It’s hard to believe now, but there were several points in the early history of the Corvette when it looked like the All-American sports car would be axed from Chevrolet’s lineup. It’s even harder to believe that the Corvette largely owes its survival to Ford.
Most people know that the Corvette was created in response to a strong sports car market in the USA in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Against the Porsches, MGs, Jaguars, Triumphs and others that were coming into the US in small but significant numbers, it made sense to offer a home-grown alternative.
Chevrolet wasn’t the first to respond, with a multitude of small, sporty offerings announced from a variety of sources. Some of these were dreamers who never got further than sketches or a rolling concept, while others made it to production, like the Cunningham C-3, Woodill Wildfire and Glasspar G2, but only in tiny numbers.
More serious efforts came from the likes of Kurtis and Nash, with the ‘Sport Car’ and ‘Nash-Healey,’ released in 1949 and 1951, respectively. Kurtis’s offering would evolve into the Muntz Jet and remain in production until 1954, with the Nash-Healey exiting in the same year. Kurtis production barely made it into double figures
