[RIDES] Bill’s 1953 Corvette at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals

Dec 9, 2021

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[RIDES] Bill's 1953 Corvette at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals

Photo Credits: Steve Burns

Last month at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals show in Chicago, I was asked to give out a Celebrity Pick award. While I don’t consider myself anything remotely close to a celebrity, it was fun to recognize my favorite Corvette MCACN Corvette, and make a new Corvette friend.

I arrived in the Windy City on the Friday evening before the show, grabbed my credentials, and promptly headed inside to check out all the rides on display before the show opened to the public on Saturday morning. In a show full of Top Flight and Bloomington Gold Corvettes, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of chrome and fiberglass. The first Corvette I came across was a stunning 1953 specimen in the Triple Diamond display. After stopping for a couple minutes to admire it, I wandered the adjacent aisles checking out all the Corvettes on display. Of course, I loved them all, but one clearly stood out to me – that Polo White 1953 sitting at the front of the Triple Diamond display. The decision was easy, Bill Mulder’s C1 would be the inaugural CorvetteBlogger Pick at MCACN.

I spoke with Bill at length throughout the weekend and learned the unique history of his award-winning, Lynn Libby-restored, first-year Corvette. My plan was to retell that story here to share with our readers, however, Bill reached out to me a few days after the show sharing a comprehensive write up on the early Corvettes in addition to his own 1953 VIN 231. Since we haven’t done a RIDES piece in a while, this generated the perfect opportunity for the latest edition of our series. Below is Bill’s biography of his car plus some restoration photos he shared with us.

“…I bought my car from Barry Baker who was one of the first 100 NCRS members and he bought it while living in Detroit in 1966 from a used car dealer that wanted $1,000 for it. Barry only had $800 and about a week later someone stole the hood off the car and the dealer called Barry back and sold the car to Barry for $800. Barry swears he did not steal the hood and I believe him. He took the car apart in 1973 and was never able to reassemble it due to costs of restoration. I bought the car in the spring of 2019 in 27 boxes and a passion like Barry to get it back to the way it came from the factory. The engine and transmission were on the frame but the body was off the car and all parts were in boxes. We aired up the old tires, rolled the frame into the trailer, 6 of us carried the body into the trailer and laid it over the frame and then we started loading parts into the passenger compartment, trunk, and engine bay. The rest of the parts went in the back of the Suburban. We looked a bit like the Beverly Hillbillies with seat cushions sticking out, steering wheel and shaft haphazard and spare tires tucked under the car.

The assembly went well and we were pleased that the car had an original head which was unique to the 1953 Corvette. Only 300 were built and few survived as they were higher performance thinner heads that tended to crack easily. The engine was also original which is unique as the car did not have an oil filter which tended to reduce the life of the engine.

The hardest part to find was a master cylinder which was unique to 1953-only Corvette so there were only 300 produced. Many of them eventually leaked and it was a lot easier to replace it than repair it so very few survived. We found one and had it rebuilt and installed. The other problem was the radio which is the ‘Wonder Bar’ radio that had been installed in the 12 volt Cadillac and Buick line for a few years but had never been installed in a mere Chevrolet in part because all Chevrolets were 6 cylinder, 6 volt cars in 1953. The radio was modified to 6 volt and installed in only the Corvette in 1953. It did not work well then and was even worse because if you look there is no radio antenna on the 53-55 Corvette. Many people with 1956 and 1957 Corvettes say the radio works well but they have a 12 volt system and more importantly an antenna. It took a lot to get the radio to function properly – or at least as it did from the factory. And the 1953 Corvette radio is different from the 54-55 model so buying a surplus radio from another Corvette was not an option.

The car is a chapter, regional and national top flight car, a Bloomington Gold and MCACN Triple Diamond award winner. It was painted with original lacquer style paint and not base coat clear coat that is more common today. The paint was reviewed and approved by noted Corvette paint expert John Ballard who worked for the paint manufacturer in the 1950s. It has a low luster finish which when buffed has limited shine. But it does show the cheese cloth on the two pieces of hand laid fiberglass on the car.

Its pedigree has been established with major car clubs so next year the plan is to drive it. Yes, that will depreciate the car and get nicks and stone chips in the relatively soft lacquer paint but it is not sitting in a garage. I hope to drive it like Mark Whiley who has the black 1954 Corvette. I met him at the NCRS National convention in 2018 in Greenville South Carolina and he drove his car up from Atlanta where he lives. Any car that can make it through Atlanta traffic in July with no AC is one tough car and dedicated driver. I plan to follow his example – but with a tow vehicle close behind.”

Congrats to Bill on his Triple Diamond and CorvetteBlogger awards at MCACN! If you see Bill out on the road behind the wheel of his Corvette, be sure to give him a big Corvette wave.

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