Two-seat sports cars bought as weekend toys are often among the first things to go in an economic crunch, and as you know all too well, we've had a doozie over the last few years. The Chevrolet Corvette is no exception--since 2006, sales have been a fraction of their former tallies. But that looks to be changing.

January and February Corvette sales for 2011 are up 13 percent over last year, totaling 955 cars. That's still just a small percentage of the 3,000 monthly average sold in 2006, but it's winter, and coupes/convertibles like the Corvette often see the bulk of their sales in the warmer months.

Part of the uptick in sales may be from the new model proliferation GM has undertaken, adding the Z06 Carbon edition and the Grand Sport to bridge the gaps between the Z06-ZR1 and base Corvette-Z06, respectively. We'll have to wait for more data to see if that's in fact the reason, and if the sales rise has legs.

Last year, Corvette sold just 12,624 cars compared to 36,518 in 2006. There's still a lot of work to be done to get the 'Vette back to its former status, but things are--cautiously, for now--looking up.

[Auto News -- sub. req.]