Always considered to be one of the best looking Corvettes, 1956 also marked the third-lowest production total in Corvette history, adding rarity to this example.
In 1953, the world was introduced to America’s sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette. Eventually, the Corvette would become the standard-bearer for American automotive know-how, but for the first few years, sales were rather disappointing. In 1955, GM was even considering cancelling production, but GM gave the Corvette one more shot with a new V-8, and it worked. In a few short years, the Corvette would be dominating race tracks and drag strips from Riverside to the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Conceived by Harley Earl, the Corvette was meant to compete with the European sports cars favored by American G.I.s returning from service after World War II. The original Corvette was an exceptionally attractive car, but performance was lacking. Chevy’s Blue Flame Six and Powerglide automatic transmission simply could not compete with the offerings from Ferrari and Maserati.
The influence of Zora Arkus-Duntov would change the course of the Corvette forever and rescue it from flagging sales. Duntov championed the use of Chevrolet’s new V8 engine in the Corvette, and by 1956, the Blue Flame Six was banished back to the economy-car parts-bin from whence it came. In the minds of most Corvette historians, 1956 marked the arrival of the Corvette as a true, award winning sports car. In January of 1956, General Motors shipped their new powerhouse to Daytona where it set production car speed records at more than 145mph (233kph) with the new 265 cu in V-8 pushing out 225 hp. it’s one of the quickest cars of it’s era.
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