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1953
Corvette Convertible
VIN: E53F001243
Total Production: 300
Manufactured at Flint,
Michigan: Late-November 1953
Exterior Color: Polo
White
Interior Trim: Sportsman
Red Vinyl
Soft Top: Black
Canvas
Engine: 235
Cubic-Inch, 150 Horsepower, L-6, “Blue Flame
Special”
Engine Code: LAY
566974
Carburetion: Three
Single-Barrel Carter Model YH 2066SA Side
Draft
Transmission: Two-Speed
Corvette Powerglide Automatic
Differential: Code
“LW” 3.55:1 Axle Ratio
Factory Optional
Accessories (FOA − required):
- 101A Heater
($91.40)
- 102A Signal-Seeking
AM Radio ($145.15)
MSRP: $3,498
Base, plus $236.55 in required
accessories − $3,754.55 Total
Mileage: 22,550
Purchased: January 2005, Barrett-Jackson Auction,
Scottsdale, Arizona
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1953 CHEVROLET CORVETTE "THE ORIGINAL"
America’s love affair with the Chevrolet Corvette started in January of 1953 at the General Motors Motorama show held in the colossal ballroom of New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. This Motorama was a glitzy extravaganza complete with lavish décor and live entertainment displaying a myriad of 38 vehicles from GM’s five car divisions, including what GM referred to as a series of forward-looking “Dream Cars”… a half-dozen vehicles best described using such adjectives as “sensational”, “futuristic”, and “ultra-streamlined”. Pontiac’s Motorama dream-car entry was the La Parisienne, Oldsmobile displayed the Starfire, Buick highlighted its Wildcat, and Cadillac presented both the Orleans & Le Mans… all one-off styling exercises not slated for production.
But it was Chevrolet’s low-slung, two-seat, fiberglass-bodied convertible sports car… Corvette… that stole the show. Named for a highly maneuverable “sloop-of-war” naval vessel, this white Corvette with red interior trim embodied both luxury and performance. Christened with experimental vehicle serial number EX-52, the Chevrolet Corvette show car dazzled more than 45,000 visitors attending the 1953 Motorama in New York, and many thousands more as this gala traveled to major cities around the country. By late spring Chevrolet’s marketing folks declared… “It’s Revolutionary! The Chevrolet Corvette, America’s Sensational Sports Car! Creating a sensation everywhere! The new Chevrolet Corvette has been received with a storm of enthusiastic approval. The racy new Corvette sets a new style for a new field – the American sports car. This is a car of which we can say with complete sincerity, ‘You have to see it to believe it.’ The Corvette is scheduled for limited production during the last half of 1953.”
Suddenly, Chevrolet, considered somewhat stodgy as the GM division long-known for mass-producing dependable daily transportation, had created something the motoring public found new and exciting in the Corvette, and prospective buyers reacted with a clamor for a chance to own and drive one.
Chevrolet’s former Customer Delivery Garage located at Van Slyke & West Atherton in Flint, Michigan, was utilized as a temporary Pilot Assembly Facility for the limited production of just 300 Corvettes, all to be painted Polo White, with Sportsman Red trim and a black canvas top. Chevrolet’s limited know-how of the techniques required for volume production of a fiberglass bodied car necessitated special assembler training and manufacturing exploration, while they would also attempt to satisfy public demand. In the beginning, Flint assembly was at a snail’s pace. The first two Corvettes were finished June 30, 1953 and delivered to Chevrolet Engineering for evaluation and testing. By the end of July, a mere dozen cars were completed with only three actually delivered to customers. Even Bel Air wheelcovers were substituted early, as the Corvette items weren’t yet ready. And, the body fit and finish appeared less than acceptable. Quality improved slowly, as did volume, and the final 1953 Corvette #300 was completed December 24th. Following the Christmas holidays, a permanent Corvette production line in St. Louis would begin building 1954 models.
“Every Corvette collection needs a 1953 model, and #243 was my first. This original ’53 car’s VIN makes it extra special, as I also have 2003 convertible serial number 243 – both cars are white with red interior trim and black top. The newer car was ordered by the previous owner to match his ’53, as the majority of special 50th Anniversary Edition Corvettes were painted Anniversary Red. Most likely this identical ‘two-of-a-kind’ set is the only pair like it in the world! Two Corvettes, both exactly fifty years apart. I was lucky enough to buy this matched set and feel very fortunate and spoiled. And, sorry, this pair is not for sale!”
...Dave Ressler
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