The first American sports car! The Corvette concept debuted at the 1953 NY auto show aka motorama and caused enough of a stir that Ed Cole knew Chevy had to build it. And like that the concept became a production car.. And the corvette was born! Quick dip into Ed Cole: Now, Ed Cole is considered the Father of the Chevy Small block v8, he helped Zora Arkov-Duntov turn the meek first gen Corvette into what we know it today, and he lead development of the Corvair The Corvette hit dealerships in 1953 and it was the first true American sports car… However it didn’t do so well. They nailed on design BUT performance was lacking with the inline 6 and the handling was reported to be lackluster. Frankly the first two years were a bust.. THEN they decided in 1955 to toss the inline 6 and put in the chevy v8.. Which boosted the horsepower to 195.. 1956 they also jumped into racing. It was during this time that Zora Arkov-Duntov enters the fold as a young engineer at GM.. Zora escaped the Russian Revolution, was at one point a gold smuggler, flew fighter planes for the French air force, raced for Allard and Porsche at the 24hrs of Le Mans before making his was into GM… You see Zora had seen the Corvette at the 1953 motorama and was enamored with it’s potential. He hit up Ed Cole with a letter and proposal to work on the Corvette… and the rest is history.. 2nd Generation- 1963-1967 – C2 Introduced the moniker Sting Ray to the model and continued with fiberglass body.. Why was stingray added? Well prolific bill Mitchell was doing a lot of fishing in FL and was so inspired by the creatures that he used it with the design. 1963 was the only year for the famed Corvette split-window. Powered by a big block V8 for the first few years before going to the 427cc So before the C2 debuted, two awesome concepts.. The stingray concept racer and the Marko Shark.. The 1963 Sting Ray sold 50% more units than the previous model… It was also cranking out 500hp 3rd Generation 1968-1982 C3 Then in 1968 the C3 would be introduced and go on to the longest running and best selling Corvette in history.. With a record breaking 30k vettes sold that year. It was aggressive jump in design, patterned after the Mako Shark II concept car, first use of T-top removable… This generation also entered the gas crisis and emissions controls of the seventies, this was the first generation to feature emissions controls. Fourth Generation 1984-1996 In then in the 80s with the fourth generation Chevy decided to completely redesign the Corvette and the first time they made an effort into aerodynamics with a .34 drag co-efficient..Also this generation included a lot of innovation anti-lock brakes, traction control, all electronic instrumentation. It was the first corvette to introduce the one piece removable roof panel It was also at this time that it looked like Zora’s dream would be fulfilled in making the Vette midengined.. They wanted the V8 to go into it, the V8 wouldn’t, they didn’t think dropping to a V6 was a good idea. Let’s talk about the ZR1 with the LT5 – an aluminum 5.7liter V8 making 375hp.. the LT-5 actually had help from Lotus and Mercury Marine. It was the fastest Corvette for sale with a top speed of 172mph. And it was also the most expensive.. Fifth Generation 1997-2004 1997 rolled the fifth generation in, the C5 and it was redesigned from the ground up. It was a hit, many of the innovations released with the c5 would carry on to the c6 and c7.. It had a near 50/50 weight distribution. This is when the factory backed Corvette racing team started, won at lemans 3x times.. This was really re-invention of the vette. Sixth Generation 2005-2013 In 2005 we’d see the introduction of the 6th generation with an emphasis on making the car leaner and meaner, with the base model powered by a 6 liter v8 capable of 400hp the following year would feature the small block v8 that would crank our 505hp. It was five inches shorter than the previous generation. Four years later Chevy brough the Zr1 back again with a 6.2 liter supercharged v8 that could shoot out 638 horsepower.. Seventh Generation 2014-2019 2014 the C7 brought back the stingray name, with 465hp.. And they brought back the z06 with a supercharged v8 with 650hp… Eighth Generation And the grand finale to today’s video… The Corvette of today… The C8 which is a striking supercar design without the price… Wish is came in a manual.. finally in 2020 Zora’s vision was finally fulfilled with the Corvette c8 midengine.. finally! Eight generations later.. 6.2 L LT2 crossplane OHV V8 – 495hp 5.5 L LT6 flat-plane DOHC V8 (Z06) – 670hp This is the first corvette with a retractable hardtop.. We should expect the Corvette C8 Z06 to debut in the 2023 model year. It will feature a 670 horsepower 5.5L naturally-aspirated double overhead cam flat-plane crank V8, the highest horsepower naturally aspirated V8 engine in history.