In 1953 Chevrolet astonished the motoring world by launching a 'sports' car, the Chevrolet Corvette in its C1 generation. However sportiness was rather absent when the '53 cars left the factory hiding a mere 6-cylinder engineer beneath the fibreglass body. First exhibited as the EX-122 at the 1953 Motorama, the design is attributed to Harley Earl but believed to be mainly the work of Carl Renner . Production versions followed in 1953, but the experimental car only saw 300 copies each powered by a lowly 235cu in Chevrolet 6-cylinder engine, although a 150bhp 'Blue Flame' unit was an option. That the Corvette progressed beyond these original 300 is said to be the efforts of Zora Arkus-Duntov who saw the potential to make a true sports car out the Corvette. In 1955 the Corvette was given the 265cu in (4,343cc) small block V8 engine and the model began to establish itself. Second Generation (C2) Corvettes were launched under the 'Sting Ray' name in 1963 and power gradually increased up to the 7-litre 427 option. The C3 Corvette was announced in 1968, and took the Corvette into the 1980s. However the C3 was gradually emasculated with crushable ends and emmissions restricted engines to comply with more and more Federal regulations. Fourth generation (C4) Corvettes were in production from 1984 to 1996, replaced by C5 Corvettes from 1997 to 2004.