hdhamou

Just a little curious about why GM chose to go with a fiberglass body on the Corvette? Steel was pretty much the only metal that was used back then and helped the economy so much. Was it to be different or what? Im not complaining because if my body was steel I would be welding and grinding for a year.

CrossedFlags77

I did a report about the history of the Corvette for a school project last year. I found the reason G.M. used fiberglass was because in their early testing of the car they accidently rolled one over and they were surprised at how little body damage it actually had and it was lighter than steel. Hope that helps.

Disco_Mike

The corvettes at the 1952 autorama were concept cars. GM was experimenting with fiberglass, a new material at the time.
I assume the cars were so popular, GM decided to manufacture corvette.

GM was also trying to get into the small sports car market developing at the time. GI's returning from the war were driving MG and jags.


(please note: I have the right to state I dont know my rectum from a hole in the ground and may be totally wrong)

zwede

My understanding is the show car was made out of fiberglass as it was a new exciting material at the time. When it came time for production the volume was expected to be very low so it cost less to make the cars out of fiberglass compared to develop the tooling for metal stampings. After a few years when volumes increased everyone was used to the car being fiberglass and it just kind of stuck.

VetteNut72

The compound curves and lines of the Vette were hard to produce in stamped steel and fiberglass was the answer. I'm not sure if weight had much to do with it, a fiberglass body is still very heavy.

Craig

Twin_Turbo

Fiberglass was cheaper for a limited production run...from there on they stuck with it.

Cali,68,L-79

I have to say your answer is the best. Think of trying to bend mold metal to make the humps on the front clip and fenders. Fiberglass is much easier to work with.

Twin_Turbo

Look at the compound curves on cars of the same era, the curves on a C3 are not that hard to do at all. The only difficult thing would be the fender bumps and they could be made easily from 2 sections just like the fiberglass ones with their bonding strip. The upper panel would be stretched 7 shrunken into the shape and then a 2nd piece attaches to the side.

Cali,68,L-79

You may be right it's just that reason has been told to me for years. Any GM reps. out there? Speak up.

BBShark

Bairs Corvettes sent me a bunch of information about the evolution of the Corvette, old articles from magazines and newspapers. Apparently Yogi Bair was a friend of the owner of MFG in Linesville (were Bair is located). MFG was the original manufacturer of the Corvette body.

I think if you call (814-683-4223) them, they will send you this information. They are super nice people who may know more about the history and restoration of Corvettes than anyone.

I think the C3 was made out of fiberglass because of tradition not because of the curves.

Metal Wulf

the C3 isn't fiberglass

carl a

oh boy here we go again!

BB wowbagger

But what year had that steelbody everyone talks about?

hdhamou

Oh crap, I hope I didnt open up a can of worms

Corz

I get people asking me all the time when I'm gunna put a fiberglass front end on my car to lighten it up.

toyvet1

I remember reading one of the reason also include the wood bucks for fiberglass molds could be made a lot quicker than the two piece steel stamping dies could. They were on a short time schedule after motorama to get the Corvette into production....

79ls1

Lower tooling cost for the most part, but also weight savings and it was considered something of a "space age" material back then, so it was good for marketing. I remember seeing an old ad picture of a guy holding the floorpan section over his head. (No, I'm not that old)

Stoge

SMC

81' Corvette Guy

I have a magazine article on the 7 metal bodied corvettes created. If memory serves me well, they all were for racing..bunch of C2's I believe. Grand sport versions. I will get the article and scan it in the computer to share with you guys..will try to post on a server, but if it doesn't take, will someone host on their server for me? Got the magazine at work..will be going back sunday nite and will bring it home monday! Thanks Joe!

LemansBlue68

A number of reasons:

1) Fiberglass was perceived as a new "space age" material at the time.

2) The tooling to stamp sheet metal parts requires multi-step dies to gradually draw the flat steel sheet into the deep drawn shape that most fenders and quarters have. This means that rather than one die, they must use three to four dies to get to the final shape. This means multiple dies are required for one part. Also multiply that by the number of stamping lines used for production and the need to keep spares on hand. All of these dies require routine maintenence too as they wear from stamping out all of those metal parts. Fiberglass solved this big tooling cost for GM. They only required one set of dies for each part and fiberglass molding involves very little die wear. In fact I believe the earliest cars were hand layed glass and then later used an inflatable bladder on the backside of the parts. They knew the Corvette would be a very limited production car and were not even sure how the public would accept it. Thus they were wary of investing big bucks on a gamble.

3) Lighter weight than sheet metal.