The Corvette featured removable plastic side curtains for windows and a two speed
automatic transmission. The plastic side curtains were popular on foreign sports cars
at the time such as MGs. But the sports cars could boast about their four speed manual
transmissions, not two speed automatics which were appropriate for boulevard cruising,
not performance. The Corvette appealed to neither crowd.

The asking price for a 1954 Corvette was also an issue. It cost $2,774.00 without options,
more than a Cadillac which featured a V8 engine and a top that did not leak. On the sports car
side there was the Jaguar which also cost less than the Corvette AND featured a sophisticated,
more powerful engine along with a genuine four speed transmission.

So was the Corvette a boulevard cruiser an all out sports car destined for the race track?

Consumers could not decide and stayed away in droves. The two speed automatic transmission,
with its funky shifter (a manual would not be available until 1955) did not help the situation.

Just when you think things couldn't get worse, they did.

For 1954 GM had an all new just-for-Corvette assembly plant built in St. Louis which was equipped
to produce 10,000 Corvettes a year. The General (Motors) cranked out 3,640 1954 Corvettes, a full
one-third of which were unsold at the end of the model year. According to Corvette legend, dealers
were forced to sell many for below their cost, which is something they liken to cutting off their fingers.

Chevrolet attempted to widen the appeal of the Corvette with new colors including Pennant Blue and
Guardsman Red although the majority were still Polo White. A few Black cars were also built. All of
the soft tops were beige and the Pennant Blue offered a beige interior. The other interiors were red.
In the middle of the 1954 model a more aggressive camshaft boosted the horsepower from 150 hp
to 155 hp.