General Motors (GM) chief designer Harley Earl convinced the company that they should produce an American built sports car as an alternative to the multitude of MGs, Jaguars and Alfa-Romeos that were being bought in the US in the early 1950s. Former US servicemen who had fallen in love with European sportscars seen during their service abroad in WWII were buying sportscars in large numbers and the market for two seater open cars was very buoyant indeed.
GMs response to this influx of British and Italian sportscars was the original 1953 Chevrolet Corvette, introduced at the Motorama show held the same year. The Motorama exhibitions were staged by GM to drum up interest in their product line up predominantly by showing superb looking concept cars giving the public an idea of what the future held from GM. For 1953, the new Corvette was definitely one of the stars of the show. The name Corvette was inspired after the small anti-submarine frigates of the same name used by the Allies in the North Atlantic during WWII.
As with all subsequent Corvettes (right up to the present day 6th generation car, as of 2006) the bodywork on the '53 car was made from fibreglass. This was mainly because steel rationing in the aftermath of WWII was still in effect, but it had the added bonus of making the car lighter than it would have been with a steel body. Additionally, fibreglass does not rust, which gave the car extra longevity. The lighter weight of the body was useful too as the first Corvettes from 1953-55 had a lacklustre 235 cubic inch (3.85 litre) straight six "Blue Flame" engine from Chevrolets regular line up. It was coupled with a two speed automatic transmission which further reduced the cars appeal among sportscar enthusiasts who preferred manual transmissions. As a result the car was relatively slow, and no match for it's European competitors in performance.
As it had basic drum brakes on all four wheels in what was a relatively heavy car (despite the glassfibre body), stopping the Corvette from speed was no easy task either.
The only colour option for the Corvettes first year was "polo white" with a red interior. Only 300 1953 Corvettes in total were produced.
A dealer fitted supercharger became an option in 1954, improving straight line performance but little else. Sales were disappointing and GM considered pulling the plug on the Corvette. The car was transformed however in 1955 by the addition of the new small block Chevrolet V8 engine coupled to a three speed manual transmission, turning the car into a real performer and making it exactly what sportscar enthusiasts in the States were looking for. Since then the Corvette has remained a popular choice among buyers looking for a good looking performance car and it has now been in production for over 50 years.
This 1:18th 1953 Corvette is one of AUTOarts nicer models, with fine interior and engine detail in particular. I particularly like the way the exhaust pipes exit through the rear bodywork, and the glass covered rear numberplate looks great as well. AUTOart released this model in 2003 and have continued to add to their range of Corvette models including a 1958 C1 and a 1969 C3 Corvette. For collectors of American car models, this particular Corvette is a must have.
As I'm currently in the middle of a house move (August 2006) all my models are packed away in storage so I'm not able to examine this model properly to fairly mark it according to my rating system. Hence the ratings below are blank, but over all it is generally above average in most categories. Once my collection is out of storage I'll add a proper ratings scale to this review.
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