Corvette History: Corvette Makes Public Debut 57 Years Ago Today

Jan 17, 2010

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1953 EX-122 Corvette at New York's Motorama Show

It was fifty-seven years ago today that thousands of Americans gathered at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City to catch a glimpse of Chevrolet’s new two-seater sports car. The EX-122 concept was such an instant hit with the public that GM rushed into production the revolutionary fiberglass-bodied car. Six months later, the first Corvette was completed at a makeshift assembly plant in Flint, Michigan. Just 300 Corvettes were produced in 1953 with a sticker price of about $3,500.

You can’t see him in this crowd picture but one of the attendees of the GM Motorama show was a Belgium immigrant named Zora Arkus-Duntov. Zora was so taken with the Corvette and its potential that he wrote a letter to Chevrolet Chief Engineer Ed Cole. Ed Cole was so impressed with Zora that he offered him an assistant staff engineering position and the rest is history!

Source:
NCM Corvette Timeline
Photo Credit: Quensu.ca

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