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The first generation of the Chevrolet Corvette lasted from 1953 through 1962, although the later years saw significant improvements. The Corvette was produced as a result of the excitement created by the concept vehicle shown at GM’s Motorama car show in January 1953. Produced about six months later, the first Corvette’s list price was $3,513 (about $33,810 today), though the basic roadster had been planned to sell for about $2,000. While excitement was high, sales were not.
GM decreed that the car be made of off-the-shelf mechanical parts and use the chassis and suspension design from the 1949-to-1954 Chevrolet passenger cars. It had a very slightly modified 235-cubic-inch six-cylinder engine similar to all the other Chevy car models. The Corvette had to use the Powerglide automatic transmission, as manual transmission wasn’t considered strong enough. One almost could use a calendar for the 0-to-60 time the car took with Powerglide.
That first year, just 300 Corvettes were sold, largely hand-built, with plans for a regular production run for 1954. The goal was 10,000 Corvettes, but they didn’t even come close to that number. The body, made from a glass fiber reinforced plastic, was revolutionary for the day. There were discussions about dropping the whole Corvette project, which may have happened but for a couple factors. First, the new Chevy V8 engine was introduced for 1955, and then there is that Chevy-versus-Ford thing. Chevy couldn’t let Ford have that market share alone.
Even though these early Corvettes had quality problems, a survey showed the owners liked them. In 1956 an all-new body with real glass roll-up windows was introduced. The six-cylinder engine was dropped in favor of the 265-cubic-inch V8, and in 1957, the V8 became a 283-cubic-inch powertrain with a four-speed manual transmission available. There was is an interest in racing, so Corvette offered a ready-to-race performance option.
By 1958, the American auto industry was in to chrome and four headlights, including Corvette, but the 1958 Corvette had a faux-louvered hood, and for the first time seat belts were factory-installed instead of dealer-installed. Benicia resident Tim McLaughlin has owned this issue’s 1958 Corvette for almost 50 years.
“I was buying my first car. I had a paper route for four years earning $25 a month. In 1970 I quit the paper route and had my driver’s license.”
His dad said a guy he worked with in Davis had a Valiant for sale, and the father and son went to look at it the following weekend.
“We pull up, and here is this Valiant, and right next to it is a 1958 Corvette. I’m 16 years old, and I say, ‘I want to buy that one.’ A year later, we’re watching ‘Route 66,’ and they had a ’61 or ’62 Corvette, and I said, ‘That looks like that Corvette we looked at. Is he interested in selling it?’ ”
It turned out the owner was willing to sell it; it was driveable, but the paint was coming off. He bought it with the $650 he had saved from his paper route.
“So, I got to drive it. Being lead-footed I threw out clutches and one motor in the first three years. There was a lot of time spent underneath replacing clutches and other things, and I got pretty good at it. I pulled the engine probably three times and the transmission four or five times.”
McLaughlin went to college for several years but decided he was more adaptable to the ski world than the academic world. He spent the next seven winters with his Corvette in Tahoe. Five years ago, McLaughlin decided to get his Corvette restored, and it is now just completed. The restoration was done by Corvette Express in Vacaville.
“They did everything: off-body restoration, installed front disc brakes, recoating the frame. Everything was redone: the chrome, the seats were done with black leather instead of the factory-installed Naugahyde, the dash was refinished and modified slightly to improve the appearance.”
McLaughlin didn’t want to state the exact cost of the restoration but said it was in the high five figures. But the final result is better than when it came off the Corvette assembly line. He said the biggest disappointment has been the time it takes to find the right parts as the genuine Chevrolet parts become harder to find and the replacement parts from China don’t have the quality or fit as well as the originals.
McLaughlin doesn’t want to just show his car, “My intent is to drive it,” he said.
His fantasy trip would be to follow Route 66 all the way to Chicago and back just like TV stars Martin Milner and George Maharis did in the popular ’60s series. I hope he does it.
Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles or to read more of Dave’s columns, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.
