Ed Cole fought to keep his Corvette alive. Some 1955 models were powered by Chevy’s new V-8. Zora Arkus-Duntov arrived but he would need time to defend and enhance a sports car that many in GM considered was ready for the chop.
“Considering the statistics, the American public does not want a sports car at all,” engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov told the Detroit Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1953, adding, “but do the statistics give a true picture? As far as the American market is concerned, it is still an unknown quantity since an American sports car catering to American tastes, roads, way of living and national character has not yet been on the market.”
