[Joe G]

OK, one more guess...

EX-122

[MARTINSR]

Nope, that's not it. How about a bonus question, what is one of the differences with the Motorama car and the production model. This difference is very noticable on the outside.

I have always been a nut for the Motorama Dream cars and people like Harley Earl. I just found out this number because I bought a book on the Motoramas and it is a GREAT book with many facts and photos that I never knew. It was an amazing time at GM.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

No Corvette nuts out there?

Brian

[Joe G]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

....How about a bonus question, what is one of the differences with the Motorama car and the production model. This difference is very noticable on the outside.

Very noticeable on the outside you say.....How about: GM never made a Corvette Nomad (a.k.a. Waldorf Nomad).

BTW, a friend of mine built a Waldorf Nomad. His even has an engine. (click for pics)

[1969NovaSS]

From what I can find it was called experimental opel car #852 or ex-52.
From what I can find there were 22 things changed between the production car and the motorama car, but none that I can spot right off hand.

[dinger]

The xP-8
the first one was called the Lesabre, had a bullet type nose.

http://carofthecentury.com/the_real_corvette_story.htm

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by 1969NovaSS

From what I can find it was called experimental opel car #852 or ex-52.
From what I can find there were 22 things changed between the production car and the motorama car, but none that I can spot right off hand.

DING-DING-DING, we have a winna

EX-52 is correct. The Waldorf Nomad is not what I was after, along with the Nomad they also made a fast back called the Corvair (That was my favorite "Vette" of the bunch) and a hardtop coupe. The EX-52 was a one piece body unlike the production model which had an upper and lower piece with the seam being covered by a chrome moulding. The EX-52 had no moulding down the side of the car.



Production car.



Awsome stuff, I wonder if my dad ever went to any of them. One of the places they were held was right here in nearby San Francisco. My dad was an Olds salesmen around 49-51ish and then again as a Buick Salesmen in 57 (thru 77) and I wonder if he ever went, he never said anything about it if he did.

Nova, it's your floor!

Brian

[MARTINSR]

We have a problem, in searching out a photo of the EX-52 I found this....Birth of a legend (click here) where they call that first one the EX122 which I seem to remember it being called from years ago. But in this book I have co-wrote by a couple of GM designers they say that first Motorama car was the EX-52 they even explain these numbers throughout the Motorama years with other cars and even adding the "shop code" of #1737 for the car. I don't know, I have to believe the book, but I am not so sure. I'll be doing more research in to it personally.

So Joe may be the winner. But Nova came up with what I was after so I have to go with letting him ask the next question.

Brian

[Joe G]

Cool.

For what it's worth, here is something I scraped up while searching for the answer:

The 1954 Corvette Nomad was a static display rolling model, constructed primarily of fiberglass and built on the first Corvette chassis, serial number EX-52, which was lengthened and became the 1954 Corvette Nomad StationWagon Show Car #857.

They go on to say that the whereabouts of #857 is unknown, but it is presumed to have been crushed by GM in the late '50's.

[MARTINSR]

Jumping to the end of the book I bought I may have found the answer, at least a version of the truth. There were 3 Corvettes made two show cars one test car. The EX-52 was reportedly burned for a fire test and the frame used for the Waldorf Nomad. The EX-122 is thought to be a rebuild of one of the other cars and it is not known among real Corvette historians if it is in fact the Motorama car. It is "widely believed" to be, but no proof. It is thought to be a "test bed" car and actually had the V8 installed in 55 for testing. There is an actual "shop record" from Nov 6th 1953 with the report of how the body held up to the burning.

Interesting stuff!

Brian

[1969NovaSS]

I had trouble coming up with a decent question but here goes. What was the first production car to have 4 wheel disk brakes?

[86sdub]

Austin-Healey 100S in 1954?

[MARTINSR]

Well the first thing that comes to my mind is the first American car, the 65 Vette. Other than that, I am going to Google.

Brian

[Joe G]

I could swear I've seen a crude form of disk brakes on a '40's Imperial. Guess I'll fire up the Google and see what I can find.

[Joe G]

How about a 1909 Argyll