[QUOTE=dhanley]...It's my understanding that #001 and #002 were destroyed. Anybody have more info on that?...[/QUOTE]
There has never been any confirmation out of GM as to what -- exactly -- happened to #001 and #002. It is clear they were never sold to the public, which has always been rumored. #003 is accepted as the oldest existing '53.
#001 and #002 were reported to have been used as developmental test mules. Zora Duntov told various automotive literati that he drove #001 at the GM Proving Grounds after 1953 while testing components which came out on later cars. There is a published photograph of Zora driving what looks like a '53 topping a hill at the Proving Grounds. All four wheels are off the ground in this picture and the car is airborne. Some folks feel the car in the picture is probably #001.
Unconfirmed sources say both cars were destroyed by GM when their testing days came to an end. The fact that no one within GM has ever confirmed their destruction has always fueled speculation the first two Corvettes may actually be out there somewhere or, possibly, sitting in a corner of an old GM warehouse somewhere in Michigan.
Since neither car has ever appeared in public it is likely both were destroyed as the unconfirmed reports say.
Some years back Corvette News made an attempt to chase down as many of the '53s as they could find. #003 came up as the earliest existing serial number at that time.
If memory serves, GM conducted a search for the earliest '53 they could locate, restored it, and was supposed to have donated the car to the NCM. Don't quote me on that, but it seems to me that if there was a hint at GM that #001 or #002 might exist somewhere within GM, they would have found them.
6880Mike2008-01-24 09:35:18
. Interesting site.
Jim Olson 
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