1953 Chevrolet Corvette

1953 Chevrolet Corvette Background

The story of the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette begins with Harley Earl, the flamboyant head of GM’s powerful Design department. He had been impressed by sports cars he had seen in Europe in the early 1950s and felt that GM needed its own sports car to serve as a ‘halo car’ for the whole company. A concept car was prepared and was officially unveiled on January 17, 1953 at the 1953 GM Motorama. It was an instant sensation with its svelte fiberglass body and slick interior. With the hood down, no one need know it had a lowly Stovebolt Six with three sidedraft carbs, and a 2-speed Powerglide automatic as the only transmission choice. It was rushed into limited production. By June 30, 1953 a temporary assembly line was set up in Flint, Michigan, and 300 identical polo white 1953 Chevrolet Corvettes with red interior were hand-built, for its maiden year. They did the same thing for the 1954 Corvettes. This particular car is the 112th of the 300 1953 Chevrolet Corvettes built in Flint that year.

---

1953 Chevrolet Corvette SPECIFICATIONS