The Chevrolet Corvette was designed by sports-car lover and GM designer Harley Earl in 1951. The first Corvette was introduced to the public at the 1953 Motorama car show. The body was fiberglass, while underneath the hood were standard Chev parts, including an inline six-cylinder truck engine, Powerglide automatic transmission, and drum brakes.

Sales of the Corvette were lackluster, probably due to the lack of power and manual transmission that sports car enthusiasts demanded, and the project was nearly shelved until it acquired a V8 and three-speed manual transmission.

For collectors, the first generation of Corvettes are the most sought after. There were only 300 Corvettes produced in 1953. 1954 offered new color choices while the 1955 model introduced the V8 engine. The body was redesigned in 1956, and a fuel injection system was added in 1957. The 1958 Corvette was the flashiest Corvette ever built, with lots of chrome and quad headlights. Over the next few years, the Corvette sparkled less on the outside, but grew in horsepower on the inside.
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“It will get you where you’re going,” was the slogan for the early Honda Civic’s, first introduced in 1972 as a two door coupe, and then later that year, a hatch-back version.  Although Honda was known only for producing small runabout motorcycles prior to the release of the Civic, the fuel and oil crisis of the early 1970’s prompted many consumers to demand smaller vehicles with high fuel efficiency.

Honda tried to fill part of this market demand with a small car that could comfortably transport 4 adults while achieving 40 mpg with its 1169 cc (about 70 cubic inch) engine.  Although the overall dimensions of the vehicle were small, with it’s front wheel drive and transverse engine mounting,  the Civic was able to offer relative comfort to driver and passengers.
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The first Ford Mustangs were released to the public in early 1965. The first model, colloquially known as the 1964 1/2 Mustang, had a body style based on the Falcon and Fairlane, was available as a coupe or convertible, and had a straight-6 engine.

A GT equipment package and a V8 block engine were introduced later in 1965, along with front fog lights and disc brakes. The coupe model continued to be the style of choice, but Ford introduced a fastback Mustang as well.

From 1967 to 1970, the Mustang got larger and larger to accommodate the bigger V8 block engines, and from 1971 to 1973 New product design manager Budie Knudsen saw the Mustang through it’s period of largest engine size. At this point in its history, the Mustang could accurately be called a “Gas Guzzler.”
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