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1953 Chevrolet Corvette

The 1953 Chevrolet Corvette was the first model year of the Corvette. Very few units were made, making original units very rare in current market conditions.

Background

The Chevrolet Corvette was far from America’s first sports car. Two-seat, open-top runabouts first appeared before World War I, with offerings available from a number of manufacturers and coachbuilders. Among the most potent was the Mercer Type 35 Raceabout, built from 1911 through 1923. Powered by a large four cylinder engine, the Type 35 was light, fast, and responsive. The Mercer commanded quite a premium for its performance, with a base price of $2,150, or twice that of the most expensive Ford Model T.

Other notable American sports cars that predated the Corvette included the Auburn Speedster in straight eight, supercharged eight, and V12 configurations, the Cord 812 Cabriolet, Cunningham C-1 and C-4, the disappearing door Kaiser-Darrin, and the Muntz Jet.

General Motors had emerged from its World War II production stronger than Ford or Chrysler. With the advent of new designs for the 1948 model year, the automaker cemented itself within the industry with cutting edge styling. Cadillac pioneered tailfins, and the following year would see the advent of a high-compression overhead valve V8. 1949 also brought the first of the GM Motoramas, traveling shows filled with concept cars (another of Harley Earl’s creations that began with the iconic Buick Y-Job). The aircraft-influenced 1951 LeSabre and Buick XP-300 were two early Motorama concept cars, featuring wraparound windshields, rear decks with tailfins, and hidden folding convertible tops.

Harley Earl wanted to build a lightweight, inexpensive sports car to compete with the Europeans. Earl’s vision was of a car that embodied many of the characteristics of British roadsters, with simple operation, and a base price just under $1,900. Maintaining that price point would mean utilizing the GM parts bin for underpinnings and drivetrain.

Inspiration for the Corvette’s fiberglass body came from Alembic 1, a Glaspar G2 sports car conceived and designed by Bill Tritt. Alembic 1 was loaned to GM for display at the Styling auditorium. Earl saw the idea for the fiberglass body as the lightweight, inexpensive solution the Corvette would require. Naming the endeavor Project Opel, Earl kept it under wraps from all but those who were working on the new concept car.

Harley Earl had recruited Robert F. McLean to work on Project Opel. A Cal Tech grad with degrees in both industrial design and engineering, McLean had a unique vision for the sports concept. He wanted to achieve the ideal 50/50 weight distribution. Lifting the 102-inch wheelbase from one of Earl’s favorite sports cars, the Jaguar XK120, McLean broke from tradition, designing the new roadster from the back of the car rather than the front, positioning the passenger compartment and engine bay as close as possible to the rear axle. The ultimate result was a 53/47 front-to-rear weight distribution. The front track was 57 inches wide, and the rear was 59.

By the middle of 1952, Earl’s team at GM Art and Color, along with GM engineers, had a working design. The shape borrowed from the LeSabre and XP-300 concepts, with a wraparound windshield and oval grille framing thirteen heavy chrome teeth. The rear license plate was encased in a lighted shadow box, and the rear fenders featured small fins. The body would be of fiberglass, saving both weight and expense. Harley Earl believed the new sports car would offer more amenities than the European imports at a lower price.

The other way Project Opel would save money on production was to utilize as many parts as possible from the GM parts bin. McLean scoured chassis and drivetrains to find those parts that would fit the project. The chassis would have to be designed specifically for the new roadster, as there was nothing like it in the GM lineup. The solid rear axle was suspended by leaf springs located outside the frame rails for better stability, a unique design that would be utilized by Chevrolet passenger cars for the 1955 model year. The front suspension was similar to that used in Chevrolet passenger cars, but with revised spring rates, shocks, and stabilizers. Saginaw recirculating ball steering was used, but with a quicker 16:1 ratio. The steering wheel was one inch smaller in diameter than those used in Chevy passenger cars.

Powertrain

Project Opel (the name Corvette came from ad man Myron Scott, after a small, swift French warship) would use Chevrolet’s 235 cubic-inch overhead valve inline six cylinder for its sole drivetrain. Output was a rather lackluster 105 horsepower, hardly what one would want in a sports car. In order to bring performance up to snuff, the “stove bolt six”, so called because of the engine bolts resemblance to those used on wood burning stoves, received an aggressive cam, solid lifters, double valve springs to handle higher rpms, 8.0:1 compression ratio, and high-flow water pump located low on the block to allow clearance for an oversized four-blade cooling fan. The engine was fed by a trio of Carter YH sidedraft carbs in a synchronized setup as opposed to a progressive one. The Carters were mounted on an aluminum intake manifold with each carb feeding a pair of cylinders. Each carb had a separate manual choke after testing proved automatic chokes to be unwieldy. The car’s hood was a low-profile design resulting in a redesign for the leading edge of the valve cover and relocation of the oil fill to the back of the engine for clearance. The valve cover was painted blue with white lettering on the passenger side that read “Blue Flame” and on the driver side that read “Special”. In addition to the myriad changes to the engine, a freer-breathing dual exhaust helped the new Blue Flame Six produce 150 horsepower at 4,500 rpm, though the engine was capable of higher revs.

The Project Opel engineers didn’t have a manual transmission that would fit the car that was also capable of handling the increased performance from the Blue Flame Six, so the team elected to use the Powerglide automatic transmission. The Powerglide was robust and simple, fitted into the new car with little modification aside from altering the shift points to work better with the new engine.

Market Introduction & Debut

Harley Earl and his design team were finishing the exterior and interior design while the engineers were working out the underpinnings. Earl was pushing to get the new roadster completed for the 1953 GM Motorama shows. Upon seeing an early version of the Corvette, Chevrolet chief engineer Ed Cole is said to have jumped up and down, promising his full support to get the car into production.

Cole’s full support included having Earl put the full-size Corvette mock-up on display in the Styling auditorium for a presentation to GM president Harlow Curtice and Chevy general manager Tom Keating. Earl led the presentation, explaining how the Corvette would not only be profitable, but would bring excitement to the Chevrolet model line. Curtice and Keating were convinced by Earl’s enthusiasm, and Project Opel was given the green light for the 1953 GM Motorama to be kicked off at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in January.

The Chevrolet Corvette concept debuted in brilliant Polo White over a Sportsman Red interior, and soon became the belle of the ball. Chevy was fielding queries for more information from every corner. People wanted to know when the car would be built and what it would cost. As the mechanical engineering had continued as the concept was being ready for the Motorama, it looked for all the world that Earl and Cole knew from the beginning they would have a hit on their hands. The Corvette was slated to begin production as a 1953 model. The decision to build the Corvette was assured after the showing with Curtice and Keating, but the strong reception at the GM Motorama in New York helped cement that decision.

The Corvette entered production nearly unchanged from the Motorama show car, with only the cowl mounted fresh air intakes and pushbutton exterior door latches being eliminated. Harley Earl’s original vision for the car was spot on, however his target price was not even close, as the production Corvette listed for $3,498. There were only two options, a heater for $91.40, and an AM signal-seeking radio priced at $145.15.

Every Corvette got the radio and heater, so they weren’t options in the traditional sense, even if they were listed that way on window stickers. The sticker price came to a grand total of $3,734.55. Every 1953 Corvette was finished in Polo White over Sportsman Red vinyl interior, and a black convertible top. Also included in the base price were wide whitewall tires and windshield washers.

Production

When production began on the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette, there was no dedicated factory. In fact, the first two Corvettes were assembled largely by hand in late June 1953, in a temporary assembly facility on Van Slyke Avenue in Flint, Michigan. Those first two cars were sent to Chevrolet Engineering for testing and evaluation at GM’s Milford, Michigan proving grounds. That testing resulted in a number of engineering modifications.

By the end of the year, Corvette production totaled 300 units, with much of the work being done by hand. As employees were unaccustomed to working with glass reinforced plastic, or GRP (later known as fiberglass), production was stymied by raw finishes, uneven gaps, and sometimes doors with different lengths on the same car. The bodies came as 46 pieces supplied by the Molded Fiber Glass Company of Ashtabula, Ohio. Those pieces were to be fitted to wooden jigs and glued together into larger body sections. Many of the pieces were delivered with flaws from incorrect molding, or did not fit together properly, requiring additional hand labor. This hand assembly helped Chevrolet develop production methods for the new Corvette factory built in a renovated St. Louis factory.

Having to build much of the Corvette by hand was far from the only hurdle. Ramping up parts production also meant not all parts were initially available. Early Corvettes were delivered with domed wheel covers found on other Chevrolet passenger cars. The wheel covers found on later production 1953 Corvettes were polished stamped steel with a two-ear center spinner with a polished Chevy Bowtie in the blue painted center, and radial hashes in two concentric circles, one around the center, and a second nearer the outer edge. The 27th</sup. Corvette had standard covers on it, so it is believed that the domed covers were found only on very early cars.

In addition to the fiberglass body issues, the Chevy Corvette was a mixed bag of bare-bones roadster and luxury runabout. Headlights were recessed with chrome mesh stone guards, the convertible top was hidden by a slick flush-fitting body cover when lowered, and the grille was a sparkling smile. In contrast, there were no exterior door handles, forcing one to reach inside the car to open the doors, sliding side glass in clip-in chrome frames was used instead of traditional roll-up windows, and the two-speed slushbox transmission was far from sporty. Early cars even lacked outside rear view mirrors. There were three different designs for the gas filler door hinges. The first design, used on the first 20 cars, tended to chip the paint. The second design, which ran somewhere between car #83 and car #90, solved the issue with the first, but the fuel door opening was limited. The final design solved both of the previous issues. Another anomaly for the 1953 Corvette was the brake and fuel lines that ran outside the frame. The following year, both lines would be relocated inside the frame rails.

With only 300 units total production on the 1953 Corvette, Chevrolet wanted to make the most of them from a marketing perspective. The Bow Tie hand-picked owners to promote the Corvette as a prestige car, choosing celebrities, movie stars, professional athletes, business moguls, and politicians. Serial numbers 004, 005, and 006 went to the DuPont family and DuPont company executives. Actor John Wayne got 055.

Critical Acclaim

Though sports car purists were not immediately impressed by the lack of a manual transmission or the faux knock-off spinners on the hubcaps, the automotive press had praise for the new Chevy Corvette. Walt Woron wrote in Motor Trend magazine, “Chevrolet has produced a bucket-seat roadster that will hold its own with Europe’s best, short of actual competition and a few imports that cost three times as much.”

The 1953 Corvette received favorable reviews from magazine road tests. Walt Woron of Motor Trend said, “Chevrolet has produced a bucket seat roadster that will hold its own with Europe’s best, short of actual competition and a few imports that cost three times as much.” Road & Track said the fiberglass roadster made “a favorable impression immediately on the score of clean line with a minimum of chrome trim. It looks like a sports car, a very modern one at that….The outstanding characteristic [is probably its] deceptive performance. Sports car enthusiasts who have ridden in or driven the car without benefit of a stopwatch seem to have been unimpressed with the performance. This is an injustice, as the figures shown in our data panel prove.”

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