Steve Magnante's 1001 Corvette Facts. Steve Magnante

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СКАЧАТЬ Although General Motors was collaborating with MFG to produce the massive matched-metal dies used to produce 1954 Corvette bodies, the slower, more labor-intensive hand-lay vacuum-bag method was used in 1953. However, when Corvette production was transferred to St. Louis, the conversion process to matched-metal dies wasn’t complete. As the 1954 model run progressed, more and more fiberglass subassemblies transitioned to the superior molding process. This created a situation in which the early 1954 models contained numerous hand-lay panels; the final 1954 models had almost none. Modern-day restorers must take the lengthy transition process into account before condemning any 1954 as being flawed for containing lumpy body panels.

      39 The largest one-piece fiberglass panel in Corvette’s makeup was the floorpan. It weighed 75 pounds and measured 9.5 × 6.0 × 2.0 feet. Combining the base of the firewall, transmission tunnel, passenger footwell and seat platforms, rear-wheel houses, spare tire well, and trunk floor into one piece, this huge part was also the last component to transition from the hand-lay technique to the use of matched-metal dies. 1954 Corvettes built between December 28, 1953 (first day of production), and early July 1954 received the handmade pans.

      40 Period photographs show MFG employees at the Ashtabula, Ohio, plant working up various exterior body panels on huge 15-foot-tall rotating platforms. The male sides of the body-panel molds were rendered in fine meshed screen that allowed suction to be drawn through the surface. Chopped fiberglass bits mixed with resin were blown under pressure onto the rotating screen mold for even coverage. The resulting fuzzy-textured panel was then boxed inside an oven and finely woven fiberglass matting was applied, along with more liquid resin. Then the panel was placed between the metal dies (steam heated to 220 degrees F) and compressed at 120 psi. The cured panel emerged 7 minutes later, ready for trimming. The method used on all 1953 bodies required 24 hours for curing.

      41 Subjected to rough handling by service-station attendants and under constant attack from gasoline fumes, the Corvette’s hinged fuel-fill door was one of the very few body parts not made of fiberglass. It was a conventional steel stamping painted to match the body.

       Corvette’s only stamped-steel body panel hid the fuel filler cap. A spring-loaded over-center hinge held it open while in use.

      42 Although all 300 examples of the 1953 Corvette were fitted with two hood-release latches (one on each side of the cock-pit), Chevrolet sought to simplify the mechanism in 1954 with a single latch. That said, the two-part 1953-style latches were installed on approximately the first 500 1954 models before the single latch was phased in.

      43 In 1955, changes were made to the material used to make the folding top. Vinyl-coated fabric replaced the canvas used in 1953–1954, and some early 1955 bodies. Softer and less prone to wrinkles, the vinyl-impregnated material was part of an industry-wide trend away from the more utilitarian canvas.

      44 The third Motorama Corvette offering for 1954 was a roadster fitted with a removable fiberglass hardtop and roll-up door glass, details that would not appear in regular production until the 1956 model year. Until then, all Corvette roadsters had awkward snap-in side windows and manually operated folding soft tops.

      45 Chevrolet finally improved Corvette’s image with hard-core sports-car fans with the 1955 introduction of an available Saginaw 3-speed manual transmission. All previous thoughts of adapting passenger-car column-shift equipment were dropped in favor of a simple, fast-action, floor-mounted shift lever. A new fiberglass floor hump with a boxed tower was added to the floorpan to suit the new shifter. About 75 manual transmissions were factory installed in 1955; all were teamed with the new 265-ci V-8.

      46 Corvette’s distinctive wire-mesh headlamp covers were originally intended to be rendered in clear Plexiglas to match the clear license-plate enclosure on the trunk lid. Concerns over fogging and diminished light efficiency prompted the switch to the chromed “fencing masks” that appeared in production.

       The 1961 Jaguar XKE may have realized Harley Earl’s original vision of clear headlamp coverings, but the wire mesh “fencing-mask” alternate has become even more iconic.

      47 At the rear, the enclosed license-plate compartment did exactly what Harley Earl’s design team feared the enclosed headlamps would do: It fogged up in humid weather and created dribbles of moisture on the inside of the clear plastic lens. In 1954, Chevrolet added a small chamber behind the license plate to accommodate two small bags of absorbent desiccant.

       Looks like it’s time to replace the desiccant material behind this fogged-over rear license plate.

      48 Anticipating a steady flow of Corvette-body business, MFG built a massive factory in Ashtabula, Ohio, which was the largest of its kind in the world at the time. However, the unexpectedly poor sales of 1954 Corvettes (27 percent of the cars produced, or 1,076, were still at the factory by January 1955), spelled potential disaster. To help activate the idle MFG workers, Chevrolet saved the day with a contract to make the fiberglass quarter panels, tailgate, and spare-tire carrier for the new-for-1955 Cameo pickup truck. Throughout its four-year production run, MFG produced 10,621 Cameo cargo beds (5,520 in 1955, 1,452 in 1956, 2,244 in 1957, and 1,405 in 1958).

      49 In a move that would have given the not-yet-organized National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) fits, the delightfully styled bumperettes affixed to each end of the Corvette body were virtually useless. Bolted directly to the fiberglass body with no connections to the frame of the car, they gave way instantly in collisions and were essentially ornamental. The NHTSA was formed in 1970 and was responsible for the controversial 5-mph bumper mandate that later compromised Corvette styling.

      50 It took a sympathetic consumer to overlook the many bodywork flaws seen on factory-fresh Corvettes. With a body made up of more than 60 individual parts that were bonded together, joints, flanges, and other visible surface unions were rampant. It was up to the skill level of the worker, and diligent quality supervision, to deliver blemish-free results. That said, poor door fit and visible bonding strips and seams beneath the paint were par for the Corvette’s course. Today’s restorers generally achieve surface perfection, but a look at any verified survivor reveals the lumpy truth.

ENGINE AND DRIVELINE

      51 Chevrolet took a lot of heat for launching Corvette with an automatic transmission and waiting until 1955 to offer a more sporting manual transmission. But a look below the speedometer hints at something most critics failed to see. Of all the possible places to mount the parking-brake warning lamp, the stylists stuck it directly above the steering column. It just so happens that Chevrolet’s column-shift-type steering column (as used in passenger cars) has its actuator rod positioned in this same location. Could the Corvette’s chrome-plated steering-column finish plate have been designed to accept the passenger car’s 3-speed column shifter as an alternative to the Powerglide automatic?

       The parking-brake-warning lamp lens sits exactly where a column-actuated manual-transmission shift rod would pass through the dash. Is this a coincidence?

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