At which New York hotel was the Corvette prototype first shown to the public in 1953?

The Corvette prototype was first shown publicly at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel in 1953.

The debut took place on January 17, 1953, at General Motors’ Motorama exhibition. The car was the EX-122 pre-production prototype, a fiberglass-bodied two-seat roadster intended to demonstrate that Chevrolet could build an American sports car.

Motorama was more than a conventional auto show: it combined production vehicles, experimental designs, theatrical presentations, and displays from across GM. The Corvette quickly became the event’s standout attraction, helping persuade Chevrolet to put it into production later that year.

A common mix-up is confusing the prototype’s public debut with the first production Corvette. Production began on June 30, 1953, at Chevrolet’s Flint, Michigan, facility. Only 300 cars were built for the 1953 model year, all Polo White with red interiors. The Waldorf-Astoria therefore marks the Corvette’s public introduction, not its assembly-line start.