1953 Corvette VIN 001 May Have Finally Been Found

Long believed to have been destroyed shortly after its completion, 1953 Corvette VIN 001 may actually be alive and well.

Since the birth of the Corvette, many have accepted the story surrounding the very first example – or rather, two examples – that rolled off GM’s assembly line. According to folklore, the first two 1953 Corvette models were promptly destroyed after being built, while the third was used as a test vehicle, later cut up and giving its chassis to a 1955 model. However, some detective work by Corey Robertson and John Amgwert recently led to a startling discovery – 1953 Corvette VIN 001 may have actually survived all these years, after all.

In a recent video – which can’t be embedded, but can be viewed here – Robertson explains that 1953 Corvette VIN was granted an internal engineering number of 3950, while VIN 002 was known as 3951. He requested information on these engineering vehicles from the GM Heritage Center, and that’s when he made a rather shocking discovery – the very first Corvette built was reportedly shown to a group of engineers roughly a week after it came off the assembly line, who proceeded to come up with 22 ways to improve it.

Even better, 1953 Corvette VIN 001 was later used as a test bed and was treated to those handful of improvements, which were reportedly left intact. And that little fact caused Robertson to have a bit of a deja vu moment – years prior, he had a conversation with someone regarding a 1953 Corvette sitting at a restoration shop in Oklahoma that – at the time – was believed to be VIN 002. The owner didn’t have the money to finish the restoration, so it sat to the side for two decades.

What was particularly interesting about this car, however, was its unique features, which prompted a handful of researchers to visit the shop and look at it up close. What they discovered was truly fascinating – this Corvette had sections of its floorboard cut out and lowered by three-quarters of an inch, lowered seat belt holsters, and lowered seats, all of which were an attempt to address the first Corvette’s lack of knee room.

Robertson knew this was a special car, and managed to bring it home after striking a deal with the owner. After doing a little more research, he found that the Manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin (MSO) was indeed triggered by Chevy, and there are plenty of other signs that we may very well be looking at the 1953 Corvette VIN 001 – which would truly represent a historic discovery destined to change everything we know about the car’s heritage – as well as the Corvette itself.

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