Corvette Timeline 1953 10/2001

News Headlines

The prototype Chevrolet Corvette "Dream Car" is displayed at the Motorama show at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (January 17).
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated president of United States (Jan. 20).
Stalin dies (March 5).
Malenkov becomes Soviet premier; Beria, minister of interior; Molotov, foreign minister (March 6).
The first issue of TV Guide magazine hits the newsstands in 10 cities with a circulation of 1,560,000 (April 3).
Dag Hammarskjöld begins term as UN secretary-general (April 10).
The first Corvette advertisement appears (May).
James Watson and Francis Crick publish their discovery of the molecular model of DNA (April–May).
Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal reach top of Mt. Everest (May 29).
Chevrolet begins production of the Corvette on a tiny assembly line in Flint, Michigan (June).
East Berliners rise against Communist rule; quelled by tanks (June 17).
Egypt becomes republic ruled by military junta (June 18).
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed in Sing Sing prison (June 19).
The first production Corvette rolls off the assembly line at Chevrolet Plant Number 35, near Flint, Michigan. Sticker price: just over US$3000. Assembly line worker Tony Kleiber has the honor of driving the first Corvette off the assembly line (June 30).
Zora Arkus-Duntov begins working on the Corvette (July).
Korean armistice signed (July 27).
Moscow announces explosion of hydrogen bomb (Aug. 20).
The automotive press get their hands on a Corvette for test and review, as the Corvette is officially released. Eight Corvettes are made available to the press at the Milford Proving Grounds (September 29).
Corvette production moves from Flint, Michigan, to a General Motors Assembly Division plant on Union Boulevard, in St. Louis, Missouri (December).
Production of 1953 Corvettes stops for the year, with 300 built in total (December 24).
Tito becomes president of Yugoslavia.
James Watson, Francis Crick, and Rosalind Franklin discover structure of DNA.
Ernest Hemingway wins Pulitzer for The Old Man and the Sea.
Playboy magazine hits newsstands. A nude Marilyn Monroe graces the cover.