A superb and rare photo, made from what we believe is the original negative, taken in the GM Chevrolet factory in Flint, Michigan, on March 12TH , 1953. Shown in this gorgeous period image is the preparation of the front bodywork panel mold of the magnificent NEW 1953 Chevrolet Corvette C1.
Corvette was initially made in GM’s Flint Michigan plant, Interestingly, the first Corvettes were virtually hand built in Flint, Michigan in Chevrolet's Customer Delivery Center (SEE PHOTO!) , now an academic building at Kettering University. The outer body was made out of then-revolutionary fiberglass, selected in part because of steel quotas left over from the war. The photo shows the preparation of the front bodywork mold. Later on the Assembly was moved to St. Louis ‘ GM plant, as they had much more capacity to meet the great demand of this wonderful sports car!
The negative comes from the private automotive collection of one of Europe’s oldest Ford importerships that was in business since 1905. We took over the impressive literature collection from the retired last owner. It consisted of a vast collection of mostly very exclusive automotive literature of Ford and other famous brands in the automotive industry. There are a lot of old negatives, both on celluloid as glass plates, in the files we took over. We consider this material very historic. Interestingly, a part of the collection consists of racing images.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car that has been manufactured by Chevrolet since 1953. While the style of a car may be just as important to some as to how well the car runs, it was not until 1927, when General Motors hired designer Harley Earl, that automotive styling and design became important to American automobile manufacturers. What Henry Ford did for automobile manufacturing principles, Harley Earl did for car design. Taking its name from the corvette, a small, maneuverable fighting frigate (the credit for the naming goes to Myron Scott), the first Corvettes were virtually handbuilt in Flint, Michigan in Chevrolet's Customer Delivery Center, now an academic building at Kettering University. The outer body was made out of then-revolutionary fiberglass, selected in part because of steel quotas left over from the war. Underneath the new body material 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. Though the engine's output was increased somewhat, thanks to a triple-carburetor intake exclusive to the Corvette, performance of the car was decidedly lackluster. Compared to the British and Italian sports cars of the day, the Corvette was underpowered, required a great deal of effort as well as clear roadway to bring to a stop, and even lacked a "proper" manual transmission. Up until that time, the Chevrolet division was GM's entry-level marque, known for excellent but no-nonsense cars[citation needed]. Nowhere was that more evident than in the Corvette[citation needed]. A Paxton supercharger became available in 1954 as a dealer-installed option, greatly improving the Corvette's straight-line performance, but sales continued to decline. GM was seriously considering shelving the project, leaving the Corvette to be little more than a footnote in automotive history, and would have done so if not for two important events. The first was the introduction in 1955 of Chevrolet's first V8 engine (a 265 in³ {4.3 L}) since 1919, and the second was the influence of a Soviet émigré in GM's engineering department, Zora Arkus-Duntov. Arkus-Duntov simply took the new V8 and backed it with a three-speed manual transmission. That modification, probably the single most important in the car's history[citation needed], helped turn the Corvette from a two-seat curiosity into a genuine performer. It also earned Arkus-Duntov the rather inaccurate nickname "Father of the Corvette."
Another key factor in the Corvette's survival was Ford's introduction, in 1955, of the two-seat Thunderbird, which was billed as a "personal luxury car", not a sports car. Even so, the Ford-Chevrolet rivalry in those days demanded that GM not appear to back down from the challenge. The "T-Bird" was changed to a four-seater in 1958. There have been six generations of the Corvette so far, sometimes referred to as C1 through C6.
This is a very nice and very rare photo that reflects a wonderful era of Chevrolet and Corvette automotive history in a wonderful way. This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 12" (ca. 20 x 30 cm). It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a digital print (!), but a traditional photograph, which is processed through the traditional photographic process by a professional photo studio. Every negative is fully processed by hand, obtaining the best result possible. As most negatives are very old, several traditional photographic prints of each negative are made. Each has different settings (like varying brightness and contrast). Out of these, the best of the photographic prints is then selected, and shipped to the winner of this auction. This way the best result possible is obtained, and each photograph is absolutely unique and collectable! It is not realistic however to expect a modern quality digital fully enhanced digital print, as the negative dates from 1953 and was made with a camera and film from that era as well.
The image is copyright protected.
Contact us for more Chevrolet , Chevrolet Corvette and other automotive photos!
Recently we have acquired a large archive consisting of old and very old negatives of movie stars and other celebrities, concentrating on the era 1900 - 1980. If you have any interest in a photograph from your favorite movie star then you can always contact us.
Back to home page
) 
Print
Report item
and your 