Rare 1953 Corvette Confirmed For The Spring Carlisle Collector

Car Auction

Sale To Take Place At Carlisle Expo Center On April 21

Three hundred. That’s how many 1953 Corvettes were produced when what’s now known as the C1 was originally produced. Fast forward to Friday, April 21, in Carlisle, Pa., and one of those original 300 (serial #100) will cross the auction block. That’s right, a 1953 Corvette will be up for grabs as part of Carlisle Auctions’ Classic and Collector Car Auction at the Carlisle Expo Center. It will be a two-day event on April 20 and 21. In 70 years, nearly 2 million Corvettes have been built and sold. This is the 100th ever created.

The auction starts at noon each day, and the fact that a 1953 Corvette is even crossing the block is nothing short of a big deal. The National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS), the premier authority on all things Corvette, has judged only 60 ’53s all time, and, rarer yet,

P.O. Box 500, Mount Joy, PA 17552 800-800-1833 717-653-1833 717-653-6165 fax

Advertising Sales Tim Moore, 717-492-2534

Circulation - Tara Herr, 717-892-6022

1-800-428-4211 Fax 717-492-2566 over the last five years, only 16 ’53s are known to have sold. Most have sold through “as seen on TV” auction houses. Currently, there’s only one other known active sale for a ’53 and it is part of a non-auction/boutique dealership sale.

With this ’53, it’s the first time such an iconic and rare ride will be made available by Carlisle Auctions. Built in October of 1953, this car was delivered by Tom Hoskins of Hoskins Chevrolet in Chicago to a prominent man of the time, Cyrus Rowlett

(C.R.) Smith. He was the founder and CEO of American Airlines from 1934-68 and again from 1973-74. Smith also served as a Major General and as the wartime deputy commander of the Air Transport Command during World War II. He also served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the United States Secretary of Commerce. Smith is regarded as one of the titans of U.S. airline industry history and, when he passed in 1990, was buried in Arlington National

Daniel Strawser

Continued from page 1 well-known for running a redware pottery business. “Lester

Cemetery. In addition, Smith was close with the Roosevelt family, specifically first-lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her son, Elliott. Smith aided Mrs. Roosevelt frequently with travel plans and introduced Elliott to his second wife, serving as best man at their wedding.

While the car has changed hands multiple times since his ownership, there is meticulous documentation of its ownership record. Its engine number is 535454, and there are many original elements to the car, including valve cover (one of 305 produced), 3836066 special Corvette cylinder head, body, and specially engineered open drive shaft two-speed power glide automatic transmission, which was all-new for the Corvette only. The ’53 also retains its original vacuum bag molded fiberglass body made by Lunn Laminates of Huntington, N.Y., which is currently adorned by a 2019 repaint in acrylic lacquer formulated in the Delaware factory of E. I. du Pont de

Continued on page 3 and I would often carve together on Sunday afternoons,” mentioned Strawser, who began in 1968. Strawser would exhibit and sell his work in the early 1970s at the Kutztown Folk Festival and Breininger’s Porch Shows. early and present day, and tell more of the story.

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During this time, Strawser worked at the Publix shirt factory located in Myerstown in the pattern department. In 1985, the company transfered him to Tennessee. In 1993, the plant closed, which was when he began carving on a full-time basis. From 2002 to 2008, Strawser lived in Coatesville, Pa., and in 2008, moved to Maine following his wife, Donna, retiring from teaching,. They currently live in Newcastle, Maine, and do two folk art shows a year, one at Claudia Hopf’s house in Kennebunk, Maine, and the other at the Robesonia Furnace in Pennsylvania.

The photos show a small example of his work, both

In 2016, Strawser received a distinguished alumni award from Conrad Weiser High School in Robesonia, Pa., and entered into the school’s Hall of Fame. Photo courtesy of Donna Strawser.

This small, unpainted pig with pin eyes is signed and dated “DGS 1969.” “My first few carvings were unpainted, and I used my middle initial for ‘George,’” remarked Strawser. Courtesy of private collection.