The History of the Chevrolet Corvette in 28 Images: From the C1 to the C8 We welcome the transformed new Corvette with a look back at the ways it was in years past

7. Corvette at Le Mans

For any carmaker at the time, producing a sports car and not entering it in the world’s most prestigious race would have been unthinkable. In 1960 Corvettes took their place on the starting grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. One of them finished the race in fifth place in the GT category – behind four Ferrari 250 GTOs. No shame there…

8. 1961 Chevrolet Corvette Mako Shark Concept

Under the direction of Bill Mitchell, then head designer at GM, the project called XP-755 Mako Shark saw the light day in 1961. It introduced the future design language of the Corvette. Many of the elements you see here show up in later models on this overview.