The strangest stories are circulating about the Chevrolet Corvette in this world. We have a number - the most important? - organised.
The Corvette was named after a handy and manoeuvrable war ship. The name was coined by Myron Scott, an American photographer, who is also seen as the inventor of the Soap Box Derby Races. So soapboxes. Those were the days ... It was decided after the war to launch a sporty-looking Chevrolet; General Motors designer Harvey Earl was commissioned for this. The clay model was approved by the management in 1952. The car had a polyester body, a heavy-duty chassis and all the parts that were used in other series models. The first copy was made in a corner of the Chevrolet factory in Flint, Michigan. To gauge whether the public agreed, this copy went on a journey with the GM mobile car show, called "Motorama." A complete mobile car show that visited a number of large cities at the beginning of the year to introduce the public to the GM models. In addition, a number of experimental models went along every year to test the reactions of the public. The entire show - scenery and cars - was transported in trucks and every time 
completely assembled in lounges of hotels and or other exhibition rooms. In January 1953, the public was introduced to the Corvette for the first time during the show in the hall of the famous and super-luxurious Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. The responses were overwhelming. So GM decided to start the production of the Corvette that same year. The uniqueness of the Corvette was - and still is - the polyester coach. The first - driving - copy was built on 30 June 1953 and was equipped with 3,8 liter 'Blue Flame' 6 cylinder in line engine with a capacity of 150 hp. Because all Corvettes were made by hand and the production of a car with a plastic body was actually at an experimental stage, only 300 pieces were manufactured in that year. The price was $ 3.734, twice as much as a regular Chevrolet. Accessories (…) like a heater cost $ 91 extra; an additional $ 145 had to be paid for an AM radio. All - only 300 - Corvettes from 1953 were white with a red interior ... Only in mid-1955 could a 195 horsepower V8 engine with a capacity of 4,3 liters be chosen. The buyer had apparently waited for that, because 90 percent ordered the Corvette with V8 engine. The following year it was only available with a V8 and that has not changed to this day. Although the sales figures, especially in the beginning, lagged far behind expectations, the car appeared in no less than 1.434 TV shows and films and not only became an American icon as a result. Ed Cole, the big boss of General Motors, gave Alan Shepard, the first American in space on his return to Earth, a Corvette as a gift in 1962. And that gesture was immediately exploited by coordinating an entire marketing strategy with it "American astronauts and their Corvettes'.