Month: June 2011

We’re still two years shy of the Chevrolet Corvette ‘s 60th anniversary, but today warrants some celebration nonetheless.

Ron Santoro’s passion is more than just a hobby. It’s a lifelong project. “I bought this as a regular Corvette and did all the work,” said the 50-year-old Orland Hills resident, who was sitting in a lawn chair on Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park Tuesday in front of his cherry red Chevy.

Last July, I received a call from an upset owner of a 2003 Chevrolet Corvette convertible.

The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car by the Chevrolet division of General Motors that has been produced in six generations.

Fifty-eight years ago today, the world’s first production Corvette rolled off its Flint, Michigan assembly line which was located at a small factory on Van Slyke Road, next to the Flint Truck Plant. On June 30, 1953, the chevrolet workers who built the first Corvettes gathered around VIN 001 for this group photograph. In that first year of production, only 300 of the Polo White two-seaters would be built and all were assembled by hand.

In the early 1950’s, Harley Earl, GM’s head of styling, envisioned a low-cost American sports car that could compete with Europe’s Jaguar, MG’s and Ferrari. Codenamed “Opel”, the very first prototype made its debut in January 1953 at the GM Motorama show at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The great reviews and pubic acclaim for the little white roadster prompted GM to fast track the Corvette into production and the first retail models were hand assembled in the back of the Chevrolet’s Customer Delivery Center in Flint, Michigan just six months later.

Underneath the fiberglass were standard Chevrolet components. The 250 cubic inch Blue Flame Special 6-cylinder engine came from the truck line while the two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission and drum brakes were also found on various Chevrolet passenger cars. A triple-carb intake on the Corvette gave the 2-seater a bit more power but overall performance was lacking.

Chevrolet built 300 Corvettes over the course of the 1953 model year. A uniform design allowed the workers to concentrate on putting the bodies together without being distracted by trim and equipment variations. Therefore, all 1953 Corvettes were Polo White with Sportsman Red interiors and equipped with a canvas soft-top, 6.70 x 15 whitewall tires and a Delco signal-seeking radio. Also standard was a 5,000-rpm tachometer and a counter for total engine revolutions.

Although some sports car purists took exception to the Corvette’s only available transmission – the 2-speed Powerglide automatic, the Corvette was still a decent sports car with well-tuned examples running 0-60 mph in 11 seconds and having a top speed near 105 mph.

The Corvette’s original base price was set at $3,498.00. However the general public was hard pressed to get one as most of the production was doled out to project engineers, GM executives and other high profile customers including Hollywood movie stars like John Wayne. In fact a dealer notice issued in July ‘53 from the Central Office proclaimed: “No dealer is in a position to accept firm orders for delivery of a Corvette in 1953.”

Today, the 1953 Corvette remains one of the most sought after Corvette models by collectors. The oldest example, 1953 VIN# 003, was purchased by collector and Chevy dealer Dave Ressler for $1 million.

Source:
How Stuff Works
History Channel

Related:
Homecoming for the World’s First Corvette
GM’s Welburn Selects Two Corvettes in List of Top 10 Chevrolets
Corvette Debuts at GM Motorama 58 Years Ago Today

 

Iota eye-OH-tuh The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet; an infinitesimal amount, jot – www.merriam-webster.com Website of the Day Corvette Fever www.corvettefever.com On this day in 1953, the first Chevrolet Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Mich.

Article and photos contributed by Steve Burns

The atmosphere at this year’s Bloomington auction was interesting. The tent was generally full of bidders and spectators all weekend. Surprisingly, though, bids were hard to come by at times. This can be seen in the numerous cars that sold for less than $10,000. On the flip side of this were the high-end cars. The 1971 ZR2 opened and bidding promptly stalled at $400k. A few moments later the bid was raised to $410k, the reserve was lifted, and the ZR2 was off to its new home.

The 1957 first fuelie Corvette saw pretty heated bidding up to its $250,000 max before bidding was closed. The auctioneer stated that the reserve was closer to $500,000.

One of the lighter moments of the weekend occurred when the David Burroughs-restored 1967 coupe crossed the block. Tension in the auction tent slowly increased with the rapid-fire bids as they crept up past $100k, $150k, and finally stopped at $170k where the bid was closed. The auctioneer then mentioned that it took closer to $190k to buy the car which elicited a collective groan from the eager crowd. To this the auctioneer replied “boy you guys turn quickly” in regards to the crowd’s fast switch from excitement to frustration.

In terms of sales specifics, we counted 246 Corvettes crossing the auction block with 119 listed as sold. That’s a sales success rate of 48%. Corvette sales totaled $5.6 million and when combined with memorabilia sales, the show total was $5.8 million (excluding buyers commissions). Although the ‘71 ZR2 reached “big money”, much of the action was at the lower end with 20 Corvettes selling for under $10,000 and 39 Corvettes selling for under $20,000.

Another group of Corvettes worth noting was the 23 Black Corvettes from the Bill Mullis collection. The collection was broken up and the cars sold individually at no reserve. As a group, their combined sales totaled $1.6 million.

Here are the top 10 Corvette sales from Mecum’s Bloomington Gold Auction

Here are some photos from the auction:

Mecum’s next auction is the 17th Annual Millers at Milwaukee Vintage Indy Car Event on July 9, 2011 at the Milwaukee Mile Oval Track, Wisconsin State Fair Park. For more information visit www.mecum.com.

Source:
Mecum Auctions

Related:
Mecum at Bloomington Gold: Race-Ready Corvettes
Corvette Auction Preview: Mecum at Bloomington Gold
Black Corvette Collection To Be Sold At Mecum’s Bloomington Gold Auction

 

Another beautiful and fabulously equipped Callaway Corvette arrived today at George Matick Chevrolet!  Callaway says it best: Performance Engineered and Seriously Fast!

Check past the jump for a full series of shots of the arrival, from the parked Plycon covered trailer, to this wondrous car, sitting on the ground.  This beauty is a 2011 Grand Sport 3LT Convertible, so it comes with Navigation and Manual Transmission from the factory.

Callaway Cars of Old Lyme, Connecticut has added the ChromeCoat Eaton TVS2300 "Twin Vortices Series" Supercharger, PowerBulge Hood, Short Throw Shifter, Exhaust Tip Diffuser Slats, and 12-Spoke Chrome Wheels.

This car is gorgeous, does 0-60 in 3.4 seconds, and is looking for a new home.  All applicable Chevrolet incentives apply.  Call us at 888-875-0728, or comment below (where your inquiry will be kept private).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The opportunity to participate in the Saint Bernard Classic Corvette giveway is quickly coming to a close. This year’s classic Corvette is a numbers matching 1965 convertible powered by a 396/425 horsepower V8. The drawing is Sunday, July 10th and you only have a limited time to purchase tickets. Find out more about Saint Bernard’s classic Corvette giveaway and check out the walk-around video after the jump.

In its 23rd year, the annual raffle has become an important fundraiser for the church who uses the proceeds to help fund the school and daycare programs at their Rockport, Indiana location.

The ‘65 Corvette comes from Proteam Corvette Sales and features the first big block engine, the L78 396/427 cubic inch V8. Coupled to a 4-speed transmission, the Rally Red Sting Ray has some great options including factory side exhaust, transistorized ignition, 3.70 posi, stainless steel brakes, AM/FM racio, knock-offs and Coker classic gold line tires.

Here is the Grand Prize 1965 Corvette to be raffled:

Raffle tickets are $30 each or 4 tickets for $100. The winner will be drawn at the Summer Social and Classic Car Cruise-in on Sunday, July 10th. In addition to the grand prize, cash awards of $500 and $250 will be offered for 2nd and 3rd place.

Click here to visit the Saint Bernard Classic Corvette Giveway for ticket details, official rules and additional photos and videos of the ‘65 Sting Ray.

Source:
Saint Bernard Classic Corvette Giveway

Related:

Bloomington Gold Announces 10 Inductees into the Great Hall
Corvette ZR1 Raffle to Benefit Family of Fallen Cop
[VIDEO] Chrysler Autoworker Wins Powerball Lottery, Buys A Corvette

 

Well, it was until Bickley caught a bad case of the electric bug. In his quest to convert the Corvette from a fuel-gulper to a “zero-emissions” ride, Bickley decided to strip the ‘Vette of its supercharged 396 engine.