Motorama

The August 2015 issue of Classic Car magazine. (Photo by Jeff Koch.)

My August 2015 issue of Classic Car magazine, which is not my most recent issue, has a giant feature on GM’s Motorama show-cars for 1953.
Flush with its power as premier marketer of cars in post WWII America, General Motors used to do annual Motorama shows, displaying its wares and future wares.
The 1953 Motorama had some significant show-cars, and all were drivable.
By far most significant was the Chevrolet Corvette, even though it was a turkey.


A 1953 ‘Vette. (Photo by Jeff Koch.)

The Corvette was a stab at an American sportscar, despite its “Cast-Iron Wonder” six-cylinder engine, and antediluvian chassis.
I will detail the other cars: the Oldsmobile Fiesta, the Buick Skylark, and the Cadillac El Dorado.
All were still based on the tired old body debuted for the 1949 model-year, slightly updated since then.

Oldsmobile Fiesta. (Photo by Jeff Koch.)

Buick Skylark. (Photo by Jeff Koch.)

El Dorado. (Photo by Jeff Koch.)

But the Olds Fiesta had a wraparound windshield that would later take root in GM cars.
Wondrous that windshield technology could bend glass into its final wraparound shape, but ya had to not lift yer left knee getting out.
The wraparound windshield lasted a few years, but was finally quashed. Knees had triumphed.
Buick’s Skylark debuted a few styling fillips that eventually made their way onto GM’s cars.
Mainly what I call “the GM bump.”
Earlier the side window-sill was straight, but on the Skylark it followed the dip in the side body shaping that mimicked a rear fender.
It was also a styling feature on European sportscars, especially if they had cutaway doors.
But it was still a Buick; it had the angry shark’s-teeth up front.
The Eldo was soon to become Cadillac’s premier offering. Maximum chrome and glitz.
It looks like the standard ’53 Caddy, except it had a Continental-kit, and the side-window sills dip down like the Skylark. —It also had a wraparound windshield; the Skylark didn’t.
Most significant was Chevrolet’s Corvette, far removed from the typical Chevrolet sedan.
In appearance anyway, especially with only two seats.
But underneath was Chevrolet’s “Blue-Flame” six, and a modified sedan chassis.
Although that six had twin carburetors, which is one more than standard.
People raced these things in sportscar races; which was a joke. They handled terrible, and often blew the engine.

Zora.

But along came Zora Arkus-Duntov, and he saved the car.
Chevrolet started putting the revolutionary SmallBlock V8 in the car with a four-speed floorshift.
And for 1963, Zora got a chassis up to the SmallBlock. It had independent rear-suspension, first in an American car.
So the other three Motorama cars are somewhat notable. But the Corvette was way out in left field.
And Corvette is still being made. It could have died, but Zora, an old hot-rodder, took it under his wing.
He saw the potential of levering Chevy’s SmallBlock into the ‘Vette.
The early ‘Vettes are still a joke, but they put the other Motorama cars on-the-trailer.

• When first introduced, Chevrolet’s V8 wasn’t called the “SmallBlock.” Not until 1965, when Chevrolet introduced its “Big-Block” V8; such that Chevrolet’s first V8 became known as the “SmallBlock.” Chevrolet’s “SmallBlock” V8 was introduced at 265 cubic-inches displacement in the 1955 model-year. It continued production for years, first to 283 cubic inches, then 327, then 350. Other displacements were also manufactured. The Chevrolet “Big-Block” V8 was introduced in the 1965 model-year at 396 cubic-inches, and was unrelated to the SmallBlock. It was made in various larger displacements: 402, 427 and 454 cubic inches. It’s still made as a truck-motor, but not installed in cars any more; although you can get it as a crate-motor, for self-installation. A “Big-Block” could be immensely powerful, and the “SmallBlock” was revolutionary in its time. —The SmallBlock is still being made; 60 years.
• “On-the-trailer” is an old drag-racing term. (Drag-racing is standing-start to finish over a paved, flat two-lane quarter-mile drag-strip. —The first car to finish wins.) —The losing car gets put back “on-the-trailer” that brought it in.