Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

[Rick A.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

he owns a "pieced together" 1953 that is the only thing that is true

[Loren L.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

Actually, it was considerably More Than That - it was a one of one creation by Styling and Engineering with a starting point of a Used Up 1953 that in essence "gave its life" to Engineering to better the breed and is actually titled (or was) as a 1955. It could almost be described as one of two, joining with a 1954 that did not leave Engineering. serving as #5951 and a platform for a V8 and fins and a belly pan for speed, ultimately donating its mechanics to Eng. #6901, a prototype 1956 that would serve at Daytona and Sebring and its body to 55 #1399 for transfer to NASCAR for oval racing on dirt, only to have its chassis rebuilt with a new 1955 body and interior, new V8 and titled as EX 87 in the Palm Springs area.

[Rick A.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

Loren - thnx for the history lesson! Figured you would educate us all!

[Chris S.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

If you want to know the history - here is a great VIN number by VIN number by Ken Kayser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SYR9vnwa5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPLNM0JRAFo&t=2386s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Glupml0ltc&t=952s

[Loren L.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

If that's your example of "history", the South won the Civil War. There was no VIN on the Motorama car. 001 became Eng. #3950 and 002 became Eng. #3951. Both cars were "used up".
I'm not sure what "that chassis" is in your description. Eng. #5951 was a '54 that never left Engineering until circa 1956. It was used for various engineering projects, including fitment of a V8, a fin, and a full belly pan. As such, it made some 150+ mph runs at the DPG, returned to MI where its mechanics were transferred to Eng. 6901, a '55 frame with the prototype '56 body (no scoops on the top of the fenders. That car appeared at Daytona and Sebring.); the body from #5951 was transferred to 55 #1399, which was refurbished and given to NASCAR (along with Terry Michaelis' '53 #211) for participation in NASCAR oval dirt track racing; the remaining chassis of #5951 was rebuilt with a late '55 body (taken from either Sebring #5 or 6 - rebodied with production '56 bodies) and all new running gear as a Special Proving Ground demonstrator. When it was sold later in 1956 outside GM, it was then titled as a 1955 with an "EX 87" VIN in the same manner as EX 122, to call out that this was NOT a production car. EX 87 was purchased in Los Gatos CA in 1968 by the same couple who own it today, with a CA personalized plate of "EX 87".

If you want to know the history - here is a great VIN number by VIN number by Ken Kayser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SYR9vnwa5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPLNM0JRAFo&t=2386s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Glupml0ltc&t=952s

The original Motorama car was Job 19002 EX-52 Vin #1
The original Motorama chassis went to research - and the original body was burned with 111 miles on it -
That chassis then got a 55 body and was given the number 5951 EX-87 with a V8 with a powerglide - then the glide was taken out and 3 sp was put in. Then it got a 56 body to become a Sebring / NASCAR. It got rebodied in 56 with a 55 body and was painted Red and given number EX-122
So the car in Atlantic City it is the oldest chassis with a 55 body that has been modified on the outside to "LOOK" like the Motorama car
The car is a chassis with a 55 body.

[Chris S.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

So Ken is wrong ???
I dont appreciate your tone Loren at all and would appreciate an apology.

[Loren L.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

Yes, Ken was wrong. His whole premise is based on a fiction that he created out of blue sky that said the 2 Motorama cars were VINs 001 & 002.
They were not. Two separate letters of acquisition by Engineering stipulate that VINs 001 and 002, called out as the first and second production Corvettes, are to be designated Eng. #s 3950 and 3951 and that these cars are to be LICENSED in Michigan.
As to "tone", is there a nicer way to say "Ken is wrong"? Would I be issuing an apology to you because you believed Ken and recited his presentation? I'm going to need some help with the "Why" of that and a whole lot of help on the presentation. I'd still like to know where "that chassis" came from.

[John D.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

Here's a pic of that car at the C7 debut in NYC 60 years later to the day. It was held a espace an event hall on west 42nd street not the Waldorf.
That's me on the right.

[Darryl D.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

Regarding what is real and what is not in this thread I will say this. Lots of things happened with show cars, engineering mules. and others. ALL of the 1957 race prepared factory owned cars that went to Nassau and Sebring were SUPPOSED to be returned to the factory and destroyed after the corporate ban on factory sanctioned racing and I don't think ANY were returned. They were secretly given to winning racers who continued to campaign them. So I could believe anything could have happened to the early cars as being cut up and/or used for other engineering projects at the skunk works weather approved or not. Lots of "different" ideas regarding what G.M. SHOULD be doing in those days between the Pres. and V.P.s back then.

[Loren L.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

No one who ever knew Mr. Cole or whoever talked to his team insiders would have ever thought for a millisecond that the cars he had built to create
Corvette were going to be destroyed or that development would stop. GM PR could issue press releases daily praising safety and the car mags that covered racing continued to report from SCCA and NHRA tracks what had just appeared. Think about it - under the ban and Barney Clarke is doing national ads in a German accent about being passed by a fuelie "playing the radio"...... If speed dial would have existed, Jeffords/Penske/Bondurant/Guldstrand/?? all would have had Walt Mackenzie no lower than #5....

[Rick A.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

Loren - once again THANK YOU for all the history. Sure hope you have captured all this and you / your heirs make the history available?

[Joe R.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

Loren,

Rick is correct that you possess knowledge of the early stages of the Corvette along with racing history that should be saved. Example: Mike Pillsbury possessed more knowledge of early Corvettes racing history than anyone on the planet. That knowledge died with him and that's a shame he didn't share that knowledge in print.

JR

[John S.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

Loren, In the Fuel Injection Program dated may 16, 1955, a motor #0188831-F55FG is being used for the fuel injection program. Would that motor come from a 55 corvette donor car or would it be pulled off a shelf?

[Loren L.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

John, you're going to have to expand/detail your reference for me to get a grip on where/what we're dealing with - "Fuel Injection Program"? FG is coded as a 195 HP PG Corvette motor, but it certainly could have served as a carrier for a unit. I'm told, for instance that a # of the "backup" FI motors at 1957 Sebring were stamped as 283 HP psgr motors. Dr Dick's '56 raced as a 225 HP at Pebble because that is what it was built with; the
240 HP engine for the car was built in Engineering and was on hand, if needed, at Pebble. It turned out that Roy Storey blew the motor in his '56 at Pebble and received Dick's 240 HP "under warranty". I need more context, John.

[Mike E.]

Re: Does anyone know where this '53 Corvette photo was taken?

Correct - Jan 16, 1953 at the Waldorf Hotel - the REAL Motorama car which was destroyed by GM

Ken's most compelling evidence that at least the body of the real Motorama car was destroyed by GM were presented in the Chevrolet documents shown below.







Mike