Sorry to post this here, but C3 is where I heard this story and where I am more likely to get the truth about it.
Someone posted a while back about 53 Corvette Vin. no. 003. The story was something like the body was separated from the frame very early in life and another body put on the frame while a different frame was put under the body. Somehow both of these cars are recognized as Vin. no. 3 and as the earliest surviving Corvette.
Could someone please point me to a link or the thread where this was discussed?

Thank You
Rick

 

Hi Rick,
Here's a post from the 53-62 Forum, 2008.
Make of it what you will.

"Let me add my two cents worth here. The frame for number three was discovered under a 1955, then owned by John Howard and Brad Hawes of Pineville, Kentucky. They discovered the frame when they began a restoration of their 1955. The 1955 in question has an interesting past. The history of their 1955 traces back to someone who bought the car from General Motors with a bill of sale as a collection of surplus parts and a 1955 title in 1956. The car has a reported history of being a personal or test car for General Motors. It was fairly complete, in terms of 1955 parts when John aand Brad acquired the car. They discovered the frame and contacted several people in the NCRS who scoffed at the idea of having the frame. They acid tested the stamping to prove their case. They "restored" the frame and took it to Cypress Gardens to show their find. No one cared that much about it back then...believe it or not! At that time Ed Thiebald was not active in Corvettes and not active in the NCRS. Some (ok, many) people at the time believed that Ed's car was a fake. Ed was contacted by John and Brad about their find and he was certainly "less than friendly" at the time. John and Brad even went as far as to offer Ed the opportunity for a coin toss to see who owned the car!!! If Ed agreed, they would literally toss a coin, let Ed call it....if Ed won they would sell him the frame and if John and Brad won, they would buy the car from Ed. Ed obviously would not agree and the ownership was at a stalemate. John and Brad went as far to title the car in Kentucky...under the serial number of E53F001003!!!! I wonder if that title still exists??? They found another frame to put under the 1955 and they semi-restored it.

I remember more stories about #3 from long time members who date back to the Vintage Corvette Club and the Classic Corvette Club who tell additional stories about #3. I remember talking to Sam Folz about the car at an NCRS meet in the early 80's. He told this story. I've heard this story from others as well. I was told that several General Motors people remember a man who in the early 1960's came to Detroit with a semi-trailor and bought a collection of parts left in one of the GM warehouses...supposedly the former 1953 assembly location. This trailor was filled with old 53 parts, everything ranging from engines and body parts to small misc. parts. Some have said that there was a complete car included in the deal....this was supposedly #3, or what remained of it. Some have theorized that the tag to #3 was in the deal, but thats all. Just what was bought and who bought it is still a mystery. Many have said that this person was Ed Thiebald. There is no doubt that #3 is an early car, just how early will never definitively be known. When Ed sold it, it was at auction and drew little....very little....interest. John and Brad were interested in the auction, still even had the frame for #3, but they were going through hard financial times, thanks to owning several Chrysler dealerships in Eastern kentucky during the financially down times of Chrysler. They didn't even attempt to bid on the #3 auction at that time. Everyone was convinced at that time it was a fake. Howard Kirsch, Les Bieri and others were the auction winners. John Amgwert had a small percentage ownership as well. I've heard that he had 10% and it was given to him for his work in documentation, but I don't know that as a fact. The day of the auction John looked the car over from on end to another, and became more and more convinced of its authenticity. I remember, off my head, several of the unique items to it; bronze headlight rings and grill oval, bronze trunk hinges, riveted door skins, and a very crude body with every panel handlaid...all signs of a VERY early car. There have been many fascinating articles in the Restorer magazine and other places about the car, its purchase, and its restoration.

Now Ed never said where he got the car or when. I found most interesting from my conversation with Sam Folz was that when he saw the car (either in pictures or in person, I don't recollect), that it was titled with a California title using a 1953 engine serial number, not E53F001003!!! Further, this number wasn't even the known engine number of LAY303666, it was titled to the engine that was in the car, which was not a Corvette block, instead a passenger car block. Ed was known back then to have a less than honest reputation. He had amassed a hugh stock pile of parts and cars....sometimes being less than honest in his buying...he bought low (way low) and sold high (okay, high for the day). He and his wife ran the entire operation, and got to preview the ads before anyone else. He was known for buying parts (and cars) from people for next to nothing and then selling them for an easy profit....he used his position to profit. His turkey ranch turned into a Corvette heaven, if you will. Many felt that he misused his postion to take advantage of people and make a quick profit...

In addition to #3, he had #5, #13, #157 and at least two more, whose numbers escape me right now. I know that #5 was quickly bought by him and turned for a profit. I sometimes wonder about #13, he sold it to a man in Missouri who bought it, and shortly later parked it....he remained in "tight-lipped" ownership of it until his death. His estate sold it after his death. I would love to see that car. I saw several good pictures of it from the early 1970's shortly before it was parked and it was in suprisingly good conditon, especially for a very early 1953. I wonder in the back of my mind, if #3 and #13 crossed paths, parts-wise, so to speak....if you catch my drift.

No one will ever know the complete truth about #3...what exist today is definitely a 53, it is also definitely an early, very early 53...just how much is actually #3 as it left the factory remains a mystery. The frame ins't the original, and John Amgwert claimed to have found the GM documentation of its frame being changed, due to structural stress."

Regards,
Alan

 

Alan,
Thank You!
That was what I remembered seeing.
I work with a gentleman who knows the owner of 53 number 003. I told him what little I could remember of this story and asked which 003 he owned, the body or the frame. He said no, no this is all original, un-touched. I guess if I owned it I would probably try to stick with that story too. Very much like all the "Original" 67 L71's that exist now.
Rather than being excited that his "acquaintance" has an early 53 Corvette, he is more excited that he has a Skybox at Barrett-Jackson.
Again, Thank You for the information.

Rick

 

Some day will it be the real #003

 

Based on the start of post #2, if what follows is equally accurate, the post is of no value at all. The 003 frame was discovered in 1977 under a 1955 owned by Phillip Havens, then with the Michigan Attorney Generals office. See Volume 5, #2 of The Corvette Restorer in 1978.
If I recall correctly, GM documents show that the frame was replaced while the car was serving as an Engineering test vehicle subsequent to a "Belgian Block" (sp?) extensive test. The 003 frame apparently escaped destruction, perhaps at the Warhoops junkyard.

 

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...orvette-3.html

 

The #3 chassis is under Ed Foss's cut away 1953.

Corvette Cutaway

Valley Stream, New York – /PRNewswire/ – Corvette Repair, Inc. owned by Kevin McKay, has created the ultimate 1953 Corvette Cutaway. This unique presentation sits on the oldest Corvette production chassis know to exist. It bears serial #E53F001003, which was the third of 300 Corvette Chassis produced in 1953. It has been forensically tested and authenticated as original. Creating a Corvette cutaway to showcase the historic chassis has never been done before.
History

The Chevrolet Corvette was developed in secret under the code name “project Opel” in late 1952 and early 1953. The first three Corvettes rolled off the Flint, Michigan assembly line on Tuesday, June 30, 1953. 1953 Corvette (VIN: E53F001003 a/k/a “003”) was sent to the General Motors Engineering Shop in Warren, Michigan on July 7, 1953 with 67 miles on the odometer. While at the Tech Center, this early Corvette underwent a series of grueling tests. This included a five hour -20 degree shake test at the the Harrison Radiator Division Cold Room in Lockport, New York on July 8-9, 1953. Additionally it was subjected to a punishing 5,000 mile test over Belgium Blocks. Per Chevrolet Engineering Department Work Order #1903-27, issued August 20, 1953, the engineers at the Tech Center replaced the frame with a new one and set the original frame aside.

In the summer of 1977, Phil Havens, an attorney with the office of the Michigan Attorney General, purchased a 1955 Corvette. That autumn Mr. Havens removed his body from his 1955 Corvette and discovered that the chassis bore the serial E53F001003 in two locations. Havens decided to install a correct 1955 chassis under his Corvette he was restoring. He also restored chassis VIN: E53F001003 into a static display. That static frame was first displayed at the NCRS Cypress Gardens Winter meet in 1982. In 2012 Havens advertised the #003 frame on Ebay and Mackay spotted it.

He discussed his Ebay find with Ed Foss, owner of the Foss Collection in Roanoke, Indiana and Ed decided to purchase the chassis. Ed commissioned Corvette Repair to resurrect the frame and turn it into a unique drivable chassis cutaway 1953 body. It was completed over several years by Mackay and his team. “This cutaway stirs the passion people have for Corvette history; its purpose is to educate enthusiasts about early Corvette engineering and design. This chassis provides a snapshot into these early efforts. What is amazing is everything works and it’s completely drivable” notes Mackay.

Kevin J. Mackay is the principal of Corvette Repair, Inc. a world class Corvette restoration facility headquartered in Valley Stream, New York. Corvettes restored by Corvette Repair, Inc. are regularly displayed and shown to international acclaim and many of the highest grossing Corvettes sold at auction have been restored by Mr. Mackay and his expert team at Corvette Repair, Inc.

 

I was impressed with the information given in "discovered 1953 #003 corvette chassis". see posting on 3-9-2017, 1:19 pm. the best part of this thread is the video of the seminar given by Kenneth W. Kayser. this is in cshermans post on 3-9-17 at 7:39. I think this seminar is a must in understanding what actually occurred in the production of 53 corvettes.

 

As I understand it, one of the primary premises of Mr. Kayser's "presentation" is that the two Motorama cars were somehow disguised/hidden and were actually 1953 001 and 002, a premise that has the same value as the one that said Howard Hughes was a yeti.
Two separate letters in June 1953 spell out the purchase of 001 and 002 by Engineering and assigning the Engineering ID #s of 3950 and 3951 as Engineering test cars. Both letters stipulate that the cars are to be licensed. No Sale.

 

why is that so hard to believe? the first cobra was painted several different colors to make people think there was more than one. Read about what Tucker had to do to make investors think the Tucker cars were further in development. when going through work order of cars assigned the 3900 numbers there were later letters that mentioned changes to what was originally placed on earlier work orders.

 

Read the second paragraph - you don't send letters to Ed Cole, Russ Sanders, Rosey Rosenberger, Premo, etc stating that Engineering has purchased two cars for testing unless that is what you've done.