1953 Cutaway Corvette

[misterNNL]

Very original and extremely creative work.Thanks for sharing!

[Helix]

Good grief...that must have been time consuming....well done 

[MrObsessive]

Wow Peter, I LIKE it!

That's the first I've seen the C1 'Vettes inner structure in 3D........I have an assembly manual ('57) and it's lacking the views of the metal structure. Looking at how it's formed, it makes a lot of sense to have all that fiberglass something to sit on.

And I see you got the doors to turn in correctly! The early Corvettes were among the first to use that type of hinge back in those days.

[Howard Cohen]

Peter - VERY well done! One rumour at the Concours was that the car was actually the #3 off the assembly line and was cut up and not welcome by the Corvette clubs or shows. Another story was that it was a wrecked car that was salvaged. If you bring it to NNL East, maybe print up the photos to show the real car  

[bbowser]

Amazing!  That is a subject I would have never thought of.  Well done.

[Peter Lombardo]

Sure Howard, we can do that..... now the back story of the car has two pieces to it.  The first 26 1953 Corvettes ( project named "Opel") were hand assembled in an out of the way customer delivery  garage in Flint.  The first 3 cars were assigned to Chevrolet.  Cars chassis 001 and 002 joined the GM caravan of show cars that traveled the USA.  car #003 ( which this represents, sort of) was used as the factory test vehicle and was subjected to all kinds of terrible misuse.  Driven to the brink of destruction by the GM engineering staff for weeks. At the end of the tests, the car was rebuilt with a brand new chassis.  It is then said that the original body of #003 was used on a car campaigned by NASCAR.  The frame, it is said, remained in Warren Michigan, there is a void in its whereabouts at this point.  In 1977, an attorney in the Michigan Attorney Generals office purchased a 1955 Corvette and when he sent it to a repair shop for rebuilding they uncovered the fact that the chassis under the 1955, was actually chassis #003, from 1953.  It is not clear how it got there, but it was clearly stamped in two places #003.  The attorney had the re builder find a replacement 1955 chassis and the car was rebuilt with that.  The chassis #003 was offered for sale and it was purchased by Ed Foss the owner of the Foss Collection of Roanoke, Indiana.  He commissioned the Corvette Repair Shop (Corvette Repair) in Valley Stream, NY to build the cutaway car we have here..... if you google cutaway corvette you will find the full story on this, if you are interested.  I truncated to story here, but it is very unique and interesting to view the pictures of the actual car..... P.S., since the photos of the model were taken, I added the horn to the left front area and the dual hinges on the left side for the trunk and the lowered convertible top storage area just behind the seats.   again, thanks for the kind words. 

[christian-w]

Crazy idea!

[Mixalz]

Awesome detail! A half cut model like this is on my to do list but I don't think I could match your quality!