For the Corvette, 1981 was a year of transition. Changes were made not only to the car itself but where it was assembled as well. Since 1954 the Corvette had been built only at Chevrolet's St. Louis assembly plant. The Corvette line there was small
and cramped and not capable of
handling the 40-50,000 units being cranked out annually since 1976.
With a new generation Corvette
planned for 1983 as well as the high demand for the current model, Chevrolet chose to abandon St. Louis for a new assembly plant that would be dedicated solely to the Corvette.