About this Chevrolet Corvette

Harley Earl who was head of GM's Styling Section was an avid fan of sports cars and he recognised that Gi's returning after serving overseas in the years following World War II were bringing home MG's, Jaguars and Alfa Romeo's in large numbers and Nash Motors also began selling an expensive two-seat sports car, the Nash-Healey that was made in partnership with the Italian designer Pininfarina and British auto engineer Donald Healey, but there were few moderate-priced models, so Earl convinced GM that they needed to build an all-American two-seat sports car to compete with these imported cars.

His Special Projects crew began working on the new car in late 1951 and the new Chevrolet Corvette was first shown at the GM Motorama display at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City on the 17th January 1953. The new 2-Seater convertible was hand-built by General Motors at their factory in Flint, Michigan and was aimed at capturing the small sports car market from the European manufacturers. It was named the Corvette after a small class of naval ships and had a lightweight fibreglass body mounted on a steel chassis with a Chevrolet 235 cubic inch 'Blue Flame Special' 6 cylinder engine, 2 Speed Auto gearbox and was originally offered for sale @ $3,498.

During 1954 Corvette production was transferred from Flint in Michigan to a newly renovated facility located in St. Lous, Missouri and GM had high hopes for its new sports-car flag ship vehicle. They expected 10,000 Corvettes to be built and sold, however only 3,640 vehicles were made and only about 600 of them were sold and they finally able to unload the rest of them in 1955 although it proved to be very difficult and consequently the base price of the 1954 corvette was over $500 less than then 1953 model at $2,774.00.

1955 could have been the year that Chevrolet stop producing the Corvette, as it was plagued by the slow-selling 1954 version so apart from reducing the price, GM decided to insert a new 265 cubic inch V8 engine into the car. This transformed the Corvette into a true sports car bringing the 0-100mph time down to 24 seconds, just in time to do battle with Ford's Thunderbird. By offering bigger engines, better handling, options, and new styling, sales of the Corvette began to increase and the 1956 car had much more power and at Daytona Beach the Corvette ran two certified runs that averaged 150.5mph beating both the Jaguar XK-120 which was capable of 130mph and the Mercedes 300SL Gull-Wing at 146mph.

GM produced 9,670 Corvettes in 1959 and they all had the Chevrolet Small Block 283 cubic inch (4.6 Litre) V8 Engine with either Carburettors or Fuel Injection and multiple horsepower options, Transmissions were either a 3-speed manual (standard), 4-speed manual (optional) or a 2-speed Powerglide (optional) and the original asking price was $3875.00.

This absolutely stunning C1 Corvette - Chassis No: J59S105196 and Engine No: F21800 and Block number 3756519 was according to Corvette chassis records, built in St Louis in March 1959 and the engine block number is the very last one in the sequence of the early production units. Unfortunately, little is known about its history in the USA until it was purchased and imported from Alaska to the UK in late 2014 by an engineer living in London and it was first registered here on 1st March 2015.

Before being imported, the car was the subject of a body-off chassis rebuild and both the fibre glass body and chassis are superb as you can see from the photographs.
The owner purchased and imported a complete new Braking System including Brake Booster (servo), Master Cylinder, Wilwood Brake Calipers, new Steering column, a new Steeroid Rack & Pinion Power Steering unit and a T10 transmission rebuild kit all from Corvette Central in Sawyer, Michigan, USA and he also had the Engine reconditioned by Middlesex Re-Boring in Mill Hill, London.

The car is finished in Roman Red with White Coves a new White Vinyl Soft Top, a fantastic and restored factory Hard Top, a gorgeous Black vinyl Interior, electric windows, its original radio, its original 283 Cubic inch 4.6 Litre 245bhp Engine (now reconditioned), the optional 4 Speed Manual gearbox, Dual Circuit 4 Wheel Wilwood Disc Brakes, Rack & Pinion Power steering upgrade, excellent Chrome-work and some new Chrome 'Rocket Racing' 17" Five Spoke Alloy Wheels with new Falken 215/55/17 Tyres.

It was MOT'd in August 2021 with 'No Advisories' @ 68,937 miles, but we cannot confirm the original mileage on this car due to not having any USA history, so it should be considered as incorrect. This is one of the most sought after colour combinations on a C1 Corvette and it is simply stunning throughout and really must be seen and driven to be fully appreciated.

Upon sale the car will come with a pre sales Lubrication Service, HPI/provenance and 6 months mechanical breakdown Parts & Labour Warranty which can be upgraded and extended at additional cost if required.

Car on display @ our showrooms in Mortlake, South West London.

NB: Classic Chrome Ltd make every effort to ensure that the information in this advertisement is accurate and all statements as to provenance and condition are given as opinions only. When describing any car that is more than 20 years old, we sometimes have to rely on the car’s history file and any information provided by the previous owner(s). This information in passed on in good faith and is therefore not purported to be a statement of fact. Any prospective purchaser must satisfy themselves as to the condition and fitness for use of the vehicle. This does not affect your statutory rights.