It was 70 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.
The genesis of the first American sports car came in 1951 following Harley Earl’s trip to Watkins Glen. Impressed with the small European Sports cars, he begins thinking about a 2-seater American sports car. Code named “Project Opel” the Corvette was known to only a few at the time. In 1952, Harley Earl showed his initial designs to Chevrolet engineering chief Ed Cole who was reportedly very enthusiastic about the project. Together, the two pitched the Corvette to the GM suits and were given the go-ahead to develop a prototype for the 1953 Motorama.
In late December 1952, the prototype was completed. It was officially known as the Corvette after being named by Chevy photographer Myron Scott. Chevy wanted the car to start with a “C” and supposedly rejected 1500 suggestions.
The Motorama Corvette was shown to GM executives in early January 1953. The only changes suggested was removing the American flag from the original logo. A new logo was designed in a hurry and featured two crossed flags – one being the Chevy bow-tie and the other being a fleur-de-lis which paid homage to the French background of Chevrolet namesake Louis Chevrolet.
Thousands of Americans lined up to see the little white and red two-seat sports car including 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’s ideas that he offered him an assistant staff engineering position and the rest is history!
The Corvette went on tour for much of 1953 visiting towns and dealerships all across the country with an estimated 1.4 million people coming out to take a look at the roadster.
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I had to pay to ride in my 1st Corvette, it was in the summer of 1955. My fee was a friend and I washed the car, it was a lady’s fiance’ Lawyer. He took us for 1 square mile as we waved and yelled at several neighbor kids.
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