good luck,i hope this help,s.
 
1953 was the first production year not 54-they also made prototypes of a nomad wagon with the corvette body-yes a corvette wagon in the mid 50s-but it was never produced-also the 1963 split rear window(it has two back glasses instead of one)is the most valuble corvette for collectors-the 1983 or 1984 was the most aerodynamic vette ever made-and i do believe its the only original 2 seater that has always stayed a 2 seater all these years(thunderbird was a 2 seater but they changed that in the 60s and they went to hell from there)they also used to have knock off wheels like the lowriders i drive today have-the 3 bar spinner in the middle of the wheel is all that kept the wheels on in the 60s-hope these are some good fun facts for ya
 
As a Gm employee who has met and known many engineers and designers over the years , including Harley Earl,( Buick Designer, and John De Lorean,FATHER OF THE WIDE TRACK PONTIAC GTO AND FIREBIRD TRANS AM AND ROY FOOTEFOY, Lead engineering student and his General Motors Institute ( an engineering school set up by GM for future designers,engineers, and tooling experts for prototype veihicles for GM ) Roy Footefoy and his senior class at GMI worked on the first prototype corvette. He told us at the GM assembly plant at Norwood OH (original builders of the Camaro and Firebird) that his senior clas project was to cast the first Corvette in a solid block of fiberglass and then they proceed to auger out the inside of the boby using both air powered and hand powered augers to grind out the inside of the body and do a little reshaping of the outside so that it was a one piece body and then the hood and trunk,doors and other opening for lights were cut out to allow for a chassis and engine and trunk compartment.At the time GMI was a 5 yr college with a 2 yr senior class and this allowed the time for the changes in styling to occur. So contrary to popuular myths,even the very first vette was fiberglass . Production started in Detroit with the first 50 or so being built there and the tooling then moved to St Louis. Roy told us that every Corvette made was molded from fiberglass and then the molds were perfected (since no one else had ever composited a body from fiberglass on a mass produced car before)St Louis produced the Corvette from 1953 to 1982 where it was then moved to a new facilty in Bowling Green Ky. Production started and with a few bugs worked out on the line and too late to release a 1983 model GM produced the first ever new model yr in mid 83 and called them 1984 Corvettes for a yr and a half resulting in the newest released model yr and the longest produced model ever involving the Vette Roy Footefoy told us that every vette produced in the beginning and from Day One were Fiberglass until 1982 when glass beads were introduced to the fiberglass mix for the bodies .
 
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