Thank you Zora!

[NutmegCT]

Take a look at some (silent) home movies of the hand labor involved in producing the 1953 Corvette.

(I begin to wonder about the health of those men years later.)

There were only 300 Corvettes produced that year. All were white, with red interior, and powered by a three carb 235 six with two-speed Powerglide automatic. And those details are probably what almost killed the car.

" It was saved from oblivion due to the almost single-handed persistence of Zora Arkus-Duntov, who convinced a reluctant upper management to offer their new 265 CI small block V-8 as an engine option the following year." The Old Motor

By the way, Arkus-Dunkov had quite a life.

https://www.corvettemuseum.org/library-archives/hof/duntov.shtml

What's your first memory of seeing a Corvette?

Tom

 

[Basil]

We we bought our C5 Corvette new in 2000, we did what was called "Museum Delivery." Rather than have the car (which I special ordered) shipped to my local dealer, we flew to Bowling Green and took delivery of the car, which was actually put on display in the museum. It was a lot of fun and they had an internet connected camera so that family and friends could view us taking delivery. As part of the process, in addition to getting a personalized tour of the factory (across the street), we were also given a tour of the "back area" where they had lots of really cool Corvette stuff not on display to the general public.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

What's your first memory of seeing a Corvette?

Tom

Not necessarily the first, but certainly the most memorable:

In '62, we were living in Corpus Christi. One Saturday, my buddies and I were at the local Boys' Club (YMCA?) and someone came running in and said that an episode of Route 66 was being filmed down the street. We all ran over and got to see George Maharis and Martin Milner sitting in their Corvette - gold, if I remember correctly.

May have been this one:



Pretty cool for a 12-year-old!

 

[Basil]

You have a good memory. I have no clue when I saw my first Corvette. The first one I remember was on the show RT66.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

You have a good memory. I have no clue when I saw my first Corvette. The first one I remember was on the show RT66.

Well, apparently not THAT good! Just found the episode on YouTube - apparently Maharis was on hiatus, and it was only Milner in the episode.

I know what I'll be watching later today!

 

[coldplugs]

...
What's your first memory of seeing a Corvette?

Tom

My first was a 1953 Polo White car about 2 days before it was released. It was on a turntable in the showroom of the dealership where my father worked (& I later worked). I was about 8.

I liked the headlights and seats but was not happy about the 6 cylinder, even with multiple carbs. My father insisted its torque would overcome any horsepower advantage that a V8 would have offered. (It didn't).

I was appalled that it had only an automatic transmission. He had no answer for that.

The '56 Vette was another matter - I loved that when it came out. Later owned a '57 and a '58. I installed an "097 Duntov" cam in the '58. The part number ended in 097, hence the name.

 

[JPSmit]

Not the first by any means, but the most memorable was about 1975. In Belleville, where I grew up, Trudeau Motors was across the street from the Moira River. A woman bought a new Vette, picked it up, hit the gas instead of brakes and promptly drove the car across the street over an 8 foot cliff and into the river. The car then sat there for two days while people figured out what to do. (The river was only knee deep water) finall a tow truck driver just dove his truck into the river, hooked it up and towed it out.

 

[Brooklands]

My first strong memory was probably getting the '58 Corvette slot car which was my first extra Aurora Vibe car for my first set. I am sure I knew of them before that because I probably would not have selected that one to add to the two that came with the two Fords that came with the set.

 

[aeronca65t]

It's interesting to recall that video cameras on the internet were already in common use by 2000 (as in Basil's picture above)

Here's me and my sister at Christmas in '59 with my first (and only) Corvette (first picture). This is when we lived in Toronto.

I met Zora briefly in '69. We saw him driving a Corvette show car (Mako Shark?) at Watkins Glen during the F1 race. I walked up to him and said hello and talked to him about the car. I was 18.

In '04 I went to the New Hampshire Vintage (before I actually started racing in that event). I happened to see this Allard (second photo), which was owned and raced by Duntov. It was very primitive but also very cool.

A couple of years ago I met Peter Brock at the Jefferson 500 and he was telling me about doing the styling on the Sting Ray. He said he was very much influenced by cars like the ALFA Disco Volante which had a noticeable "beltline" about it. He included that feature in the Sting Ray and also put it in the early Corvair.

It interesting that two of the key players in this All-American car were not exactly apple-pie Americans. Duntov was, of course, a Russian Jew (with a really exciting life story) and Larry Shinoda spend part of his childhood in a "War Relocation Camp" for people of Japanese heritage.

The Corvette is still probably the best deal in terms of speed vs. cost. I may never own one, but they are a great car.