1 of 300
They were anxious. Both the automotive press and the general car lovers were abuzz. They had heard the rumors. Chevrolet was working on a new 2 passenger sports car, and it would be one of the firsts to have a US emblem on it. Chevrolet was anxious too, and they felt it was time. But as much as they would have liked to have the soon to be introduced V8 they knew that that was going to have to wait for it's time. And, that time would be 2 years post the introduction of the very first Corvette. They (Chevrolet engineers) had to work with what they had and what they had was a 235ci inline 6 cylinder truck engine that was already at home in many of their released models. It pumped out a meager 115hp, not impressive for a new sports car, but it was solid, and certainly a way to get that rumored sports car off of the drawing boards and onto the street! They also knew that they could modify the engine some, and build up it's power to a more respectable number. Afterall, they felt Jaguar had done it with their 3.4L six in their very respected and very successful XK120. However, that engine had twin overhead cams and had been built with racing in mind. And racing it did, and was very successful at it. That small inline six in Jaguars at the time was capable to propel the car to an impressive 130mph plus. However, with a top of 108mph, the Corvette with their inline 6 did miss the mark some. But they knew that better days were coming in 1955 when a new V8 would find a home in that engine bay, and replace the old Blueflame 6.
But, till then, the 6 was what they had and the engineers knew that they could improve it's power by a few simple changes. For starters, a hotter high lift cam using solid lifters was installed. The head and valves were modified some, and that bumped up the compression ratio. And while continuing the the work on the internals new aluminum pistons were added and replaced the old original pistons. A new three carb aluminum intake manifold was designed and where three Carter side draft carburetors were installed. Finally, to complete the breathability of the newly modified engine, they created a split exhaust manifold and added true dual exhausts. When they were finally done with their efforts, the newly built engine was putting out a respectable 150hp! With their 4 speed manual transmission still off in the distance they decided to offer the car only with their 2 speed Powerglide automatic transmission that had been modified some to handle the additional power load from the engine. So, they went into production and built 300 of them. And, this is funny, they thought an automatic transmission at the times was "more modern," than an old school manual transmission! What's funny about it is when the later V8 car arrived, most of those cars were manual shifters, and I'd be guessing, but I'd bet 90% of those sold were equipt with manual transmissions.
Vince M
1 of 300
They were anxious. Both the automotive press and the general car lovers were abuzz. They had heard the rumors. Chevrolet was working on a new 2 passenger sports car, and it would be one of the firsts to have a US emblem on it. Chevrolet was anxious too, and they felt it was time. But as much as they would have liked to have the soon to be introduced V8 they knew that that was going to have to wait for it's time. And, that time would be 2 years post the introduction of the very first Corvette. They (Chevrolet engineers) had to work with what they had and what they had was a 235ci inline 6 cylinder truck engine that was already at home in many of their released models. It pumped out a meager 115hp, not impressive for a new sports car, but it was solid, and certainly a way to get that rumored sports car off of the drawing boards and onto the street! They also knew that they could modify the engine some, and build up it's power to a more respectable number. Afterall, they felt Jaguar had done it with their 3.4L six in their very respected and very successful XK120. However, that engine had twin overhead cams and had been built with racing in mind. And racing it did, and was very successful at it. That small inline six in Jaguars at the time was capable to propel the car to an impressive 130mph plus. However, with a top of 108mph, the Corvette with their inline 6 did miss the mark some. But they knew that better days were coming in 1955 when a new V8 would find a home in that engine bay, and replace the old Blueflame 6.
But, till then, the 6 was what they had and the engineers knew that they could improve it's power by a few simple changes. For starters, a hotter high lift cam using solid lifters was installed. The head and valves were modified some, and that bumped up the compression ratio. And while continuing the the work on the internals new aluminum pistons were added and replaced the old original pistons. A new three carb aluminum intake manifold was designed and where three Carter side draft carburetors were installed. Finally, to complete the breathability of the newly modified engine, they created a split exhaust manifold and added true dual exhausts. When they were finally done with their efforts, the newly built engine was putting out a respectable 150hp! With their 4 speed manual transmission still off in the distance they decided to offer the car only with their 2 speed Powerglide automatic transmission that had been modified some to handle the additional power load from the engine. So, they went into production and built 300 of them. And, this is funny, they thought an automatic transmission at the times was "more modern," than an old school manual transmission! What's funny about it is when the later V8 car arrived, most of those cars were manual shifters, and I'd be guessing, but I'd bet 90% of those sold were equipt with manual transmissions.
Vince M