License Plate Rivets Lead To Discovery Of Oldest ’53 Corvette Known
Factory work orders on the first ’53 Corvette included a few small fixes, one of which was rivet covers in the license plate area.
It’s almost impossible to think of a situation where the first Corvette could somehow be assumed to be forever gone. GM archives are deep, and thorough, and for the Corvette, even more so. But the first handful of Corvettes made were essentially quality control examples. According to Hemmings, the first 9 Corvettes went back to GM. They weree used by engineers for development purposes, which means they were beat to within an inch of their life. And promptly destroyed. Or at least that’s what was assumed.
Corey Petersen is a Corvette Restorer, and has a particular enthusiasm about the C1. In researching the 1953 Corvette, he knows that the early cars differ from ones made late in the year. The first two Corvettes, for instance, were re-named. “3950” and “3951” respectively. 3951, the second Corvette, was used to see how much would need to be changed for a V8 to fit. Since that car was accounted for, it meant 001 was still somewhere out there.
Petersen happened upon this car many years before realizing what it was. He examined it at a body shop, noted some anomalies, but never thought anything of it. Years later as he started to do more research on #001. he found a series of documents from GM containing key information. Documents showed many of the early Corvettes had modifications performed on them. Many of these changes are easy to spot on car.now believed to be #001.
So about those license plate rivets… In the work order documents from GM, car “3950” received a few updates. The rivets (pictured above) is one item on the list, but also few changes to the ergonomics that lowered the seat mount and raised the steering column. Plus, the fuel filler area (pictured below) was also changed. There is evidence of those changes on this car, which leads Petersen to believe it is car “3950.” What was once a misunderstood ’53 Corvette may actually be the very first one ever completed off the assembly line.
Hiding in plain sight is almost too accurate of a word to describe for this kind of discover, but if it turns out to be true, what a find!
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Photo courtesy of Hemmings
