The Corvette C1 is one of the first Corvettes made. When this car was first produced by GM, the car cost around $ 3,000. Today, the car has turned into a classic car that anyone would want in their car collection. Car enthusiast and first Billionaire Rapper, Jay-Z owns one of these gorgeous cars.
Jay-Z has shown that he has great taste in cars because he has bought some of the rarest and most sought out cars in the world and added them to his personal collection. We are going to look at his 1957 Corvette C1 and everything there is to know about this car.
Jay-Z is a classic car collector and the 1957 Corvette C1 is part of his beautiful collection.
Jay-Z’s 1957 Corvette C1
Jay-Z has been seen spending father-daughter time with Blue Ivy in his iconic red Corvette. This is the only American car that was featured in the American Gangster’s collection. He got the iconic red Corvette with the white rims and white panel pieces on the sides of the doors.
Below, you can see a Twitter post of him driving around in his C1 with his gorgeous daughter, Blue Ivy.
One can argue that Jay-Z bought this car to show respect and showcase his love and understanding for classic cars and what they mean to car enthusiasts all around the world. It is nice to see that he drives the car around and does not let it just sit in the garage.
Everything There Is To Know About The 1957 Corvette C1
The 1957 C1 ensured the future of the Corvette car range and now with the success of the car, the success has grown tremendously. The car still had room to grow which is why they made the changes to the engine and how they advertised and marketed the car, the C1 become the idealistic American Sports Car for a lot of people.
The 1957 V-8 engine was increased to a 283 cu in and was a 4.6 Liter engine. After April 9, 1957, a 4-speed manual transmission became available. Fuel injection became a very expensive option. Out of the 6 339 cars that were produced, only 240 of them came with fuel injections. Corvette offered the fuel injection option until 1965.
This car used a constant flow system which produced 290 horsepower at 6 200 RPM. It has a torque reading of 290 Lb-ft at 4 400RPM. Back in the day, the car was advertised as producing, ‘One Horsepower per cubic inch’. The way that it was advertised, allowed the company to claim that the car was one of the first mass-produced engines to provide this.
The car can go from 0-60 MPH in just 5.7 seconds. It has a top speed of about 132 Miles Per Hour.
Did you know: Back in 1957, you could purchase a genuine racing version of the 1957 C1? You could ask for the EN build code which allowed you to custom build a Corvette race car using some of the racing options. Some of the options included an engine fresh air/tach package as well as a heavy-duty racing suspension option. You could also go for better wheels which were 15 by 5.5-inch wheels that made the car race ready and the wheels lasted longer than the standard set.
The Interior Of The 1957 Corvette C1
The interior of the car is a bit snug. There is legroom but not as much as we are used to in modern-day cars. The speedometer can go as high as 140 MPH. This was a selling point for the car because those were big numbers for a car back in the day. It is a European style steering wheel because of the holes in the metal.
The Tachometer is placed in the center of the dash which is rather strange because you have to actually look for it to find out the reading when you are driving. It would have been better placed closer to the speedometer. The Tachometer was new for American cars because people did not really look at their revs, they just felt when the car needed to shift gears and did that.
The seats were leather and often the color of the interior was the same as the color of the car. The gear shift was placed in the center of the car which was nice because it is easy to grab it and change gears. It came with a proper trunk so you can store your bags safely and not have them in the back of the car.
How Much Is This Car Worth?
Back in the day, you would pay $ 3 000.00 for the car but nowadays, experts believe that the 1957 Corvette C1 that offered you 283 horsepower, is now worth around $ 200 000.00. This is for the base model, the racing version is worth a lot more.