For each year they put something on the cover that indicates or at least is associated with that year. For 1963 they had first (of course) “1963″, then followed by “1963: Still Rockin’” as the next choice. Look what is on the cover of the second 1963 disc.

Images are thumbnails so you can click to enlarge them. Enjoy.

ZR1 Side View

ZR1 viewed from the front quarter

Rear Quarter of the ZR1 Corvette showing the ZR1 badge

Clear panel on the hood showing the LS9

ZR1 Wheels

ZR1 Specification Sheet

And for a more traditional look… the one and only C1 that I found at the show. They had plenty of other classic Chevrolets there, lots of Bel Aires and whatnot. But this was the creme of the crop.

Teal and White C1 at the Dallas Auto Show

I especially like the sticker on the back:

Donated by your local drug dealer

And yes, it is a ZR-1. Here’s a closer shot from the back of the car.

This is, of course, no doubt a nod to the “big block” days of the 1967 Corvette.

I like this one on many levels. First of all, the ressurection of the Camaro. Second, and perhaps more subtle, the fact that Chevrolet’s parent company General Motors is coming back to life out of bankruptcy as a new company… named General Motors.

What do I need to say about this one? Not much.

I remember the first time I saw spinners on a car here in Dallas. My first response was “huh?” My second response was “but why?”

This one is cool.

The very recognizable front grill of a first generation Corvette.

I am not old enough to remember poodle skirts. I am old enough to find this amusing.

And saving the best for last..

Hope you enjoyed these, I know I did.

The ZR-1 was a high-performance version of the Corvette produced on the C4 body style, between the late 1980s and early 1990s. This special modified ZR-1 included a 32-valve engine that produced around 475 horsepower. In 1990 it set the 24 hour closed course speed record for its class at 175.88 miles per hour, and a 5,000 mile speed record at 173.79 miles per hour in 28 hours, 46 minutes, and 12 seconds. To put that in perspective, that would be the same as driving from Orlando, Florida (Disneyworld!) to Los Angeles, California (Disneyland!) and back… in just over one day!

Okay, that’s fast…

The #92 car was donated to the museum by Tommy Morrison Motorsports and Mobil Oil Corporation.

This car really caught my eye as I was walking through the museum. Imagine my shock when I saw that it was listed as a 1953 model! For the most part the cars were arranged in chronological order, and I felt sure that this one was out of place. But, sure enough, it was produced in the early 1950s.

The sleek lines and curves of the styling were amazing, but it all made sense when I read the text on the card associated with the car. According to the card:

After World War II some American motorists, including veterans, wanted European-style sports cars. William Tritt, a California fiberglass-boat builder, introduced the Jaguar-like Glasspar in 1952 and became a leader among small manufacturers of affordable American sports cars. Major automakers had dismissed plastic bodies after an unsuccessful Ford experiment in the 1940s, but Tritt showed that a body made of polyester resin and glass strands was practical, economical to produce in very small quantities, and superior to steel in many ways.

Of course we all know that now, don’t we? The problem was that Tritt only made the bodies, he did not have the capacity to build an entire car. So people would buy a used Ford or other car and modify the chassis to accept the Glasspar “skin”. The documentation goes on to say:

Despite its advantages, the plastic car seemed destined to remain a low-volume vehicle because of slow production and limited capital. One Glasspar body was made each day, and no chassis were made. … But in 1953 General Motors decided to make Corvette bodies of fiberglass and consulted with Tritt about production methods. By the 1960s GM was making more than 20,000 fiberglass-body Corvettes each year by using dies and presses instead of casting in molds.

I don’t know if the early Corvette design team took any styling cues from the Glasspar, but here’s a shot showing the front end.

A shot showing the cockpit.

And the rear.

It’s interesting in that after seeing this car I did a number of searches on the internet and found a bunch of hits for Glasspar boats, but none on the Glasspar automobile. I know I had never heard of it before; I hope you found this page interesting.

This car was donated to the museum by Dusty Dutton and Family.

The first Corvette rolled off of the assembly lines back in 1953. It was then, as today, a two seater front engine rear-wheel drive sportscar. While other cars (the Ford Thunderbird or even the Mustang come to mind) have lost their way and metamorphasized into different types of cars, the Corvette has always been a two seater front engine rear-wheel drive sports car. There’s something to be said for consistency.

That being said, there have been changes over the years. The original style was used from 1953 through 1962. The V8 was first offered as an option ($135) in 1955. (Keep in mind that the base car price was about $3,000). These early models are now sometimes called a C1, or first generation Corvette. There were 300 Corvettes built in 1953, all of them white with a red interior.

The second generation (C2) was built from 1963 to 1967. One of the most interesting models was the 1963 “Split Window”. It was so named because the rear coupe window was split down the middle with a portion of the frame. Public outcry was so loud that General Moters dropped that style immediately. As a result, there are not many Split Window coupes still in existence today. This generation is also called the “Mako Shark” due to the gills on the side of the car and the shape of the body.

The third generation, or C3, was named after another animal, the Sting Ray. The pointed nose and sweeping styling of this model rolled off of the assembly lines from 1968 to 1982. This could be the most popular Corvette ever. GM built over 50,000 of the 1979 model year for the high-water mark of the popularity for this car. Unfortunately, this model also saw the demise of the convertible; the last one was made in 1975.

In 1978 the 25th anniversary model was produced with a special silver / black paint scheme. This was also the first year that the Corvette functioned as the pace car for the Indianapolis 500, an honor that it was to repeat several times.

The C4 had the longest run of any of the body styles, starting in 1984 and running to 1996. This was due in part to two things. The first was that the technology used in the car was advanced enough that there was not a lot of need for improvement. The other was that toward the end of the body style GM was not even sure that there would be a C5 Corvette.

The story of the C5 is well documented in the required read, “All Corvettes Are Red”. If you frequent Corvette discussion boards and ever see the abbreviation ACAR, this is the book that they are talking about. Interestingly enough, the “C” nomenclature did not really come into play until the C5 was produced. Before then a Corvette was a solid axle, a shark, a sting ray, and so on. The C5 started production in 1997 and continues through today. The 1998 model again provided pace car duties for the Indy 500 and reintroduced the convertible body style to the C5 family.

If you look at the two images included on this page, you will see styling cues in the C5 that were taken from the C1. The “waterfall” of the open roadster is repeated in the convertibles of today. The scalloped sides of the original are present in the C5, although the C5 does not emphasize them with a different color. There are other cues that carry forward the tradition, if you know where to look.

Oh, and remember the first V8 engine back in 1955? That one generated 195 horsepower. The engine used in the base model C5 generates 350 HP! The Z06 bumps that up to 385! So even with the styling cues from yesterday, the performance is all about today.