Monday 22nd December 1952

Chevrolet EX122 show car was completed. Unveiled at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and shown as part of the traveling road show extravaganza known as Motorama, EX122 would go into production as the 1953 Corvette. Conceived by Harley J. Earl, the two seat convertible built by GM aimed at capturing the small car market from manufacturers like Jaguar and MG. All 1953 Corvettes were convertibles with black canvas tops, polo white with red interiors, built by hand and more eye-candy than sports car with their ‘Blue Flame’ six coupled with a two-speed automatic transmission. This prototype was retained by GM’s engineering department and later used as a test bed for the new V-8 that would see production in 1955.