Summary: The sputtering start for one of America's most-cherished sports cars.
It all began with the Alfas, Ferraris and Jags that grabbed Harley Earl's fancy at a September 1951 sports car race and wouldn't let go. From that day forward he was driven to design an American sports car and, as General Motors' chief stylist, he had the horsepower to make it happen.
Earl put Bob McLean to work on the layout and only seven months later Earl's team had built a full-size plaster model. During this time, the prototype of a fiberglass-bodied Chevrolet convertible suffered so little damage in an accident during testing that fiberglass became the choice for GM's new American sports car.
In June 1952, with New York's big 1953 Motorama show only six months away, the exotic fiberglass 2-seater code named "Opel Sports Car" got the go-ahead for prototype production.
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By show time the Opel had been endowed with the name that would make history as one of the most cherished American sports cars. Myron Scott, GM's chief photographer, derived the name from a class of small, fast Royal Navy warships, and in January 1953 GM unveiled the prototype Chevrolet Corvette "Dream Car" at the Motorama show in New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel. It's been said that the Jaguar XK120 inspired this first Corvette.
Only six months later, on June 30 1953, GM rolled Corvette #1 and its $3,513 sticker off a tiny assembly line at Flint, Michigan. Or should we say "pushed," because the assembly line wasn't grounded for a fiberglass body and the first Corvettes couldn't be started while they were still on the assembly line.
And behold. Beneath the revolutionary new fiberglass body was... a regular '52 Chevy. Everything but the body was an off-the-shelf 1952 Chevrolet. Still, the '53 Corvette cost $168 more than the Jaguar XK120.
You had all of two flashy colors to choose from: Polo White with Red Interior, and Polo White with Red Interior.
GM hand-made 300 Corvettes in 1953 and marketed them to VIPs only. The reception: lukewarm. Only 183 were sold because performance was "average" and the price was high.
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Among the many GM employees contributing to the first Corvette's design and production, Belgian-born Zora Arkus-Duntov became known as the "Father" of the Corvette. He would see the Corvette through from failure to triumph in the years to come.
Where is Corvette #1 today? It's been said that Corvettes #1 and #2 were destroyed. But there are no records and no witnesses. Might they still be around? Perhaps only The Shadow knows.
About the Author
Elizabeth Miller is an author/publisher. For more about Corvettes visit [ http://www.corvetteculture.com ]