We think it is fair to say that today, most people take video recording technology for granted. After all, most smartphones come equipped with video recorders that produce better-quality movies than those huge home video camcorders from just 20 years ago. Sixty years ago, filmmaking was still astonishingly primitive, and few car companies bothered to record, nevermind release, the hundreds of thousands of hours of engineering footage they took from back then.
[1]CorvetteBlogger [2] has come across some footage that is remarkably relevant to right now. The video above is a little more than two-minutes of 1953 Corvette engineering test footage, and includes some rare shots of Corvette patriarch Zora Arkus-Duntov at the wheel of the car that would become his legacy.
There is no sound to the video, so at times it can be hard to know what we’re seeing. The initial footage appears to have to do with airflow around the Corvette, as this was a time when aerodynamics were starting to become important. From there the footage shows Zora driving the Corvette and throwing his hands into the air. Why? Who knows, but it looks fun!
Next up is a hill climb test pitting the Corvette and its Blue Flame six-cylinder engine against another Chevy sedan. It is remarkable just how slow the original Corvette is… and how much slower the sedan is going up the hill. It almost hurts to watch! Thankfully the video ends on a high note, with the OG ‘Vette drifting through a dirt corner, albeit quite slowly.
With the next-generation Corvette C7 set to debut in just a few days, this footage is a reminder of just how far the Corvette has come.