When you consider that nearly 2 million Corvettes have been built by Chevrolet since 1953, how cool would it be to own the 100th Corvette ever built?
That’s a very real possibility for the person with a wallet big enough to pay the price of obtaining this historically significant 1953 Corvette, which is being auctioned off at the Spring Carlisle Collector Car Auction in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on April 21.
You may have read in the past that Chevy tried to build an exclusive image for the Corvette in those early days, with cars going to movie stars like John Wayne, sort of the way the C8 Corvette is being promoted with social media stars these days.
VIN 100 – built in October 1953 – was delivered by Tom Hoskins of Hoskins Chevrolet in Chicago to a titan of the airline industry, C.R. Smith, who was founder and CEO of American Airlines from 1934-68 and again from 1973-74. Smith also served as Major General and wartime deputy commander of the Air Transport Command during World War II, was Secretary of Commerce under President Lyndon Johnson, and was said to be close personal friends with the Roosevelts, especially First Lady Eleanor and her son Elliott. Smith frequently helped Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wife with her travel plans and even introduced Elliott to his second wife, serving as best man at their wedding.
We’ve always known that 1953 Corvettes are rare, with only 300 built that debut year, but here are some facts that really bring that point home even further. The National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS) has judged a total of only 60 ‘53s in its history, and only 16 ‘53s have been sold over the past five years. Right now, only one other ’53 is for sale as part of a non-auction/boutique dealership sale.
Since Smith’s original ownership, several other people have become caretakers of this significant Corvette, each meticulously documented.
“This 1953 Corvette is an excellent unrestored/first year Corvette with full provenance,” says Alan Blay, editor of On Solid Ground, the Solid Axle Corvette Club magazine and columnist and historian for six-cylinder Corvettes built from 1953-55. “Its body has never separated from the chassis, and other than a 2019 repaint, it’s emulated as close as possible to the car’s original finish and appearance.”
Bray says this Corvette is not a trailer queen, however, adding that the current owner still drives it on a regular basis and has logged about 5,000 miles over the past 18 years.
“It’ll roll across the auction block with all original hardware still intact,” Bray says, “and drives as it did when it was brand new 70 years ago.”
With engine number 535454 still under the hood, the car retains many other original elements, including valve cover, 3836066 special Corvette cylinder head, body, and specially engineered open drive shaft two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission, which was all new for the Corvette only. It retains its original vacuum bag molded fiberglass body made by Lunn Luminates of Huntington, New York.
The car has naturally won numerous awards, the most recent coming in 2021 when it was judged as NCRS Top Flight Award winner.
The Spring Carlisle Collector Car Auction is part of Spring Carlisle, a five-day event that includes an automotive flea market and car corral and is held April 19-23 at the neighboring Carlisle PA Fairgrounds.
Source:
Carlisle Auctions
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I took this photo of this 1953 Corvette in the backyard of a garage in Pennsylvania in 1981 when I was on a trip as a guest of Rotary International. He also had the red one, same little girl on both photos. He also had a custom 56 Chev out front, rough and rusty. I asked the price of the 53 and he said $5,000 which was a lot for a burnt wreck at that time., He said ‘go look at the body number” so I went back out and saw that it was number 3.. The blueflame was still intact, the carbs had caught fire and burnt the fender. He had a lot of the bits inside in storage. I have a photo of the front of the building somewhere, I will seek it out. There are a few cars carrying the number 3 tag, including this one. The above is the real deal. For photos please send me an email.
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