As General Motors basks in the praise their new halo vehicle is generating, as well as the revelations in the press about the groundbreaking, tentatively-named SS Corvette, the novice Corvette enthusiast should be aware of the label's performance genealogy.
Though lulls during the record production late-'70s marked some of the Corvette's more lackluster performance years, it would be twenty years earlier that the Corvette-a once lowly in-line six-cylinder roadster intended to take on the likes of the Alfa Romeros and Austin Healeys-finally came into its own and grew into what would be hailed as the first performance-bred Corvette from the General.
Plagued with the infamously domestic Blue Flame six-banger, Corvettes were something of whimsy-a cute, homebred Euro-roadster. Stamped with a dismissive reputation, the '53 and '54 droptops needed a shot of muscle-building steroids quick. Restyling the Corvette for the '56 model would be step one in the project's favor, but what would shake the program's core would be the use of the 265 small-block V-8 for the '55. With its new powerplant, the little roadster would tally up a series of racing wins, giving the fiberglass-bodied two-seater a new reputation-one for quick acceleration and nimble handling. those race winnings would draw hailed racing guru Zora Arkus-Duntov onto the scene.
Duntov wouldn't alter the '56 styling for '57 but he would revolutionize the Corvette's source of motivation. A series of various engines would be made available, starting with boring the demure 265 out to 283 ci. Now at a base of 220 hp, the Corvette could be ordered with a dual-carbureted intake that would push the output to either 245 or 270 ponies. But it would be Duntov's use of GM's mechanical fuel injection that would proffer three different versions: one offering 250 hp and two at 283 hp, boasting "one horsepower per cubic inch." It would be this declaration that would launch the Corvette from quasi-obscurity into the sports car arena.
But of those 1,043 fuel-injected Corvettes produced, only 43 came from the factory with RPO-code 597E. That designation signified the addition of a cold-air-injected airbox on the '57. This modification would boost the 283's power production closer to 300 hp. The system was the result of race car testing that proved the fuel-injected vehicles benefited from cold-air induction. Therefore, the particular 283s that were equipped with a solid camshaft were stocked with the bonus intake. An additional panel was installed on the driver-side inner fender, which would draw in fresh air beside the radiator core. A large conduit-like, rubberized ducting tunneled from the air cleaner to the intake.
FUELIE ::: One of five available...
FUELIE ::: One of five available engines in 1957, this 283 is one of three optional fuel-injected plants: one producing 250 hp; the other two making 283 that gave the Corvette the famed "one-horsepower-per cubic-inch" moniker. For those handful of airbox-optioned Corvettes built, large conduit-like ducting tunneled cold air from the outside directly into the fuel injection.
AIRBOX ::: This is the infamous...
AIRBOX ::: This is the infamous airbox that houses the air-cleaner element, which funnels the cold air into the mechanical fuel injection.