The First Corvettes--1953

In January, 1953, Chevrolet displayed a concept car, known as the "Corvette", at the Motorama <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorama>, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Hidden inside the new car were microphones, capturing the comments of the curious public. The feedback was surprising and generally quite positive. Fortified with this public reaction, and with the market intelligence that Ford was developing a roadster (Thunderbird) for production, Chevrolet decided to start manufacture of this interesting vehicle. As soon as possible.

The Corvette could have been produced with a steel body, but there were those in GM that were interested in a new material system, then know as "fiber glass reinforced plastics", or FRP. Molded Fiber Glass (MFG) was one of the very first commercial producers of FRP products, beginning modestly in Ashtabula, OH, in 1948. MFG received a visit from two Chevrolet engineers in 1953, who thought MFG was interesting - but far too small to be an automotive supplier.

Bob Morrison, founder of MFG, thought differently, and eventually convinced GM to contract with MFG for over 100 FRP parts for the new Corvettes. That is a great story, and will be the subject of additional blogs.

PS---Bob Morrison was my father.