Corvette fans know lots about their cars – but maybe there’s some Corvette trivia you haven’t run across yet. See if you know the following fun Corvette facts.
• The Corvette was named after a small, maneuverable warship of the same name. Myron Scott, the creator of the All-American Soap Box Derby, is credited with naming the Corvette.
Original Chevrolet Logo with American Flag
• The original front emblem and horn button was designed to show a checkered flag crossed with an American flag. The design was changed when it was discovered that using an American flag on a commercial product is illegal. The American flag was changed to a flag showing the Chevrolet “bow-tie” emblem and a French fleur-de-lis symbol, reflective of the French etymology of the Chevrolet name.
• Corvettes are assembled today in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They have previously also been assembled in Flint, Michigan and St. Louis, Missouri.
• All states have official insignia, such as a state flower or state bird. Kentucky, where Corvettes are currently manufactured, also has an Official Sports Car – the Corvette, of course!
• A Corvette has had the honor of serving as the pace car ten different times in the Indianapolis 500.
• Generation C2 Corvettes, produced during the years 1963–1967, are also known as Sting Rays. The design was partially inspired by a Mako shark that the designer Bill Mitchell had caught while deep-sea fishing. The Mako shark further inspired the C3 generation as well.
• The 1963–1967 Sting Ray also tops Automobile Magazine‘s Top 100 Coolest cars list.
Astronauts with their Corvettes
• A long relationship exists between NASA’s astronauts and the Chevy Corvette. In 1960, Jim Rathmann – owner of the nearby Chevrolet dealership and winner of the Indianapolis 500, convinced General Motors to give the Mercury 7 astronauts brand new Corvettes for publicity and advertising benefits. Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom were known for racing their Corvettes on Florida’s Space Coast highways near Cape Canaveral. Space-race pilot Chuck Yeager drove the Corvette pace car for the 1986 Indianapolis 500.
• 47% of Corvette owners hold college degrees, higher than the national average…only 27% of all US adults have a degree.
• The original 1953 Corvettes were all Polo White with a red interior. The Polo White paint was last used in 1957.
1963 Split Rear Window – Image Copyright Serious Wheels
• An argument developed between Bill Mitchell and Zora Arkus-Duntov over the now-famous split rear window in the 1963 coupe, favored by Mitchell. It was removed the next year and never seen again. A total of 10,594 split-window coupes were produced in 1963.
• One of the rarest collector models is a 1969 Corvette with the ZL-1 all aluminum 427 engine, because only two units were sold in 1969 with that particular engine.
• The 2005 model first introduced the keyless access and start. It also featured headlights that didn’t pop up, which hadn’t been seen on a Corvette since 1962.
I love anything corvette