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Corvette
Trivia
Did you know.....
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...that the man who
named the Corvette, Myron "Scottie" Scott, was Chevy's
Chief Photographer? He found the name in the "C" section of
the dictionary. It means "a speedy pursuit ship in the British
navy." Mr. Scott was inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame
in 2002. |
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...that the first emblem
for the Corvette actually had a U.S. flag in it? But 4 days before
the Corvette was introduced, GM Management said they had to remove the
flag because it was improper and illegal. So they quickly replaced
the U.S. flag with the red Chevrolet bow-tie and fleur-de-lis. |
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...that the idea for
the bow-tie logo came from a piece of Paris hotel wallpaper that GM
Founder William Durant took in 1908 and brought back with him?
Although his wife says he found the inspiration from an Ad in a
Virginia newspaper in 1912. Maybe the "Coalettes
Ad of 1911 that also used the same bowtie?
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...that when Bill
Mitchell named the Corvette the "Sting Ray," Zora-Arkus Duntov
said "It's a dumb fish!" I don't know if the fish
is dumb or not, but sales increased by 50% that year to over 20,000 for
the first time (and never went below 20,000 again)! So the idea
must have been pretty smart.
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...that only 199
buyers chose the Z06 Stingray performance option package in 1963 when
it was first offered? It was the namesake for the 2001
Z06. Today it is estimated there are
between 80 and 100 1963 Z06 cars remaining and the value of these cars
has gone from the purchase price near $6,000 to the six-figure mark!
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...that GM was
thinking of adding a back seat to the Corvette around
1966? Yup. They were going to make it 10" longer to add a
back seat. But when they had to remove the front seat to get
Jack Gordon (the President at the time) out of the back seat of the
prototype, that killed that idea. Here's my own
"prototype" of what it would have looked like!
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...that only 20 L88's
Corvettes were built in 1967 when it was first introduced?
Chevrolet rated the L-88 at only 430hp, but the actual output was
estimated upwards of 550hp. Note: These are the cars
that can fetch $600,000 or more in auction today (where's my
checkbook?). |
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...that 1982 was the
last year for both the 8-track player and CB radio option? |
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...that there is
actually two 1983 corvettes? The official one was the
last survivor when the initial 43 1983's were produced, which now
lives in the National Corvette Museum. However, they didn't
finish "building" it until 5 years later. |
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The other 1983 was
won in a National Council of Corvette Clubs charity raffle and is now
owned by Dick Goyner. It was raffled as the first 1984 (with the
only "Serial Number 00001" from any generation of
Corvette known to still exist). There were 70 test vehicles
built first with VIN's 00002-0071, then the 71st car built was given
the VIN 0001. Mr. Goyner still has this car's original Build
Sheet dated December 16, 1982. So it has been confirmed that
he actually has a 1983 assigned vin0001 for 1984!
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...that the last C4
(owned by Mid-America Design's Mike Yager) was signed by each Bowling
Green, KY plant worker as it was being assembled down the line on June
20, 1996? That's a LOT of autographs on one car! It was the
358,180th C4 corvette, an Arctic White LT1 coupe with special
accents. Mike even got to help put it together. |
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Hope you enjoyed this page! |