It was a classic story of a promising car that didn’t have a chance to really prove itself. And from it was born one of the more significant legends of Corvette history.

The Corvette SS began in 1956 as a pet project of General Motors’ styling director Harley Earl, who wanted Chevrolet to take on the big names in international endurance racing. Earl’s initial idea was to design a racy body, drop it onto a Jaguar D-Type chassis, and swap the Jag’s six for a Chevy V8.

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