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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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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Are you thinking of purchasing a classic truck or car? If you’ve never purchased a classic vehicle before, you should know that there are a few things that you need to ask yourself before starting your search:

Are you thinking of an investment and fixing up something you can sell for a profit after some work is done to it? If so, will you have the time to do that work or will you need the help of a professional?

How regularly do you plan on driving the vehicle? Weekends or everyday?

Are you going to show the car? If you’re planning on showing the car, there might be additional expenses such as trailer fees to transport it. (more…)