73 Years Ago Today! Chevrolet Introduces the World to the Corvette at the 1953 GM Motorama

Jan 17, 2026

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73 Years Ago Today! Chevrolet Introduces the World to the Corvette at the 1953 GM Motorama

Photo Credits: GM/Chevrolet

Happy Anniversary to the Chevrolet Corvette!

It was 73 years ago that the very first prototype Corvette was shown to the public during the GM Motorama show held in New York City at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. As they say, the rest is history!

That first Corvette prototype was named EX-122 and the motoring public was instantly taken in Chevy’s new two-seater sports car creation. It was rumored that GM hid microphones in and around the display so that they hear the comments from attendees at the show. The new Corvette was such a hit that GM greenlighted “Project Opel” for production and six months later the first customer cars were completed.

GM’s VP of Design Harley J. Earl says the idea for the Corvette came to him during a visit to Watkins Glen in 1951 where he was showing off the LeSabre concept. Earl said he was impressed by the small European sports cars participating in a grand prix-style road race at the famous track in New York. From there, he got Chevrolet’s Engineering Chief Ed Cole on board with the project and together they were given the go-ahead to develop the concept for the 1953 GM 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. Myron came across the word Corvette after going through the dictionary, which was described as a small, lightly armed warship. Considering that many Americans just finished their service in the U.S. Armed Forces following WWII, the suggestion was perfectly timed.

The final Motorama Corvette was shown to GM executives in early January 1953. The only change 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. The original American Flag Corvette logo can be seen on display at the National Corvette Museum.

You can’t see him in the crowd photos, but one of the attendees of the 1953 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. With his foot in the door, Zora would go on to transform the underpowered Corvette into the world class sports car we know today.

Witness the excitement of the Motorama! GM produced this video from the 1953 Motorama show and you can see the Corvette make its appearance at 7:12:

Source:
Photos by GM/Chevrolet

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5 COMMENTS

Michael Guy Jan 17, 2026 At 12:43 pm

Maybe the plan is to launch the C9 as a 75th anniversary model.
Doug Jan 17, 2026 At 8:09 pm

Wonder if they had any constraints back then?
Michael J. Genzale Jan 18, 2026 At 7:16 am

A small point but history none the less, Earl didn’t see European sports cars at “the famous track at Watkins Glenn.” In 1951.
The GP was held on public roads then. Track didn’t open until 1956, the first GP race there in 1957.
Russ Creath Jan 21, 2026 At 11:59 am

Could someone either confirm or correct my recollection of the trim for the ’53? I was thinking that the only available color was white, and the interior color was red.
Raylan Benzl Jan 21, 2026 At 2:15 pm

All 1953 Corvettes were polo white (nitrocellulose lacquer) with red interior, and all models had six-cylinder engines painted blue. Two-speed automatic transmission. Optional features included heaters and AM radios. Ray