Sinkhole at the Corvette Museum

[Madman]

The Corvette kind of became a joke beginning in 1968.

The Corvette was a joke in 1953.  A slothful Stovebolt Six coupled to a two-speed Powerglide transmission?  Hardly the stuff of legendary sports cars!

[MX793]

The Corvette kind of became a joke beginning in 1968.

Nah, they still had good performance engines then.  It was in 75 when they dropped the big block and the highest performance small block barely cracked 200 hp (and the base engine was down to 165) when the Vette became a joke.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

The Corvette kind of became a joke beginning in 1968.

On the bright side, they took 30 years of junk and gave us the c5 and later cars.

[GoCougs]

The Corvette was a joke in 1953.  A slothful Stovebolt Six coupled to a two-speed Powerglide transmission?  Hardly the stuff of legendary sports cars!

Nah, it was 1953. No domestic automaker had anything remotely close to a 2-seat sports car.

[280Z Turbo]

A lot of European sports cars used dogshit engines too.

[GoCougs]

Many it seems don't realize that the most cars of the '50s and '60s were the very boring everyday cars.

[Soup DeVille]

Nah, it was 1953. No domestic automaker had anything remotely close to a 2-seat sports car.

Well, there was the Crosley Hotshot. 

So, yeah, you're right.

[GoCougs]

The V8s of the early '50s weren't worth tons more than a relatively hot L6. At ~140-150 hp the Corvette Blue Flame L6 towered over the 100 hp Ford Flathead V8 and wasn't too far behind the V8s (that averaged 150 - 160 hp). The most powerful domestic engine available in '53 was the 180 hp Chrysler FirePower V8. Even then, V8s were rare - entire divisions; Plymouth, Buick, Chevy, Pontiac (and probably others); didn't even have a V8 in 1953. It wasn't until '55 - '56 that huge V8 power (300hp+) hit the scene (and L6 performance never really advanced much beyond the ~150 hp Blue Flame L6 save for the extremely rare 200-220 hp Pontiac OHC L6 of the late '60s).

[Galaxy]

Some of the 50s Studebakers could be considered sport cars, no?

[Soup DeVille]

Some of the 50s Studebakers could be considered sport cars, no?

performance cars? absolutely. Sports cars? I don't think so.

[GoCougs]

The Speedster and Hawk didn't debut until '55/'56, and even then they were 4 seaters.

[Galaxy]

Well there was the 1953 Commander Coupé.

[FoMoJo]

Well there was the 1953 Commander Coupé.

North America was more into hot rods in the early '50s than sports cars or roadsters.  The typical hot rod of the era was a 30s coupe with a hot rodded flathead engine.  With various manufacturers producing racing parts for the flathead...Offenhauser, Iskenderian, et al, a flathead with Offenhauser heads, an Isky cam, multiple carbs and/or a supercharger could produce considerably more than 150 hp and I doubt if any had an automatic transmission.  Although they were built mainly for speed, they could well serve as sports cars...though some of them were quite crude.  There was even an Overhead Valve Hemi Head Conversion for the flathead built by none other than Zora Arkus-Duntov, the father of the Corvette.

[Mustangfan2003]

The V8s of the early '50s weren't worth tons more than a relatively hot L6. At ~140-150 hp the Corvette Blue Flame L6 towered over the 100 hp Ford Flathead V8 and wasn't too far behind the V8s (that averaged 150 - 160 hp). The most powerful domestic engine available in '53 was the 180 hp Chrysler FirePower V8. Even then, V8s were rare - entire divisions; Plymouth, Buick, Chevy, Pontiac (and probably others); didn't even have a V8 in 1953. It wasn't until '55 - '56 that huge V8 power (300hp+) hit the scene (and L6 performance never really advanced much beyond the ~150 hp Blue Flame L6 save for the extremely rare 200-220 hp Pontiac OHC L6 of the late '60s).

I believe the Olds Rocket 88 was pretty close in power to the early Chrysler V8.  My grandpa has a 53 Buick with their early V8.  Not sure what kind of power it made but it was one of the more powerful engines of the time. 

[GoCougs]

Hmmm. Forgot about that one. Way ahead of its time in '53. But it had 4 seats and was much larger than the Corvette.

[GoCougs]

I believe the Olds Rocket 88 was pretty close in power to the early Chrysler V8.  My grandpa has a 53 Buick with their early V8.  Not sure what kind of power it made but it was one of the more powerful engines of the time. 

Hmmm. I thought Buick and Pontiac were still making their L8s in '53. Looks like Pontiac was but '53 was the first year of the Buick V8. A bit of Googling shows the Olds V8 was well under 200 hp till '56, and then like many others makes took off in '56.

[BENZ BOY15]

On NPR, somebody was saying something about putting a glass floor over it.

The Corvette kind of became a joke beginning in 1968.

Except for this:



http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2011/10/07/corvettes-on-ebay-how-to-sell-a-1984-corvette/

[Mustangfan2003]

Or should I say my grandpa had a 53 Buick.  I think some models that year still had the L8 engine for another year or two.  Yeah the power wars really got going in the mid 50s when everyone had a OHV V8 except for makers like Packard which didn't have the R&D money to develop one and by that time Ford and GM cut their prices so it really took a hit on the independents. 

[GoCougs]

My dad has a '52 or '53 Buick with the L8 and Dynaflow...

[Madman]

On NPR, somebody was saying something about putting a glass floor over it.

Except for this:



http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2011/10/07/corvettes-on-ebay-how-to-sell-a-1984-corvette/

What is it with so many dudes on eBay using their skank wife/girlfriend/sister/daughter/hooker to pose nearly naked next to whatever car their trying to sell?

It's one thing if the chick in question looks hot, but I've seen some eBay listings where the "girl" in question had the face of a bulldog chewing a wasp and the body of a linebacker!  Look, I'm no prude, but overall I find this whole phenomenon slightly disturbing.

[Byteme]

What is it with so many dudes on eBay using their skank wife/girlfriend/sister/daughter/hooker to pose nearly naked next to whatever car their trying to sell?

It's one thing if the chick in question looks hot, but I've seen some eBay listings where the "girl" in question had the face of a bulldog chewing a wasp and the body of a linebacker!  Look, I'm no prude, but overall I find this whole phenomenon slightly disturbing.

Sex sells product; always has, always will. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I agree with you though.  I'd have to follow some of those lovelies around with a rag and bottle of disinfectant.

[Madman]

The recovery process has begun.....

http://www.wbko.com/home/headlines/Corvette-Reveals-Plan-To-Remove-Cars-From-Sinkhole-245900821.html?device=tablet


Still don't see any rebar in that concrete.  Shoddy construction, if ask me.

[Catman]

The recovery process has begun.....

http://www.wbko.com/home/headlines/Corvette-Reveals-Plan-To-Remove-Cars-From-Sinkhole-245900821.html?device=tablet


Still don't see any rebar in that concrete.  Shoddy construction, if ask me.

There's a shot of a chunk of concrete hanging, presumably by the mesh.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

The recovery process has begun.....

http://www.wbko.com/home/headlines/Corvette-Reveals-Plan-To-Remove-Cars-From-Sinkhole-245900821.html?device=tablet


Still don't see any rebar in that concrete.  Shoddy construction, if ask me.

Well, it is a corvette museum.

Sure it may not have the fancy techniques used during construction that all the porsche and ferrari museums use. But those cost alot more, performance for the dollar the corvette(museum) can run with those museums any day.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

What is it with so many dudes on eBay using their skank wife/girlfriend/sister/daughter/hooker to pose nearly naked next to whatever car their trying to sell?

It's one thing if the chick in question looks hot, but I've seen some eBay listings where the "girl" in question had the face of a bulldog chewing a wasp and the body of a linebacker!  Look, I'm no prude, but overall I find this whole phenomenon slightly disturbing.

I agree, it's a horrible trend. Not to mention how "forced" and sad looking alot of these photo shoots look. Take the poor girl pictured above. Look at those heels she's wearing, on some backwoods dirt road in the middle of a farm field. I bet they had to carry and place her next to the car so she wouldn't break her neck tripping over a bunch of gravel.