Here’s What It’s Like to Drive the First 1954 Production Corvette

Corvette restorer Mike McCluskey lets Jay Leno drive the very first production 1954 Corvette in the latest installment of Jay leno’s garage.

Hollywood has a soft spot for rare Corvettes. We recently discussed Paul Stanley’s factory custom 2022 C8 Corvette 3LT, which will be auctioned at Barrett-Jackson’s Las Vegas sale later this year. When he’s not busy cracking jokes and protecting vintage Corvettes, Jay Leno is usually behind the wheel of some exciting car. In the latest installment of Jay Leno’s Garage, the comedian gets behind the wheel of the very first production Corvette.

Master Corvette restorer and war veteran Michael McCluskey joins Leno to discuss this historically significant C1 Corvette. Instead of a beastly V8, we find a modest six-cylinder motor under the hood of this C1′ Vette. The 3.9-liter inline-six engine gets three single side-draught carburetors. The Blue Flame powerplant hooks up to a solid-lifter camshaft and a dual exhaust system. The motor produces 155 HP of maximum power.

In the video, McCluskey shares how the car came into his possession, “I found it in a backyard. One of my dear friends in the NCRS passed away, and this car was in his backyard, and his wife told me it was available,” tells McCluskey. “It had been outside for 35 years, and we drug it out of his backyard with a chain and into a trailer, and the rest is history. I spent three years on the car.”

This 1954 Corvette also gets the badge of approval from the National Corvette Restorer Society.

Leno shares his thoughts on the classic sports car, “If the car looks a little off, it’s because it was a little off from the factory. It sits low at the back,” shares Leno. He further adds, “I said to Mike, uh the springs, uh they need to be reached? He said no, that’s the way they came because they wanted the car to look like it was taking off, which seems ridiculous to me.”

Red leather offsets the white paintwork inside the cockpit of this C1 Corvette. The cabin is a no-frills space, but the craftsmanship throughout the ensemble is awe-inspiring. Rare Corvettes like these usually fetch exorbitant offers at auctions. It is also not unusual for a well-restored C1 Corvette to sell for over a mill dollars at auction.

Image source: Jay Leno’s Garage

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