1959 Corvette – Vette-net

Pricing: $3875.00

Engine options: 283 ci. V-8 (fuel injected or carbureted) – multiple-horsepower options available

Transmission: 3-speed manual (standard), 4-speed manual (optional), 2-speed Powerglide (optional)

Top speed: 128mph

Units produced: 9,670

Available colors: Tuxedo Black, Frost Blue, Roman Red, Inca Silver, Classic Cream, Crown Sapphire, Snowcrest White

Highlights of the year:

The 1959 Corvette featured slight changes from the previous model. The new edition boasted clean, pure styling, due to the loss of unneeded chrome and hood louvers. It was overall, mechanically unchanged from 1958. Several other design changes were introduced including new Magic-Mirror acrylic lacquer finish to keep it looking brilliant for years to come, and a luxurious cockpit that was designed for navigator comfort. A new instrument panel with glare-reducing, concave instruments was introduced. The seats and door panels were redesigned, and the addition of a shelf under the dash was new for 1959. The ’59 offered a variety of power teams engineered for driving fun.

As with the 1958 Corvette before it, the powertrain of the ‘59 Corvette was unchanged from previous years – with one exception: the addition of trailing radius rods. These trailing rods were introduced to help counteract rear-axle windup, while also contributing to a softer overall ride and noticeably less rear-end shifting while driving on uneven or irregular surfaces. In addition to the trailing radius rods, Chevrolet began offering even stiffer springs as part of the heavy-duty brakes/suspension option (RPO 684) that had been originally introduced as an option on the 1957 Corvette.

The addition of both of these new components helped produce consistently better handling and better handling also meant better overall performance, and the 1959 Corvette proved it at the test track. With quarter-mile times of less than 15 seconds and a 0-60 mph time of less than 8 seconds, the 1959 Corvette was considered to be remarkably fast – and notably fast even by today’s standards. The top-end “fuelies” (fuel injected) Corvettes were rated at 290 horsepower with a top speed of 128 miles per hour when mated with the 4.11:1 final drive.

Chevrolet sales of the 1959 Chevy Corvette totaled 9,670 units, a number that was just shy of the landmark 10,000 units that General Motors was now anxiously hoping to hit with its two-seater sports car. Although Chevy was not yet making a significant profit from sales of the Corvette, it was no longer costing Chevrolet money either. The modest numbers continued to point in the right direction, and both Corvette designers and engineers believed that they were on the brink of surpassing the 10,000 units/year number.

Still, it was now clear that American car enthusiasts were finally embracing the Corvette as a serious sports car which meant that Chevrolet would continue moving forward with the development of an, as yet unrealized, second-generation Corvette. With prototype designs like the exceedingly expensive “Q-Corvette” and Bill Mitchell’s “XP-700” already envisioned, anticipation amongst General Motors executives, engineers, and designers was on the rise.

Photos of the 1959 Corvette: