Chassis No. E54S002388

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

The original Corvette was one of several "dream cars" featured in General Motors' Motorama extravaganza for 1953. It was almost called "Corvair" but instead Chevrolet named it "...after the trim, fleet naval vessel that performed heroic escort and patrol duties in World War II." But when the Corvette made its Motorama debut at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel, something unexpected happened – over 10,000 potential buyers expressed an interest in owning one. Six months later Chevrolet was slowly building the first production Corvettes, with fiberglass bodies chosen to speed development and manufacture. With only minor changes from the Waldorf show car, 300 1953 models were produced, slated only for high-visibility VIPs. That first run of Corvettes were all painted Polo White, powered by a torquey 235 cu-in 150 hp "Blue Flame 6" and two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission.

By December 1953 Chevrolet had moved production from a temporary site in Flint, Michigan to a proper assembly line at its St. Louis plant. Now Corvettes were available for everyone, priced at $3,760 for 1954. New colors were also available, including Pennant Blue, Sportsman Red, and Black, along with the original Polo White. By mid '54 horsepower was bumped 5 hp with a new camshaft. Though Chevrolet's legendary V8 engine would not be ready until the 1955 model, Road & Track was impressed with the straight-six predecessor: "The Corvette will give any sports car of comparable power and weight a "real race" between 20 and 90 mph... Frankly, we liked the Corvette very much."

This 1954 Corvette is beautifully restored to factory condition from a well-preserved example, including the original engine and chassis tag. Approximately 100 of the 3,640 '54 Corvettes produced were ordered in stylish Sportsman Red, and all cars were delivered with the same complement of listed factory "options." Historical accuracy is confirmed, having earned a regional Top Flight award in Pittsburgh, PA in 2014 from the National Corvette Restorers Society (with a score of 99.1% out of 4500 total points). More recently it was OEM Gold Certified by Bloomington Gold in 2022 acknowledging the original engine, and further validated by Gold Concours and Triple Diamond certification from the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals the same year.