Chevrolet Corvette 50th Birthday celebrations

For most of its 50 years, Chevy's iconic two-seater has been one hot number. Arguably, more pages of purple prose have been lavished on the Corvette than any other car. But America's longest-running sports car has always proven capable of speaking for itself--on road courses, dragstrips, salt flats, and in the record books.

Track performance speaks louder than spec charts, but the numbers tell an interesting tale through Corvette history. Car manufacturers have been playing horsepower games for years, and never were horsepower numbers more exaggerated than in the '60s. More...