The first Chevrolet Corvette was introduced in 1953.
Chevrolet presented the new two-seat sports car at the 1953 General Motors Motorama in New York, where it attracted strong public interest. Production began on June 30, 1953, at Chevrolet’s facility in Flint, Michigan. These inaugural cars were built as convertibles and were finished in Polo White with red interiors and black tops.
Only 300 Corvettes were produced for the 1953 model year. The cars used a six-cylinder engine and a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission, a combination that made the early Corvette less powerful than many enthusiasts expected. Production moved to St. Louis for 1954, and Chevrolet expanded the available colors.
The Corvette nearly disappeared after disappointing early sales, but Chevrolet continued developing it. The arrival of a V8 engine in 1955, the work of engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, and competition from Ford’s 1955 Thunderbird helped secure its future. The 1953–1962 cars are now known as the first-generation, or C1, Corvette.