25 Things You Didn't Know About the Chevrolet Corvette

"America's sports car" has a lot of history.

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Complex Original

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This feature is a part of Complex's Corvette Week.

Even if the Corvette isn't your thing, you have to respect it: GM has made over a million of them, they've offered world beating performance at attainable prices, race-spec versions have dominated Ferraris and Maseratis on race tracks around the world, and they have a certain gravity of personality to them. Given that a new generation of Corvette is about to show up in showrooms, you need to know what you're looking at, and be armed with some knowledge when the topic at hand drifts to cars. So, here are 25 Things You Didn't Know About the Chevy Corvette.

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The C6 ZR-1 is the only production Corvette to cost over $100,000.

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There was no 1983 Corvette.

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"Corvette" refers to a class of warship from the golden age of sail.

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The only year a split window was offered was 1963.

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The magnetic-ride suspension reacts separately to each inch of road at 60 mph.

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The Corvette C5-R dominated Ferrari and Maserati in Endurance racing

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The fastest Corvette ever available from a dealer was the Lingenfelter 427 Turbo.

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The 1990 ZR1 was tuned by Lotus and took four years to make.

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The Corvette was the first American vehicle to offer 1 hp per ci.

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GM made a special edition Corvette for Hertz

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The Corvette was Inspired by the European sports cars that designer Harley Earl saw during WWII.

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In 1982 there were no manual Corvettes.

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The logo originally had crossed American and checkered flags, but putting the US flag on a trade mark was found to be illegal.

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Starting in 1997, Corvette transmissions have had weird limitations in order to avoid the gas guzzler tax.

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GM never approved the Corvette Grand Sport.

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Chevrolet has a penchant for giving Corvettes to Astronauts.

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The 1980 Corvette 305 "California" only made 180 hp.

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Only two '69 ZL-1s were sold.

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The Corvette was made from fiberglass, because metal was still rare after WW2 rationing.

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The C2 and C3 Corvettes were inspired by a mako shark that designer Bill Mitchell caught.

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The body panels of the '63 Grand Sports are half the thickness of the regular car.

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The Corvette is the official sports car of the state of Kentucky.

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A Corvette has paced the Indy 500 more than any other car.

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The first, 500,000th, and millionth Corvettes were all white.

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The Largest Corvette Engine Ever Was a 7.4L V8.

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