No automotive aficionado with a pulse will argue that the Corvette is an all American performance sports car legend. From the very start, it's styling has set the marque apart from all others, and today the fiberglass flier holds its head high as the  best all around sports car on the planet. However, back tracking to the earliest years of Corvette shows that the  road to stardom was not easily paved. When born in 1953, the Corvette was, in fact, dismissed by many as an underpowered pretender. Its detractors charged  that the Corvette was fine for the country club set, but was hardly a worthy competitor of the more exotic European sports cars. And in truth, while the 155 horsepower Blue Flame six cylinder powerplant was a strong runner, it wasn't a world beater.

    The following year found the Corvette struggling for sales, with more than a third of the production run of 3,640 left languishing on the showroom floor. Production was slashed to 700 in 1955 and there was talk of shelving the Corvette despite the addition of a 265 cid 8 cylinder engine. The power ante was upped again in 1956 with an optional dual four barrel carburetor setup delivering 225 horsepower. Another option, a special high-lift camshaft created by Zora Arkus Duntov, boosted power to 240 horses, and performance minded eyes started opening. Famed Corvette race driver Doctor Dick Thompson drove his Corvette to the Sports Car Club of America, a.k.a. SCCA, Class C Production racing title and sales climbed to 3,467.

    Then came an automotive milestone.

    It is difficult to overstate the significance of the 1957 version of the Corvette when it comes to discussing the history of the marque. Chevrolet in 1957 offered an enlarged V8, the 283, which was to become one of the company's most revered engines ever the definitive small block. Though the new motor was essentially the existing 265 bored out 1/8th inch, the Corvette's standard four barrel version now offered 220 horsepower, and dual four barrel options pushed the power outage to 245 and 270 horsepower.

    It was the next step up, though, that really poured gas on the fire, GM's newly developed "Ramjet" fuel injection, which was good for 250 horsepower and 283 horsepower respectively. The mythical "one horsepower per cubic inch" mark was shouted about in performance circles and touted loudly in Corvette advertising, which trumpeted, "Every Inch A Champion For The First Time In Automotive History One H.P. For Every Cubic Inch."

    And, in tandem with the newfound power of the Rochester carburetor division's fuelie unit, the addition of a four speed manual gearbox turned the Corvette into a bonafide screamer, on the race course and off.

    The racing highlight was the 1957 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, where Corvettes finished 12th and 15th overall and 1,2 in the GT class. In fact, the lead car, driven by Dick "The Flying Dentist" Thompson and Gaston Audrey, finished some 20 laps ahead of the nearest competitor, a Mercedes Benz 300SL. In the SCCA, Thompson won the national title in B Production. And elsewhere, Corvettes swept the first four places at the 1957 Nassau Speed Weeks

and ruled the C Production class at Daytona, finishing 1,2,3 in both standing start acceleration and the flying mile.

    On the street, the Corvette's performance was no less impressive. Motor Trend ripped a 250 horse fuelie from 0 to 60 in 7.2 seconds, while Road and Track used a 283 horse version to better that mark to 5.9 seconds. Road and Track also used that Corvette to trip the quarter mile lights at 14.3 seconds at over 90 mph on the way to a top speed of 132. And, its straight line performance prowess notwithstanding, the 1957 Corvette fuelie was a joy to drive on the street as well. Road & Track said the fuelie was "an absolute jewel, quiet and remarkably docile when driven gently around town, yet instantly transformed into a roaring brute when pushed hard." Sports Car Illustrated praised the '57 as "the fastest accelerating genuine production car this magazine has ever tested."

    The undeniable progress the Corvette showed for 1957 certainly didn't go unnoticed by the buying public, either. Production shot up to 6,339, nearly doubling Chevrolet's output for the previous year.

    In addition to the fuel injected powerplant, you could also get one loaded with a variety of optional goodies,including the four-speed manual transmission, Wonderbar radio, power windows, heater, windshield washers, courtesy lights and parking brake alarm.

    The 1957 fuelie is the sports car that hastened Corvette's journey toward performance glory. And it has never looked back.