Top 5 Greatest Corvette Achievements & Failures
From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, here are five incredible Corvette achievements and five miserable Corvette failures from the past 70 years.
Intro
The Chevrolet Corvette has a long and storied history. It is the American sports car and an iconic symbol of performance. There have been some incredible moments in the history of the Corvette since 1953. But, like anything that has been around as long as the Corvette, there have been a few missteps along the way as well. We took a look back and rounded up five of the greatest moments in Corvette history as well as five of the biggest failures. Despite the failures the Corvette story is still being written, and for that we are most grateful.
Image: Joe Kucinski
Failure #5 – No 1983 Corvette
The all-new C4 Corvette was to be the most advanced Corvette ever. It was going to be the biggest generational change in the history of the model. And it was going to come out in celebration of the brand's 30th Anniversary. However, the amount of change was just too much for GM. There were struggles getting the car to meet California emissions standards. Further delays were caused by the decision to switch the roof configuration from a T-top setup to a Targa style. It was all simply too much to overcome and as a result, the entire 1983 model year was skipped (outside of a handful of pre-production vehicles, one of which survived). Not a proud moment in the history of Corvette.
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Achievement #5 – 53,807 Corvettes Sold In 1979
To this day the 1979 model year Corvette holds the record for the most sales in a single year. (Although 2023 may actually hit second place!) What makes this even more impressive is very few enthusiasts will call out 1979 as peak Corvette. But it did have some things going for it. It still had that sexy C3 design, and it was starting to get some power back that it lost due to emission regulations. With the optional L82 engine, the car made a decent 225 horsepower and could hit 60 mph in just 6.6 seconds. The public loved the 1979 Corvette and they proved it by buying nearly 54,000 of them.
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Failure #4 – Blue Flame Straight Six
This engine almost killed the Corvette before it really had a chance 1953 and 1954 cars were equipped with the Blue Flame straight six engine that made 150 horsepower in 1953 and got a 5-horsepower bump in 1954. But the bump was not nearly enough. The Corvette was expensive, and it had looks that promised performance. Yet this engine combined with a 2-speed automatic transmission could not back up that performance style. As a result, sales were poor, and the Corvette almost didn’t make it to year three. The V8 introduced in 1955 saved the Corvette.
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Achievement #4 – Astronaut Connection
The Corvette leasing program for American astronauts helped make the Corvette the all-American sports car that it is today. Alan Shepard went to his first day of space training driving his 1957 Corvette. In 1962, he became the first American to leave the atmosphere of Earth and return safely. GM President Edward Cole gave Shepard a new 1962 Corvette as a reward for his bravery. From that point on, a special $1 Corvette lease program was made available to all American astronauts. As you can imagine that led to most astronauts driving C2 and C3 Corvettes. The program ended in 1971 but the relationship was already forged, and the connection was made. It is a connection to the American spirit of bravery and adventure that is part of every Corvette on the road.
Image: Joe Kucinski
Failure #3 – Cross-Fire Fuel Injection
The delay of the C4 until 1984 was bad enough, but then GM saddled the car with the wholly unimpressive Cross-Fire fuel injection system. The system had a cool name and the idea behind it was sound, but the design was so poor that it only made it under the hood of the Corvette for the 1984 model year before being replaced. The idea was to improve fuel efficiency and meet tighter emission standards. But design compromises resulted in fuel economy that didn’t improve. And because of small intake manifold ports the engine performance falls off a cliff above 4,000 rpm. It was a Corvette failure that was quickly rectified with the significantly more powerful Tuned-Port fuel injection system in 1985.
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Achievement #3 – Big Block Corvettes
If Cross-Fire fuel injection was a swing and a miss, the big block V8 engines were a home run. In 1965, the L79 engine became an option in the Corvette. It was a 396 cubic inch big block that was rated at 425 horsepower. A Corvette equipped with this engine was able to hit 60 mph in 5.7 seconds. An impressive time for 1965. The next year the iconic 427 engine was introduced and the Corvette reputation for high performance was solidified. Some of these engines such as the aluminum block L88 fitted to the ZL1 in 1969 had laughably understated power numbers. These were basically racing engines installed under the hood of a street car and were making well over 500 horsepower. Any way you slice it, the big block Corvettes are legends.
Image: Joe Kucinski
Failure #2 – Base 1975 Corvette
What made the 1975 Corvette especially tragic was that we were all enjoying the incredible power of the big block engines just a couple years prior and then suddenly in 1975 the base Corvette made a meager 165 horsepower and the optional L82 made 205 horsepower. Forget the big blocks, these numbers were significantly less than what the 350 ci engines were making just the year before. This time period was a dark time for most performance cars, so the Corvette was not alone. However, the inability of GM to offer any real performance for their flagship sports car was a fail.
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Achievement #2 – Hiring Zora Arkus-Duntov
Arkus-Duntov started as a development engineer but was ultimately the man that made the Corvette the performance car that it is today. When he first saw the Corvette, he loved it and wanted to be part of it. He also had the vision that it should be a halo sports car with the performance to match. GM boss Edward Cole eventually let Arkus-Duntov take the Corvette reigns and it was probably the best decision in the history of the Corvette program. The amazing thing about Arkus-Duntov is not just the ideas that he had for the Corvette, but the passion he had. Many of the developments that he worked on such as fuel injection and large V8 engines he did with modest resources and often in the face of internal opposition. He started pushing for a mid-engine Corvette as early as 1957. 63 years later his vision would become reality.
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Failure #1 – Killing the Manual Transmission
The C8 Corvette is a truly incredible sports car. It has the performance to rival and beat cars costing two to three times more. But the performance has come at a price. The C8 comes only with an automatic transmission. It is a fine transmission, and no doubt makes the car faster. But while speed might be everything in a race car, it is not everything in a sports car. A sports car needs to perform well for sure. But it should also be an engaging drive. And a critical component in that engagement is being able to row your own gears, like you have been able to do for decades in the Corvette until the C8 came around. Not being able to buy a new Corvette with a manual transmission is an epic fail.
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Achievement #1 – Longest Continuously Produced Sports Car in History
Has the Corvette had some low points over the years? Of course. But the bottom line is that the Corvette has been with us for an incredible 70 years now. It is the longest continuously produced sports car in the history of the world. And with the new Z06, E-Ray, and a ZR1 on the horizon it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. The Corvette has been driven by astronauts, featured in songs and movies, won countless races, and is as much a symbol of America as apple pie and baseball. The Corvette is not merely a car, it is an institution. It brings together families, and forges friendships. The world is full of other sports cars. But there is only one Corvette.
Image: Joe Kucinski