YesA59

Conventional wisdom says that GM stopped putting the pictureless 1953 Operator's Manuals in the 53 cars around car #150 or so, and started placing the orange manuals in the 53's after #150. I think that is wrong. I suspect GM might have placed the pictureless version of the manual in all 53s.

GM placed a bag of parts and an operator's manual in the 53 cars after the body drop. Take a look at the attached pictures. The pictures show 53 #287 right before the body drop (you can see the car number on the passenger side kick-up). I've been wondering if that was really car #287. But our resident 53 restoration expert, Brett, confirms that the 53 cars were marked with the car # on the passenger side kick-up. Brett has seen the number on an unrestored 53:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=2088168

Look at the pic showing the work bench in the lower left hand corner. You can clearly see the bag of parts that will go into #287. And right next to the bag - a 53 pictureless Operator's Manual.

I don't know what the evidence is supporting a car #150 cutoff for the pictureless Operator's Manual. But I think this photo evidence is pretty telling that the pictureless manuals were still in use in mid-December.

Thoughts or Comments???

Russ

53 Blue Flame Brett

Trust me, I'm no expert. Just really serious about it. Too many arm chair QB's the way it is. But thanks, Russ.

Did you notice the wide band bottle brackets. I believe the picture is around Dec 12th or so. It says the date in Noland's book, if I remember correctly. They made a lot of cars in the period from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Another debate is on the "X" on the raod draft tubes. Car #130 is a one family owned car since early 1954. It had less than 1500 miles on it when purchased. It has the "X" on the road draft tube. The engine has NEVER been apart. I cleaned it and painted it for the restoration.

Just another bone of contention for the judges to ponder.

YesA59

I did notice the wide band bracket. I thought the switch from narrow band to wide band happened sometime in Sept 1953. So the wide band in the picture did not surprise me. Does conventional wisdom say that the narrow band was used on all 53s???

I have seen a bunch of 53 GM pics. And every pic I have seen of a 53 with an engine in the car shows a draft tube with no X. But I have seen GM pics of 53 engines sitting on a holder with an X on the draft tube. So I am not surprised at all that you have seen an unmolested 53 engine with an X on it.

My 53 #276, after 314k miles and an engine change, still has the original draft tube, lacking the X however.

Russ

53 Blue Flame Brett

These are just a few of the issues that seem to be up for debate. Also, the myth of all 53's having 1044 cloth bodies from head to tail. There are guys who know much more than I do about these thongs, however. I only speak from what I have actually seen.

Chuck Gongloff

I'm a bit confused.

When did the "myth" of the new style orange 54 type manual being placed in 53's after SN 150 begin?

This is news to me.

Chuck