2024 LeMay-America’s Car Museum Celebrating 70 years of Corvette.

February 2024 LeMay-America’s Car Museum Celebrating 70 years of America’s  sports car.

The Corvette Exhibit at LeMay-America’s Car Museum was about to end with the new exhibit on Japanese cars so a visit was planned with myself and the former President of the BC Corvette Club Loren Cocking. My Brother Jeff, also a Corvette owner came along for the show.

We were lucky to get there when we did as many of the Japanese cars were ready and waiting under covers, and the Corvettes were great to see. I have a special spot for the Number 6 Race car which I have seen race a number of times and the Silver Ghost L-88 car was also a fan favourite.

Celebrating 75 Years was the Porsche and they had a number of cars on hand up near the entrance to the great hall. The reason for the Corvette to be built was because Chevrolet was not happy with only selling 825,000 or so cars in 1952. That was a sales slump, so Chevrolet brand manager, Thomas Keating wanted to reverse this. The radical approach was not the safe bet, but the Corvette was born, with the code name “Project Opel”. The first cars that were called Corvette were supposed to be an American take on the British Sports Cars so popular in America in the 50’s. The Straight 6 engine with a 2 speed automatic was far from sporty and sales were slow until a V8 and 3 speed manual gearbox arrived in 1955.

A complete new look with a Mercedes 330 SL looking front end righted the ship and sales grew. The car got 4 headlights in 1958 and then another complete overhaul in 1963 with an independent rear-eand and the rest is history, as they say.

Seven Decades is a long time and the latest models are the C8… but it is really a 9^th generation as the the first Generation, or C-1 has the original 6 Cylinder Blue Flame engine and the dramatically different 1956 to 1962 Corvettes.

Porsche’s 75 years is also no small feat and from a little car designed for the masses, the VW Beetle, came the 356 or bathtub Porsche. The early cars were very popular and then came the 911, which along with other newer models is still with us today. Many improvements have taken place over the decades, but one thing is for sure, they are very popular at any vintage racing event the world over.

The LeMay put on a great sample of the little car that could!