The First Corvette With a V-8 Engine Is up for Auction

Few duos in automotive history go together better than the Chevrolet Corvette and V-8, but that wasn’t always the case.

When the iconic sports car arrived on the scene in 1953, it came equipped with an inline-six. The father of the Corvette, Zora Arkus-Duntov, thought the vehicle could handle a little more oomph, and the vehicle he used to prove this point to General Motors is now up for auction on Bring a Trailer.

A curvaceous and chrome-adorned exterior isn’t all that separates the original C1 Corvette from the C8 of today. The then-new model may have looked like a sports car for the first three years of production, but it didn’t really act like one due to its underpowered engine. Mauri Rose, an engineer and three-time Indy 500 winner, and Arkus-Duntov were convinced that a little more heat would put the car over the top. So, they put a 307-cubic-inch V-8 in an unsold 1954 example, chassis EX87, and took it to GM’s Arizona Desert Proving Grounds, where Arkus-Duntov reached 163 mph in the car. The V-8-powered C1 would launch before the end of 1955, and the car has been sold with an eight-cylinder ever since.

Because no one realized just how important chassis EX87 would be, the car soon separated from its 1954 bodywork and its V-8 shortly after its triumphant performance in Arizona. It was then brought up to 1955 specification and outfitted with a body sourced from another test vehicle, a 265-cubic-inch V-8, and a two-speed automatic transmission.

It would then go on to be used as a demonstrator vehicle, before later being sold to a GM engineer, who would sell it to the current owner’s husband in 1968. The car has had some work done over the decades, including being painted red and having its engine swapped out for a bigger, 327-cubic-inch V-8.

In the market for a Corvette with some real history to it? The auction for chassis EX87  runs through next Monday, May 19. As of press time, bidding for the vehicle, easily one of the most important American-made sports cars of the 1950s, had reached $52,000. Expect that number to rise in the days to come.

Click here for more photos of the 1955 Chevrolet C1 Corvette test car.

Credit: robbreport.com