Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

[Patrick T.]

or who the main transporters were? Thanks

[John S.]

Re: Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

late 54 corvettes

[Terry M.]

Re: Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

Complete Auto Transit did the Corvette shipping into the early 1990s. I remember talking to the guy who ran that operation in the early '90s in Bowling Green. He had pictures on the wall of his office of famous people and their Corvettes. I remember Johnny Carson among many others. I am not sure when they put the shipping out for bid, but it was after we opened the Museum in 1994.

[Larry E.]

Re: Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

Wonder what happened to all of their shipping delivery reports?? I worked all my life in the trucking
operations departments.(Quite a few companies) Not one of them threw out records; no matter how old! Larry

[Patrick T.]

Re: Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

Thanks for the information guys, very interesting.

[Edward J.]

Re: Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

Terry, I remember Anchor motor freight delivering car to the dealer ships, but not sure about the Corvettes.

[Terry M.]

Re: Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

Wonder what happened to all of their shipping delivery reports?? I worked all my life in the trucking
operations departments.(Quite a few companies) Not one of them threw out records; no matter how old! Larry

I received some shipping records (dealer and zone numbers and addresses) from an NCRS member that began their life in a railroad shipping facility (not all Corvettes from St Louis were shipped by truck) in the mid to late 1970s. Those records went to Mark Lincoln so they could be used in the Shipping records program. The individual that gave them to me obtained them from the rail yard when he worked there. They were about to be discarded according to him.

[John L.]

Re: Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

Well maybe my question still falls loosely under the thread title here....
I recall hearing some time back that a certain portion of the later 1953 bodies were fabricated, assembled, and painted at the new St. Louis plant, then shipped to Flint for final assembly to the chassis (and possibly trim added there as well?). I believe it had to do with the logistics of setting up the production body panel jigs in St. Louis early rather than doing this at Flint then disassembly and moving the jigs to St. Louis after only a couple months. Am I recalling this correctly....and the question there would be how do you think the bodies were shipped. On a dolly perhaps via rail?

[Patrick T.]

Re: Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

I know I'm veering off topic a little but wasn't it true that '53 Corvette's were only available to influential people and well known celebrities like John Wayne?

[Mark E.]

Re: Is anyone familiar with this '53 Corvette photo?

I know I'm veering off topic a little but wasn't it true that '53 Corvette's were only available to influential people and well known celebrities like John Wayne?

McLellan talks about this in his book Corvette from the Inside. Offering early Corvettes to celebrities was a marketing strategy to increase awareness and prestige. Unfortunately, it increased awareness of Corvette's poor quality. Sales suffered.