Chevrolet Corvette Concepts at the 1954 Motorama

They were called Dream Cars back in the mid-1950s, not some nerdy, clinical label such as Concept Cars.  The whole idea for young automobile styling fans in the USA, Canada and parts of Europe and Asia was keep their senses on high alert for any new information regarding Dream Cars from Detroit.  Peak excitement was reserved for the announcement of what General Motors was presenting in its latest Motorama extravaganza that combined show biz, current products and ... YES!! ... Dream Cars.

Whereas Ford Motor Company show cars in those days often verged on fantasies of a Science-Fiction nature, GM's Motorama fare was a mix of exciting, semi-practical designs (Oldsmobile Golden Rocket), moderately customized production cars (Pontiac Parisienne, Cadillac Orleans), and items that were practical enough to have production potential.

Some of the latter are this post's subject matter.  The first-generation Chevrolet Corvette appeared as a show car in the January 1953 New York Motorama and reached production in the middle of that year.  January 1954 was the next Motorama and it contained three Dream Car variations on the Corvette.

I find the timing interesting.  For those Corvette variations to arrive at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel early in 1954, they had to have been designed not much later than the summer of '53.  At that time, no one at GM could be sure how successful Corvette's sales would be.  As it happened, only 315 Corvettes were produced in 1953 and 1954 production was the not-large number 3,640.  It took several more model years for the Corvette to establish itself in the market.

So those Corvette-based show cars were highly speculative, probably created in the hope that Corvette sales would be much greater than actually happened.  Of the three cars, one became production in a trivial sense, another's styling features appeared on later production Chevrolets and Pontiacs, and the third went nowhere.  Here is another take on those show cars.

Gallery

Here come the models!  The photo-shoot setting is probably Miami Florida's Dinner Key, once Pan American's seaplane terminal and now a marina and Miami's City Hall.  Miami was a Motorama site in 1954.

The ladies are now behind the wheels.  Nearest is a production Corvette.  Behind it is a Corvette with an experimental removable top that later entered production.  The third car is the Corvette Corvair fastback closed-body Dream Car.  The Corvair name was used on Chevrolet's rear-engine compact cars of the 1960s.  Last in line is the Chevrolet Nomad station wagon that I'll term "Corvette Nomad" here, because that's what it was.

Color photo of the cars in the same order.

Another pose.

This is perhaps the most widely used image from the shoot.

The Corvette with the hard top.

"Foam green" is the term used for this Corvair's paint job.  Sources say five were built, the Waldorf version being painted red.  None are known to exist, though replicas have been built by Corvette enthusiasts.

Rear three-quarter view.  This was an attractive design that might have seen production had early Corvette sales been strong.

The Nomad as seen probably in the Waldorf Astoria ballroom, the New York Motorama site.  The design of its greenhouse was used on 1955-57 production Chevrolet Nomad and Pontiac Safari station wagons.

Rear three-quarter view.