Corvette History 1953-1962 Corvettes (C1)1953 Chevrolet Corvette
1953 Chevrolet Corvette
Contributed by Mike Antonick, Editor "Corvette Black Book"
The Corvette debuted in January 1953 at the GM Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. The Motorama Corvette was a pre-production prototype. By June of 1953 the Corvette was in production at a temporary facility on Van Slyke Avenue in Flint, Michigan, where 300 Corvettes were built that year. All 1953 models were two-seat roadsters with plastic side curtain windows. All had Polo White exteriors, red interiors, and black canvas soft tops.
All 300 had two-speed Powerglide automatic transmissions mated to 150-hp, six-cylinder "Blue Flame" engines. Although it was anything but a racer, Speed Age magazine praised the car in its December 1953 issue in a feature article headlined Chevrolet Can't Miss With the Corvette. With 300 units produced, this is the rarest of all Corvette model years. About 200 cars have survived.
The earliest know production Corvette is serial number E53F001003, the third car down the line. This car was purchased in rough condition at the 1987 Rick Cole Auction Company's event in Monterey, California, for $37,000 plus commission. The car was meticulously restored and its complete history, very much in question at Monterey, was verified and documented by Corvette historian John Amgwert.
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