Falling for a C4
Clyde Whipple knows that watching a plan go up in flames isn’t always a bad thing.
“We were just looking for something to flip,” said Whipple, whose 1987 Corvette is shown here, “and this just happened to come up. It was more interesting than the (other) ones we were looking at.”
Surprise has been a factor in the Corvette’s life from the very beginning, since the January 1953 General Motors Motorama featured styling chief Harley Earl’s creation, the show car. It caught everyone’s attention since it really didn’t look like it might have come from Chevrolet. Its 102-in. wheelbase was 13 in. shorter than a full-size Chevy, and its low beltline tied together the exotically screened headlamps and the high bullet-shaped taillamps that hinted at the coming space age. Open wheelwells broke up the smooth sides while a low windshield and the lack of glass side windows confirmed the Corvette’s sports car status. Chevy’s 235-cid six-cylinder was not at all out of place as other sports cars of the time typically used fours and sixes, but
