Porsche 550 Spyder, 1953

Porsche 550 Spyder, 1953

Porsche 550 Spyder, 1953

The Porsche 550 was a sports car produced by Porsche from 1953-1956. Inspired by the Porsche 356 which was created by Ferry Porsche, and some spyder prototypes built and raced by Walter Glöckler starting in 1951, the factory decided to build a car designed for use in auto racing. The model Porsche 550 Spyder was introduced at the 1953 Paris Auto Show. The Porsche 550 was very low to the ground, in order to be efficient for racing. In fact, former German Formula One racer Hans Herrmann drove it under closed railroad crossing gates during the 1954 Mille Miglia.

The Porsche 550 / 1500RS or Spyder became known as the "Giant Killer". The later 1956 evolution version of the model, the 550A, which had a lighter and more rigid spaceframe chassis, gave Porsche its first overall win in a major sports car racing event, the 1956 Targa Florio.

Its successor from 1957 onwards, the Porsche 718, was even more successful, scoring points in Formula One as late as 1963. A descendant of the Porsche 550 is generally considered to be the Porsche Boxster S 550 Spyder; the Spyder name was effectively resurrected with the RS Spyder Le Mans Prototype.

The Porsche 550 "Little Bastard", serial number 550-0055 is best known for being the car in which James Dean was killed on September 30, 1955.

Cadillac Eldorado, 1953

Cadillac Eldorado, 1953

The Eldorado model was part of the Cadillac line from 1953 to 2002. The Cadillac Eldorado was the longest running American personal luxury car as it was the only one sold after the 1998 model year. Its main competitors included the Mark Series and the lower-priced Buick Riviera. The name Eldorado was derived from the Spanish words "el dorado", the "gilded one"; the name was given originally to the legendary chief or "cacique" of a S. American Indian tribe. Legend has it that his followers would sprinkle his body with gold dust on ceremonial occasions and he would wash it off again by diving into a lake. The name more frequently refers to a legendary city of fabulous riches, somewhere in S. America, that inspired many European expeditions, including one to the Orinoco by England's Sir Walter Raleigh.

History
The name was proposed for a special show car built in 1952 to mark Cadillac's Golden Anniversary; it was the result of an in-house competition won by Mary-Ann Zukosky (married name = Marini), a secretary in the company's merchandising department. Another source, Palm Springs Life magazine, attributes the name to a resort destination in California's Coachella Valley that was a favorite of General Motors executives, the Eldorado Country Club. In any case, the name was adopted by the company for a new, limited-edition convertible that was added to the line in 1953.

Though cars bearing the name varied considerably in bodystyle and mechanical layout during this long period, the Eldorado models were always near the top of the Cadillac line. Nevertheless, and except for the Eldorado Brougham models of 1957-1960, the most expensive models were always the opulent, long wheel-based "Series 75" sedans and limousines.

1953
The 1953 Eldorado was a special-bodied, low-production convertible (532 units in total). It was the production version of the 1952 El Dorado "Golden Anniversary" concept car.

This first Eldorado had a wraparound windshield and a cut-down beltline, the latter signifying a dip in the sheetmetal at the bottom of the side windows. These two touches were especially beloved by General Motors Styling Chief Harley Earl and subsequently were widely copied by other marques. In fact, throughout the 50s, Eldorado was GM's styling leader, and since GM led the industry, where the Eldorado went, everyone else would tend to follow.

1954
In 1954, Eldorado lost its unique sheet metal, sharing its basic body shell with standard Cadillacs. Distinguished now mainly by trim pieces, this allowed GM to lower the price and they were rewarded with a substantial jump in sales.

1955
For 1955, the Eldorado's body gained its own rear end styling with high, slender, pointed tailfins. These contrasted with the rather thick, bulbous fins which were common at the time and were an example of Eldorado once again pointing the way forward.
For 1956, a two-door hardtop coupe version appeared, called the Eldorado Seville.

1957
1957 saw the Eldorado (both the Biarritz convertible and the Seville hardtop) once again present an innovative rear-end design, a low, downswept fenderline capped by a pointed, in-board fin. The rear fenders were commonly referred to as "chipmunk cheeks". This concept was used for two years, but did not spawn any imitators.

1957 was chiefly notable, though, for the introduction of one of GM's most memorable designs, the Eldorado Brougham. This four-door hardtop with rear-opening rear doors was an ultra-luxury car that cost an astonishing $13,000+, more than the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud of the same year. It featured a stainless steel roof, air suspension, the first dual headlights, the first memory power seats, and every possible kind of appearance and convenience feature that GM's most inventive minds could devise. The design ran for two years and of course sold in very small quantities (704 units in total) owing to the price. It has been estimated that GM lost $10,000 on every one, but these virtually hand-assembled cars are today among the rarest and most collectible of all postwar American models.

1959
A different Eldorado Brougham was sold for 1959 and 1960. These cars were not quite so extravagantly styled but were very unusual pieces in themselves. Priced at $13,075, they cost $1 more, each, than their older siblings. The design was 100% Cadillac but the company contracted out the assembly to Pinin Farina of Italy, with whom the division has had a long-running relationship, and these Eldorados were essentially hand-built in Italy. Their discreet, narrow taillights, nicely integrated into modest tailfins, contrasted sharply with the "rocketship" taillights and massive fins of the standard 1959 Cadillacs and were an indication of where Caddy styling would go in the next few years. However, build quality was not nearly to the standard of the Detroit hand-built 1957–1958s, and the 1959–1960 Broughams are less desirable, it seems, than the 1st generation Broughams, although their value and collectibility remain high.

The last Eldorado Seville was built in 1960. After that, the Eldorado convertible became essentially a trim version of the standard Cadillac convertible. With the end of the importation of the Italian-built Eldorados in 1960, the name entered something of a fallow period.

Cadillac Le Mans Concept, 1953

Cadillac Le Mans Concept, 1953

Cadillac Le Mans Concept, 1953

The Cadillac Le Mans was a concept car developed by Cadillac in 1953. It was named for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France, which Cadillac competed in in 1950. The design was a low-profile (51-inches to the windshield frame), two-seat, fiberglass-bodied roadster. It was powered by a 250-HP version of Cadillac's 331 CI V-8, a power output not reached in production Cadillacs until 1955. Though 4 units were built, the model never went into production, and it would be nearly 50 years before Cadillac developed another vehicle with a similar design concept, the Cadillac XLR. Of the four, 1 is documented as having been destroyed in a fire; the other 3 still exist with 1 of those currently in the Cadillac Historical Collection.

Aston Martin DB3S, 1953

Aston Martin DB3S, 1953

Aston Martin DB3S, 1953

The Aston Martin DB3 and later Aston Martin DB3S were racing cars built in the 1950s. Although they used some Aston Martin DB2 parts, they were quite different, being designed especially for racing. The original modifications were done by ex-Auto Union engineer, Eberan von Eberhorst, though others handled the later Aston Martin DB3S work.

Aston Martin DB3
The DB3 was introduced in 1951 with a 133 hp (99 kW) 2.6 L Lagonda straight-6 engine from the DB2 Vantage. The car was unsuccessful, so a larger 2.9 L engine, producing 163 hp (122 kW), was introduced for 1952. The car went on to place 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at Silverstone that year behind a Jaguar C-Type. The cars were forced out of Le Mans, but did claim the 9-hour race at Goodwood.

Aston Martin DB3S
The Aston Martin DB3S was a lighter version of the car, introduced in 1953. It was somewhat more successful, and was produced until 1956. Two coupe versions were also built.
The Aston Martin DB3S was replaced in 1956 by the famed Aston Martin DBR1, which finally claimed Le Mans in 1959

Chevrolet Corvette C1

Chevrolet Corvette C1, 1953

The Chevrolet Corvette C1 is a sporty automobile produced from 1953 through 1962. It is the first generation of Chevrolet Corvettes built and marketed by Chevrolet.

The Design
While the style of a car may be just as important to some as to how well the car runs, automobile manufacturers did not begin to pay attention to car designs until the 1920s. It was not until 1927, when General Motors hired designer Harley Earl, that automotive styling and design became important to American automobile manufacturers. What Henry Ford did for automobile manufacturing principles, Harley Earl did for car design. Most of GM's flamboyant "dream car" designs of the 1950s are directly attributable to Earl, leading one journalist to comment that the designs were "the American psyche made visible." Harley Earl loved sports cars, and GIs returning after serving overseas World War II were bringing home MGs, Jaguars, Alfa Romeos and the like. Earl convinced GM that they needed to build a two-seat sports car. The result was the 1953 Corvette, unveiled to the public at that year's Motorama car show. The original Corvette emblem incorporated an American flag into the design; this was later dropped, since associating the flag with a product was frowned upon.

Its name from the corvette, a small, maneuverable fighting frigate (the credit for the naming goes to Myron Scott), the first Corvettes were virtually hand built in Flint, Michigan in Chevrolet's Customer Delivery Center, now an academic building at Kettering University. The outer body was made out of a revolutionary new composite material called fiberglass, selected in part because of steel quotas left over from the war. Underneath that radical new body were standard Chevrolet components, including the "Blue Flame" inline six-cylinder truck engine, two-speed Power glide automatic transmission, and drum brakes from Chevrolet's regular car line. Though the engine's output was increased somewhat, thanks to a triple-carburetor intake exclusive to the Corvette, performance of the car was decidedly lackluster. Compared to the British and Italian sports cars of the day, the Corvette was underpowered, required a great deal of effort as well as clear roadway to bring to a stop, and even lacked a "proper" manual transmission. Up until that time, the Chevrolet division was GM's entry-level marque, known for excellent but no-nonsense cars. Nowhere was that more evident than in the Corvette. A Paxton supercharger became available in 1954 as a dealer-installed option, greatly improving the Corvette's straight-line performance, but sales continued to decline.

GM was seriously considering shelving the project, leaving the Corvette to be little more than a footnote in automotive history, and would have done so if not for two important events. The first was the introduction in 1955 of Chevrolet's first V8 engine (a 265 in³ {4.3 L}) since 1919, and the second was the influence of a Soviet emigre in GM's engineering department, Zora Arkus-Duntov. Arkus-Duntov simply took the new V8 and backed it with a three-speed manual transmission. That modification, probably the single most important in the car's history, helped turn the Corvette from a two-seat curiosity into a genuine performer. It also earned Arkus-Duntov the rather inaccurate nickname "Father of the Corvette".

The first generation is commonly referred to as a solid-axle, based on the fact that independent rear suspension (IRS) was not available until 1963.

Fuel injection

The first generation started in 1953 and ended in 1962, with the noteworthy addition of optional fuel injection in 1957. This new induction system first saw regular use on a gasoline engine two years prior on the Mercedes-Benz 300SL "Gull wing" roadster. Although the Corvette's GM-Rochester fuel injection system used a constant flow style fuel injection system as opposed to the diesel style nozzle metering system of the Mercedes' six cylinders, the system nevertheless produced about 290HP. The number was derated by Chevrolet's advertising agency for the 283HP/283 in³ (4.6 L) one hp per in³ slogan, making it one of the first mass-produced engines in history to reach 1 hp/in³. In 1962, the GM Small-Block was enlarged to 327 in³ (5.4 L) and produced a maximum of 360 hp (268 kW). Other early options included Power windows (1956), hydraulically operated power convertible top (1956), four speed manual transmission (mid 1957), and heavy duty brake and suspension options (1957).