Ex122

[Walter F.]

Just read a article on Prototype EX 122. It said the car was rebodied in 1955. Wasn't the 53-55 bodies identical? I also thought the orginal hub caps on the 53 were without spinners until 1954.

[Tom B.]

Re: Ex122

They looked the same but as production progressed from the first bodies in '53 to the later ones in '54 to '55 the construction of the bodies changed from mostly hand laid panels to press molded. It's very easy to tell an early body from a late one.

The very first few Corvettes assembled at Flint were shown in photos with the full wheel covers used on the Bel Air car as the Corvette covers were not yet available at the time. Once the Corvette wheel covers were available they all had the two knock off bars '53 through '55. In the mid '70s GM reissued these covers for sale through the Chevy parts departments. These didn't have the knock off bars or indents for mounting them due to federal regulations about such dangerous things being put on cars. I think that these bureaucrats saw Ben Hur a few too many times. There was someone who developed tooling to indent these reissue caps to accept repro knock off ears so they would appear original.

Tom

[Chris S.]

Re: Ex122

all 53's where hand laid cloth - the bodies are thin - almost see thru
Here is a video showing how the 53 where built

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxyy8_K03w0

into 53 some parts where changed over to press molded - mostly doors, hoods, rockers,
I am currently doing 1953 #201 - the car has a cloth tub and floor and tunnel but has press molded rockers, core support, upper dash, doors, hood and trunk.
There are some production differences as well
53's body mounts behind the seats are not exposed
54 and 55 are exposed.
53 dash has a hood pull metal tab riveted to the LH side of the dash.
53's the hinge pillars are not drilled for the door hinge bolt holes.....
There are some production differences
Visually exterior wise they look the same

I am also recreating a VERY accurate replica of EX 122 Motorama car
The Kerbeck car is NOT EX 122.

[Loren L.]

Re: Ex122

Mr. Sherman, I think you have to make a decision on your "VERY accurate replica of EX 122 Motorama car" and decide which car you would like to build. The Kerbeck car IS EX 122, designated and titled as such on the day Russ Sanders purchased it. It was, indeed, 1 of 1 built by GM, right
up to when Kerbeck made it a hermaphrodite, or worse. It is NOT the Motorama car; that designator is reserved for EX 52.

[Mike E.]

Re: Ex122

I am also recreating a VERY accurate replica of EX 122 Motorama car
The Kerbeck car is NOT EX 122.

Chris,
Neat project! Are you building from scratch of from an existing car?

If you read this link below it almost appears Kerbeck is claiming the car is EX 122. Are you saying its not? Was the real EX 122 destroyed?

http://kerbeck.com/worlds-oldest-corvette/

Mike

[Patrick B.]

Re: Ex122

Chris,
Neat project! Are you building from scratch of from an existing car?

If you read this link below it almost appears Kerbeck is claiming the car is EX 122. Are you saying its not? Was the real EX 122 destroyed?

http://kerbeck.com/worlds-oldest-corvette/

Mike

The website certainly shows that Kerbeck presented it at Bloomington and many other concours as the real EX 122, even getting Noland Adams to pose with it.

[Chris S.]

Re: Ex122

Mr. Sherman, I think you have to make a decision on your "VERY accurate replica of EX 122 Motorama car" and decide which car you would like to build. The Kerbeck car IS EX 122, designated and titled as such on the day Russ Sanders purchased it. It was, indeed, 1 of 1 built by GM, right
up to when Kerbeck made it a hermaphrodite, or worse. It is NOT the Motorama car; that designator is reserved for EX 52.

Mr Lundberg - The Kerbeck car is NOT EX 122 - I will respectfully disagree with you - If research is done,the truth would be told - I guess if you tell a story long enough and to enough people - people will believe it - After show duty in 1953 the car was used by Chevy engineering for testing with the new V8. This included a 25,000 mile durability test and disassembly evaluation. The car was rebuilt again using new 1955 Corvette body and parts and the VIN tag was stamped EX-122. Chevy engineer Russell Sanders purchased the car and brought it to Rochester, NY. Russell sold it to Jack Ingle who drove it daily for 9 years. It was then found disassembled in a body shop by John Blanchette in 1973 still with the 1955 265 V8 and PG installed by Chevy engineering. The car was restored in the colors as purchased from Chevy -Gypsy Red with an Ivory interior. Kerbck returned the car back to EX122 styling but did not change the engine compartment back to EX122 status. When it left the factory, it was sporting a new 1955 body. The inner fenders and upper firewall were not production configuration when it was a Motorama car. (I believe the assignment number was #52. Neither was the underside of the hood or the trunk/decklid hinges. There were alot of body characteristics that were not production pieces. Even the door opening mechanisms were different. The brake pedal came through thre floor and the master cylinder was also located under the car. The exhaust holes, decklid opening and trim are different as well. Kerbeck did a good job on the surface but did not address all of the differences noted above.The engine compartment will be exact to the GM pictures. Firewall, inner fenders, hood underside, headlights, fender scoops, decklid, trim, etc, etc. The drivetrain is also dated according to GM records. So in the majority of the Corvette restoration circles it is not EX 122 due to the facts above. I hopes this helps.

[Loren L.]

Re: Ex122

Chris, the designator "EX 122" does NOT exist until that day in 1956 when Russ purchased the car, with an ENTIRE 1955 body, most likely from 1 of the 2 late 1955 3 spd cars whose chassis were used for the #5 and #6 Sebring cars in 1956. The designator EX was to call attention that it was NOT a production car. A minor dustup occurred between GM and Michigan over that very thing and was solved by mail. It is also probable that the OTHER late '55 body was used to reclaim Eng. #5951's chassis into a "special proving ground demonstrator" that, later when it was SOLD, was designated EX 87, now residing in the Palm Springs area with the couple that has owned it since 1968, Kerbeck's car is EX 122, as built for Russell Sanders, Chevy's Chief Chassis Engineer (with repairs on all four corners when his daughter made contact, on ice, with another car in an intersection.

[Troy P.]

Re: Ex122

In addition to those differences Chris identified there are others. The most important of which in this case is that the passenger side inner fender panel is considerably different in order to fit the 12V battery in with the wider V8 engine.

[Loren L.]

Re: Ex122

Yes, and when you have a 1955 body on EX 122, that ceases to be a problem. Kerbeck's car IS/WAS EX 122, it is NOT the Motorama car.

[Jim P.]

Re: Ex122

Yes, the Kerbeck car IS EX122, as long as it is directly in line with Russ Sanders and Jack Ingle's car, but that lineage goes back to VIN 002, which was Engineering Car #3951 and became EX 122 when it was re-built the last time, just before Mr. Sanders bought it. This is indesputable, as a copy from a page of a Chevrolet Log Book shows EX122/ Engineering #3951 being sold to R. Sanders.

Mr. Sherman, your premise is just simply wrong. The Motorama car, car #852, VIN EX-52 was scrapped. It was stripped and gutted and the body was burned on Nov. 6, 1953 at the Proving Grounds. The frame was rebuilt, modified and lengthened for use as the 1954 Motorama Corvette Nomad Station Wagon Show Car #857. All this info and more is in the summer 1993 The Corvette Restorer Magazine, Vol 20 Number 1 by John Amgwert, in an article named "The Earliest Corvettes". It is the greatest and best Corvette article ever written.

I do wish you well on your super neat project Mr. Sherman, I hope I get to see it some day.

Jim

[Mike E.]

Re: Ex122

This 10 year old Hemmings article backs up the story that Jim mentioned about the '53 Motorama car's body burn tested at the proving grounds and the frame used for the '54 Nomad dream car.

This is all interesting stuff. The Sanders letter shown below apparently contains some incorrect information?






Mike

[Loren S.]

Re: Ex122

Chris, the designator "EX 122" does NOT exist until that day in 1956 when Russ purchased the car, with an ENTIRE 1955 body, most likely from 1 of the 2 late 1955 3 spd cars whose chassis were used for the #5 and #6 Sebring cars in 1956. The designator EX was to call attention that it was NOT a production car. A minor dustup occurred between GM and Michigan over that very thing and was solved by mail. It is also probable that the OTHER late '55 body was used to reclaim Eng. #5951's chassis into a "special proving ground demonstrator" that, later when it was SOLD, was designated EX 87, now residing in the Palm Springs area with the couple that has owned it since 1968, Kerbeck's car is EX 122, as built for Russell Sanders, Chevy's Chief Chassis Engineer (with repairs on all four corners when his daughter made contact, on ice, with another car in an intersection.

Is there any information where the frame for EX 122 came from? Could it have been the frame off 53 002, modified with a notch to clear the V8 fuel pump?

[Loren L.]

Re: Ex122

Is there any information where the frame for EX 122 came from? Could it have been the frame off 53 002, modified with a notch to clear the V8 fuel pump?

No. It was a NEW frame.

[Walter F.]

Re: Ex122

In John Ingles letter the Corvette powerglide is refered to as a high capacity unit. Was the Powerglide transmission differnt in all Corvette then was in the passanger car?