Evaluation: From the Horton Museum collection. NCRS Top Flight in 1998. Referenced by Danbury Mint to produce a 1:24 model. Old paint and chrome. The color on the trunk lid doesn’t match the rest of the car. Yellowed whitewalls. Lightly worn interior with cracked shift knob. Tidy engine with aged exhaust manifold and some grime on the carburetor. Long-term museum display, restored many years ago.
Bottom Line: Only available with the boring Stovebolt Six and a Powerglide, the new-for-1953 Corvette was more about glamour than performance. It would take the small-block V8, race wins, and Zora Arkus-Duntov before the Corvette would really be “America’s sports car.” But the ’53 is the first Corvette, and with just 300 built (the lowest production of any year), there is limited supply for big collectors who want a comprehensive group of Vettes. That’s why they’re worth considerably more than later C1s, which are faster, better to drive, and just as nice to look at. Prices for 1953 cars are relatively stable, and this is a rational price for an older restoration that has been sitting.
