Vehicle Description
General Motors hired designer Harley Earl in 1927. Earl loved
sports cars, and GIs returning after serving in Europe during World
War II were bringing home MGs, Jaguars, Alfa Romeos and the like.
Even the small independent manufacturers, Nash Motors, began
selling a two-seat sports car in 1951. Earl convinced GM that they
also needed to build a two-seat sports car. Earl and his Special
Projects crew began working on the new car later that year which
was code named 'Opel'. The result was the 1953 Corvette, unveiled
to the public at that year's Motorama car show. Taking its name
from the corvette, a small, manoeuvrable fighting frigate, the
first Corvettes were virtually hand built in Flint, Michigan in
Chevrolet's Customer Delivery Centre. The outer body was made out
of a revolutionary new composite material called fibreglass,
selected in part because of limiting steel quotas left over from
the Korean War. Underneath that radical new body were standard
Chevrolet components, including the 'Blue Flame' inline
six-cylinder truck engine, two-speed Powerglide automatic
transmission and drum brakes from Chevrolet's regular car line. The
addition of a V8 engine mated to a three speed manual transmission
was probably the single most important in the car's history, helped
turn the Corvette from a two-seat curiosity into a genuine
performer. This extremely rare, Trophy Winning 1957 Corvette C1
'Fuelie' was produced for the American market and is one of only
1,040 ever built which houses the mighty V8, pushing out some 283hp
with its unique, racing fuel injected system. This fuel-injection
system solved a fuel starvation problem caused by sloshing while
cornering hard with carburetted engines under race conditions.
According to the C1 registry, chassis number E57S102614 was sold
new on 1st March, 1957 and was built in St. Louis, Missouri.
Factory options included the ultimate top-specification 283ci/283hp
V8 with Rochester fuel-injection, heater, whitewall tyres, two-tone
Polo White paint and even an elusive hard-top (supplied with this
example in original condition). This lovely Corvette is totally
original including the engine, the interior and the chassis. The
previous owner purchased the car in 2007 when it was imported to
the UK and was placed in his own extensive private collection. It
has been very well maintained throughout the years and recently had
a big review at the Claremont Corvette garage. This Corvette has a
manual three-speed gearbox for smooth boulevard cruising and enjoys
a wonderful, curvaceous red leather interior. This older
restoration has mellowed nicely over the years and hails from the
state of Las Vegas, Nevada where it has won multiple trophies over
many years. � For sale by auction on Saturday 23 September 2017
with Historics at Brooklands, Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit,
Weybridge, Surrey, Call 01753 639170
