1953 Corvette

After World War II, the U.S. Armed Forces maintained a considerable presence in Europe, and in the late 40's and early 50's, many G.I.'s returned home with these neat little sports cars that U.S. automakers had no competition for. As more and more of these cars entered our Country, the carmakers began to pay attention.
Among those who took notice was Harley Earl, GM's founder of the Art & Colour Division. Earl's son yearned for one of these sports cars so the next logical step was for GM to build one.
Chevrolet was tagged to have a sports car ready for the 1953 Motorama and so the Corvette "show car" was born. The Motorama Corvette was similar in appearance to the production models, but was missing the door lock cylinders. Public reaction to the Corvette was strong enough that GM decided to build one. Construction of the car was in fibreglass, not only because it was light weight, but mainly because of the low production volumes anticipated, tooling to build the car would be cost effective.

1953 saw three hundred Corvettes roll of the makeshift production facility on Flint, Michigan. All were purported to be Polo White, with Red Interiors and Black Convertible tops. All were powered by a 150hp 235 cubic inch "Blue Flame" six-cylinder engine and backed by a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission. In adition to the required automatic transmission, a heater, and a Signal Seeking (refered to as a "Wonderbar") radio. The fiberglass bodies of the Corvette made the cars light and easy to build, however the fiberglassing techniques of the time were lacking. The result was a body which might start out smoothe, but would turn rippled over time . Outside door handles and roll up side windows were not part of the Corvette's features. Instead, you had to reach inside the car to open the doors and "Side Curtians" made of plexiglass served as outside windows, mimicking many European sports cars of the day. At the front a wire mesh covered the headlamp openings, offering protection from rocks and other road debris you might encounter while "rallying" your Corvette. Other prominent features marking Corvette styling were the "wraparound" windshield amd the bright dual tail pipes which poked through the rear bodywork. With the Corvette weighing in at 2,886lbs and a 150hp engine to work with, the car was somewhat sporting as the Powerglide automatic sapped much of the "sport". Chevrolet made sure that many prominent celebrities of the day were reciptients of the new Corvette. In total, 300 Corvettes left the Flint facility.

Facts
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1953 - The Motorama Special
1954 - Continuation
1955 - Ed Coles Magic V-8
1956 - Sports Car Renewed
1957 - Fuelies and Four Speeds
1958 - Longer, Lower, Wider
1959 -
1960 -
1961 - Ducktails become fashionable
1962 - The Imortal, the 327

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