1954 Corvette

1954 Corvette. (Photo by Dan Lyons.)

A 1954 Corvette is the October, 2017 entry in my Tide-Mark “Cars of the Fab ‘50s” calendar.
The 1954 Corvette was introduced in 1953, a stretch for staid Chevrolet.
(I learned how to drive in a ’53.)
At that time Chevrolet was marketing very pedestrian automobiles, pretty much devoid of glamor. Attractive to those who preferred reliability over glitz — like my paternal grandmother.
My grandfather wanted a Packard, anathema to my grandmother. Packard was more class than glitz.
In the ‘70s my grandmother was living with my parents, more-or-less separated from my grandfather. I showed up in a used red 1972 Chevrolet Vega GT, somewhat sporty in appearance.
“Is it a Chevrolet?” she asked plaintively.
Her ability to weigh in was compromised by old age, but not her values.
My uncle, my grandmother’s second child, was in deepest doo-doo, perhaps because he sold Fords for a living. He used to get dealer loaners. Once he showed up at his seashore cottage in a top-down ’55 Thunderbird.
Yet droll Chevrolet brought Corvette to market.
The Corvette was just a sports-car wannabee at first. It even had Chevrolet’s tired six-cylinder engine, the “cast-iron wonder” from 1937. It was slightly “souped:” two carburetors.
The car pictured is probably the six. But Chevrolet was developing it’s fabulous SmallBlock V8. When debuted for the 1955 model-year, Zora Arkus-Duntov, an old hot-rodder, noticed.

Zora.

Replace the Corvette’s six with the new SmallBlock. and you had more than a sports-car wannabee.
Duntov was off-and-running. He became Corvette’s chief-engineer, and made Corvette more a sports-car.
The first Corvettes, 1953, were only available white. The car pictured is red, but it’s 1954.
A family in our neighborhood had an early Corvette, white, but 1954 I think. Totally impractical; of course. Just posturing — not for groceries. A daughter in that family, two classes ahead of me, went on to become “Miss Delaware” in the Miss America pageant. That ‘Vette was part of her image, or so it seemed.
Not long ago I glimpsed a car-chase on TV. The car chased was an early ‘Vette, 1954 I think. —It was also red. Ford “Crown-Vic” Police-Cars crashed or exploded in flames. The ‘Vette was always zooming away, to the sound-track of a high-winding American V8, although it was probably only the six.
“Look at the tires on this thing,” I exclaim. “Mere rim-protectors; bias-ply no doubt.” The Crown-Vics probably at least had radials. In reality, a ’54 Corvette would be no match for a ‘90s or later Crown-Vic.
Except for looks, and even that’s debatable. Compared to a Crown-Vic an early ‘Vette has glitz.
With Duntov at the helm, Corvette became an attractive sports-car.
This ’54 is a first iteration of the C1, which lasted through 1962. What made early ‘Vettes attractive was that SmallBlock V8.
An experimental ‘55 is in my area. It’s red, and has appeared at car-shows. It’s essentially the car pictured with a SmallBlock V8. I don’t know how experimental it is; that’s the owner.
From 1956 on the Corvette was rebodied. No more recessed headlights behind screening, or jet taillights. And I think they were all SmallBlock, tuned for performance.
But underneath was pretty much the Chevy sedan chassis, poorly suited for racing. People raced those ‘Vettes, but their only advantage was that high-winding SmallBlock.
It wasn’t until the 1963 model, the C2, that Duntov was able to work his magic. It was still the SmallBlock, but independent-rear-suspension under an attractive new body. How well this all worked is debatable. The IRS was rudimentary.
For 1969 the C3 was introduced, with body influenced by the Mako Shark/Manta Ray (whatever). It was still essentially a C2 underneath, rudimentary IRS.
By then the ‘Vette was available with Chevrolet’s “Big-Block” V8. I’ve seen 454 C2s. Compared to the SmallBlock, a Big-Block weighed much more. Corvettes balance better with the lighter SmallBlock, but won’t win straight-line drag-races.
Compared to what Corvettes became, how humble is this ’54? Yet there it was beating all-and-sundry in that movie car-chase.
In my opinion Corvette is still being made largely because of Duntov, even though he’s gone. Would that other Chevys were as good as the ‘Vette, now at C7.

• RE: “Bias-ply” versus radials. —Originally tires were bias-ply, with the casing made of cross-hatched plies across the tread at about 45 degrees from tire-rotation. “Radials” had the casing at 90 degrees from tire-rotation. Bias-ply weren’t as compliant as radials, and were slipperier. Now all tires, since the ‘70s, are radial construction.