The first time the public saw Harley Earl's "Dream car", the Corvette, was in January 1953 at the Motorama display at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. On Tuesday, June 30, 1953 Corvette #1 Serial Number E53F001001 rolled off the assembly line. Each car was built by hand at the GM facility in Flint, Michigan, where only 300 Corvettes were built to bare a VIN plate of 1953. All 1953 Corvettes were white with a red interior, all had Powerglide automatic transmissions mated to 150 HP, inline six cylinder engines with three carburetors and dual exhaust. This is the rarest Corvette. Of the 300 built, 255 are accounted for today. Typically it is the case that a year or more is spent designing a car prior to its release and typically its VIN plate bares the upcoming year. In the Corvettes case few dealerships were lucky enough to have this new kind of automobile referred to as a sports car grace their show room floor until 1954. A 14 hour road trip through Canada’s 20 below 0 climate proved that a fiberglass body can withstand nature’s harshness.

The first five Corvettes to come off the assembly line did not have an outside rear view mirror, nor did any of them have side windows or external door handles. The goal was to get them off and running as quickly as possible. It was war time and Germany had just released its version of the Mercedes 300 SL Roadster the prior year.

Modern day performance suspensions ensures characteristics of a modern day vehicle. It takes a professional to see the differences. The body is so close that it will fit an original 53-55 Corvette frame. You can’t find a more true to original kit than the LS53 Route 66!