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1956 Chevrolet Corvette
The 1956 Corvette was the first major redesign of Chevrolet's two-seat sports car. The fiberglass roadster kept its 102-inch wheelbase, but exposed headlamps, sculpted body-side coves, outside door handles, roll-up glass, and a cleaner tail made it far easier to live with than the 1953-55 cars. Chevrolet built 3,467 for the model year, more than four times the 1955 total.
Every 1956 Corvette used Chevrolet's 265-cubic-inch small-block V8. The standard single-four-barrel version was rated at 210 gross horsepower. RPO 469 added twin Carter WCFB four-barrels and raised the rating to 225 horsepower; Chevrolet recorded 3,080 installations. RPO 449 added the high-lift camshaft to the dual-quad combination. Chevrolet described it as racing equipment and recorded 111 installations, while period and specialist references commonly report 240 horsepower.
A three-speed manual was standard and Powerglide remained optional. Chevrolet's production table divides the 3,080 dual-quad cars into 1,510 manuals and 1,570 Powerglides, but it does not publish the transmission split for the 387 standard-engine cars. The live rear axle normally carried a 3.55:1 ratio, with 3.27 and 4.11 alternatives documented. Independent front suspension, rear leaf springs, a boxed X-frame, and four-wheel 11-inch hydraulic drums formed the chassis.
The weather equipment changed just as dramatically as the body. A manual soft top was standard; buyers could choose a power-operated folding top or an auxiliary removable hardtop. The hardtop was installed on 2,076 cars, including 629 ordered in place of the soft top. Power windows were optional, and the passenger seat was now adjustable. A transistorized signal-seeking AM radio, heater, windshield washers, courtesy lights, parking-brake alarm, and whitewall tires filled out the comfort and convenience list.
Six exterior colors were offered: Onyx Black, Aztec Copper, Cascade Green, Arctic Blue, Venetian Red, and Polo White. Chevrolet published exact totals for each color and recorded 1,259 two-tone cars with contrasting cove treatments. Red and beige vinyl interiors were used, with black, white, and beige soft tops. The factory records preserve aggregate combinations but do not encode an individual car's exterior or interior color, so protected paint, trim, photographs, and ownership documents remain important during restoration.
Authentication starts with the E56S serial sequence and then works through the engine suffix, block and head castings, carburetors, distributor, generator, transmission, axle, dates, and ownership history. The body adds its own checks: early painted versus later chrome headlamp bezels, cove treatment, top hardware, anodized hardtop header, trim, glass, cockpit equipment, and original paint layers. Dual quads, finned aluminum valve covers, a high-lift camshaft, or a three-speed can be added later; each claimed configuration needs a coherent set of components and documents rather than one visible feature.