Whereabouts of first production '54 - NCRS Discussion Boards

Whereabouts of first production '54

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  • Mark J.
    Very Frequent User
    • March 1, 1996
    • 254

    Whereabouts of first production '54

    Does anyone know where this vehicle resides? I have some trivia for the owner's portfolio. This was published in the January 7, 1954 edition of a Waukesha, Wisconsin newspaper.

    MRJ




  • Eric J.
    Very Frequent User
    • March 1, 1980
    • 771

    #2
    Re: Whereabouts of first production '54

    The car in the photo has a black top. If this is a true 1/54 photo my guess is it is a 53. Eric

    Comment

    • Eric J.
      Very Frequent User
      • March 1, 1980
      • 771

      #3
      Another thought

      I highly doubt That a 54 Corvette would have been delivered by 1/7/54. Legend has it that they started production the last week of 53 and cranked out 15. I would think that a new line like St Louis was would have had a hard time delivering on by Monday 1/7/54 even if the photo was take the day it rolled off the truck. Seems to me some of the 53 Engineers I talked to in FLint in 2003 said they had a lot of problems with the first 50 or so in STL. Had to send down some of the Flint personel to help out. Eric

      Comment

      • Chuck W.
        Very Frequent User
        • May 31, 2002
        • 257

        #4
        Re: Whereabouts of first production '54

        Believe it or not we recently purchased '54 VIN 1693 in original, unrestored condition and it too has the original black soft top on it.

        Comment

        • mac peppers

          #5
          Re: Whereabouts of first production '54

          great pictures chuck, thanks for the tour.

          Comment

          • Eric J.
            Very Frequent User
            • March 1, 1980
            • 771

            #6
            Re: Whereabouts of first production '54

            Chuck, Thanks for the update. Is it Vin 1693 or car 1693 (vin 2693). Meaning the first was 1001. Did it have the bullet air cleaners or the dual filter? Nice find. Eric

            Comment

            • Mark J.
              Very Frequent User
              • March 1, 1996
              • 254

              #7
              Bandwidth Exceeded - Here's an Alternate Site *NM*

              Comment

              • Chuck W.
                Very Frequent User
                • May 31, 2002
                • 257

                #8
                Re: Whereabouts of first production '54

                VIN #1693 (car 693). Yes, it has 3- bullet air cleaners, flipper soft top moulding, and short exhaust.

                I also have VIN 2130 (car 1130) which has the same early features. 2130 had been restored in the late 80's so it was nice to pick up an unrestored example. We've redone 2130 recently. http://ckautollc.photosite.com/54Vette-Restoration ... and yes, we believe that it was originally black. Talked to restorer from the 80's as well as 2 previous owners. Black one was in Bloomington Special Collection in 1996.

                Sold a mid production documented blue '54 VIN #3469 (car 2469) which was teapot air cleaners, no flipper moulding, and long baffle exhaust. This car was just re-Top Flighted, Bloomington Gold, Gold Spinner, and Triple Crowned this year. It is going through BJ this January on Saturday at around noon. Sorry I sold it. http://ckautollc.photosite.com/CarCo...Blue54Corvette
                BJ: http://www.barrett-jackson.com/carli...LotNumber=1259

                A few years ago we owned VIN #4610 (car 3610), this was the 10th from the last car built. It had been a AACA Grand Classic 25 years ago and was very authentic and original. Had all the late features including soft top deck latch shields. Sold it at Carlisle 3 years ago. Again, sorry that I did.

                As you can tell, I'm a slow learner.

                Comment

                • Eric J.
                  Very Frequent User
                  • March 1, 1980
                  • 771

                  #9
                  Re: Whereabouts of first production '54

                  Chuck, Sounds neat. It is always fun to study changes in production. To them it was just correcting problems or dealing with supply. To us it's a mystery to be solved. I guess we are just another form of CSI (Corvette St Louis Investigators) Bad joke, anyway, Black tops are perhaps plausable based on youe example, but I still stand by the difficult delivery of a 54 to a customer (no GM Engeneering etc) by 1/7/54, A Thursday ( I inadvertantly called it a Monday before). I wonder if the 'Waukesha Daily Freeman' was published in the AM or the PM. If AM then the photo had to be taken before on at least Wednesday 1/6/54. New Years Day was a Friday. I stand by my "Occam's Razor" theory that the car in the photo was a 53.... Eric

                  Comment

                  • Joseph T.
                    Expired
                    • April 30, 1976
                    • 2074

                    #10
                    1953 production of model year 1954

                    As I recall there were 12 1954 Corvettes built in either November or December 1953. Either way..they would have been available prior to Jan 1st 1954

                    Joe

                    Comment

                    • Eric J.
                      Very Frequent User
                      • March 1, 1980
                      • 771

                      #11
                      Re: 1953 production of model year 1954

                      The first shift at STL started the Monday after Flint line shut down 12/24 That would be Monday 12/28/53. Friday the line was down for New Years Day. somewhere between 10 to 15 cars were produced. Per my conversation with an Engineer in Flint on 2003 all of the left over parts/equipement was crated up and trucked to STL including, I beleive, 53 #013. It was driven by the engineer to STL.(he put chewed gum under the dash on the drive!) He also stated that the first two weeks were a disaster at STL. Now he could have overstated the problem or I heard wrong. I also get the distinct impression from reading the period articles and brochures (Including the Waukesa reference) That there was little difference in that day from a 53/54. They were all "the New Corvette" To us they is a huge difference. If you compare My "New" 53 #286 to the "Old" ones ( below 100) there is a vast difference. Ours has press molded fenders vacuum jar win. washers etc. There were also 120 or so 53's left over that had not been delivered. Given all of that and the Black top I guess it's a 53. Only a guess though. What I am interested in is our 53 was either deliverd in Nevada or WI. The family that we bought it from lived in both places and the owned it since the 60's Maybe this one is ours. Eric #3,182

                      Comment

                      • Joseph T.
                        Expired
                        • April 30, 1976
                        • 2074

                        #12
                        Re: 1953 production of model year 1954

                        John Evans and Harvey Green from the Chevrolet and truck plant in St.Louis were responsible for moving the Flint Corvette assembly line to St. Louis and made many trips to Flint to get this accomplished.

                        John Evans was the chief inspector of the St.Louis Corvette plant and was there from day one...till his retirement in about 1970 or so.

                        Somewhere in my files I have a document that shows how many 54 Corvettes were built in 1953 and when. ( my memory says Nov/Dec ) I don't recall it being 12/28/53

                        Once I locate it ..I will confirm what it says.

                        Who was the engineer you talked to in 2003 and did he work in St.Louis in 1953?

                        Joe

                        Comment

                        • Eric J.
                          Very Frequent User
                          • March 1, 1980
                          • 771

                          #13
                          Re: 1953 production of model year 1954

                          I don't have his name here, but I do at my office. Charles? maybe. He also worked on the "steel" hood 53. Most of the Flint line personnel to my knowledge stayed in Flint after it closed witrh the exception of some of the Engineering staff. There were a lot new personel at STL. One thing the same engineer told me was that H Earl's camera was left on the floor of a newly built 53 and a horrific rain storm occured. The cars were parked outside and they proceeded to fill up with water. Mr. Earl's camera was destoyed from that day on small holes were drilled in the floors to drain water out. My father attended GM tech from 54 to 56 (assigned to Pontiac) and he had the oportunity to talk to alot of the Engineering staff while we were in FLint. Learned a lot, but 50 years has an impact on the memory. Eric

                          Comment

                          • Chuck W.
                            Very Frequent User
                            • May 31, 2002
                            • 257

                            #14
                            Re: 1953 production of model year 1954

                            Eric,

                            Must have been really neat talking with people who were actually there. I attended GMI from '74-'79, never had the opportunity to talk with any of the Flint crew.

                            Chuck

                            Comment

                            • John H.
                              Beyond Control Poster
                              • December 1, 1997
                              • 16513

                              #15
                              Re: 1953 production of model year 1954

                              I worked in that building from '66-'69 (Senior Process Engineer - Passenger Cars) when it was the Chevrolet Pilot Line, and several of my hourly folks were part of the original '53 Corvette assembly crew, and had lots of horror stories that only Production guys could appreciate.

                              Comment

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