Fifty-six years ago on January 17, 1953 the American public was introduced to the Chevrolet Corvette concept car at the largest car show of the time, General Motors' Motorama. Held at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the show attracted over 45,000 people on opening day.

Based on the feedback from the Motorama show, the Corvette was rushed into production and the first production Corvette rolled off the assembly line just six months later on June 30th. Only 300 were made the first year and the sticker price was just under $3,500.

One of the attendees of the Motorama show was a Belgium immigrant named Zora Arkus-Duntov who was so taken with the Motorama Corvette that he wrote a letter to Chevrolet's Chief Engineer Ed Cole asking to work on the new sportscar. Zora joined GM a few months after this event and went on to transform the Corvette into the performance car we know today.

Source:
NCM Corvette Timeline
Photo Credit: Corvette-World.com

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