Did you ever notice this "coincidence"

That's comparing apples to oranges. A 59 Cadillac is a hell of a lot bigger than a 53 Corvette.

Nice picture, though!

 

It'd be a better picture if the models were more in scale with each other.

 

They aren't?

The Caddy is around 20 feet long, and the barchetta's around 15 feet long. Looks OK to me...

 

The term barchetta was around WAY before Ferrari ever used it...

 

1959 Cadillac Model 62 Convertible: Wheelbase 130", Length 225", Width 80"

1949 Ferrari 166MM Barchetta: Wheelbase 86.6", Length 142", Width 60"

 

I guess that they are NOT the same scale models. Sorry, guys.

 

Hey, I stand vindicated!

To answer your original question, the Corvette has come a very long way in the past 50 years.

In 1953, the Corvette was very much a copy of the European sports cars that the Americans who served in the military brought home. And it was a pretty sorry imitation. It came with the relatively weak "Blue Flame" six cylinder and a 2-speed automatic transmission. It didn't have much power, and it didn't have much handling, either.

But the car definitely became better over the years. It also came to be its own American sense of a sports car.

It was a pioneer in the use of fiberglass for a production car, and it one of the first cars to exceed 1 horsepower per cubic inch with the introduction of Rochester fuel injection in 1957. The handling improved a lot with the introduction of independent suspension in the 1963 split-window Stingray. Later, Big Block cars would displace a monsterous 427 ci, or 7 liters.

As the car developed, the distinction between a European and an American car began to blur. For example, Ferrari took the TurboHydramatic transmission from the Corvette (and other GM cars) and used in all Ferrari automatic transmissions until the introduction of the F1 transmision. Jaguar used the same transmission, too.

So I'd say yes, the Corvette is an American copy of European sports cars. It's definitely more suited to American roads and American drivers. But to dismiss it as "just a copy" is a little to simple: it's evolved to earn its own place in automotive history.

I own a 330 GT 2+2, and I love it. But at some point, I'd like to add a 1961 Corvette to my collection.

I hope that answers your question!

--Matt

 

Er, don't you mean Rolls Royce not Jaguar. I thought Jaguar used Borg Warners but could be wrong.

Pete

 

Pete,

You're right. RR also used the TH400, as did Jaguar.

--Matt