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1955 Chevrolet Corvette
The 1955 Corvette was the year Chevrolet's two-seat roadster gained the engine that changed its trajectory. Its fiberglass body, 102-inch wheelbase, boxed steel X-frame, wire-mesh headlamp guards, and open cockpit still followed the original Corvette shape, but the new 265-cubic-inch small-block V8 supplied 195 gross horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. Chevrolet built only 700 Corvettes for the year, making 1955 both a pivotal mechanical transition and one of the lowest-volume production years.
The V8 was installed in a reported 693 cars. It used a Carter WCFB four-barrel carburetor, 12-volt electrical system, and dual exhaust, and V8 cars carried an oversized gold V within the Chevrolet script on each front fender. The remaining seven cars are reported with the 235.5-cubic-inch Blue Flame Six and triple Carter side-draft carburetors. Public references disagree on whether those six-cylinder installations should be rated at 150 or 155 gross horsepower and do not identify a precise serial transition, so both ratings remain visible rather than being forced into one answer.
Powerglide remained the familiar two-speed automatic and was the only transmission paired with the reported six-cylinder cars. Late in the model year Chevrolet added a three-speed manual for the V8. Approximately 75 manual cars are reported, but the reviewed public evidence does not establish an exact factory transmission ledger or serial-number introduction point. A factory-manual claim therefore needs a V-prefix serial identity, GR engine suffix, appropriate transmission and linkage, compatible dates, and documentation rather than a floor shifter alone.
The chassis retained independent front suspension with unequal-length control arms and coil springs, plus a live 3.55:1 rear axle on semi-elliptic leaf springs. Four-wheel 11-inch hydraulic drums provided braking. Buyers still used a folding soft top and removable framed side curtains instead of roll-up windows, and the doors had no exterior handles. Inside were two bucket seats, a 140-mph speedometer, tachometer, auxiliary gauges, clock, and a floor-mounted transmission control.
Five factory colors are reported: Polo White, Pennant Blue, Corvette Copper, Gypsy Red, and Harvest Gold. Each had associated interior, top, and wheel treatments, while directional signals, heater, signal-seeking AM radio, whitewall tires, parking-brake alarm, courtesy lights, and windshield washers appeared on the equipment list. Published color estimates total 685 rather than all 700 cars, so the archive does not assign the remaining 15 cars to a color without better evidence.
Authentication begins with the serial prefix because V identifies a V8 car and E a six-cylinder car. It then moves through the engine suffix, castings, dates, carburetor, distributor, generator, starter, transmission, axle, fiberglass body and frame, protected paint, cockpit trim, top, side curtains, scripts, grille, lamps, bumpers, wheels, and exhaust. Corvette engines were not stamped with a chassis-correlating VIN in this era, so component dates, application codes, ownership history, and licensed judging references must work together. Gold V emblems, dual exhaust, a three-speed, or a correct-looking engine can all be added during restoration; none authenticates an individual car by itself.