did corvette use a steel body

No I don't think a steel body was ever produced.

There WAS one steel bodied Corvette made, but it was a concept- not a production vehicle. It was made for the GM Motorama in Jan. 1953 to judge public reaction- which was excellent- or there never would have been a Corvette made in the first place. It was called the EX122 Corvette. After GM green-lighted the project, the production models were made in fiberglass, and the EX122 name was dropped, calling it the Corvette. 315 cars were built in 1953

No Chevy never build a steel body corvette at all. I have been involved with Corvettes for over 50 years and owed my own Corvette shop in California, I have never heard of such a thing. If you need help i'm here.

never

Only a non-production one in the early years, but was never sold to the public. Used for testing! I sell Corvettes and have been involved with them for 50 years..

All production Corvettes have been either hand-laid fiberglass or press-molded fiberglass. Current model Corvettes are not 100-percent fiberglass, they are made from a composite material that contains stranded-fiberglass and are molded versus hand-laid..

Actually , in 1953, after the 1st 50 were sold to the public, customers complained about "How Hot the Hood got from the heat of the engine." GM ordered one of their drsigners to come-up with a metal hood (incase) the Heat issue became a problem. That Metal Hood was installed on Corvette production No. 057. The extreme heat never becoame a issue in the future and the Metal Hood idea was dropped. So the question .. "If a steel body was ever produced on the Corvette ? The correct answer would be... "Part" was.

how would you explain an all metal bodied corvette then? I just come accross one, recently sanded down to the metal, with the typical surface rust,one gets from the lack of primer on the surface. The metal body could be very clearly be seen, someone tell me how this is possible???? From everything I know, this can't be, but I seen it with my own two eyess.

You don't mention what year you are speaking of and it doesn't really matter but my GUESS would be that someone made a metal patch to repair some damage.

It was always my understanding that there was never a metal body made because of the rush they were in to get the car ready for the show. They quickly made the fiberglass body just to save time and it was such a huge hit at the show, they never considered the metal body. So the non-production metal one is news to me.

A stainless Steel corvette Body CAN be ordered form the Phillipines Forgive the spelling of "Phillipines" anyway they WILL make one for anybody with $10,000 that includes the price of shipping to the U.S. Other than that I understand that for racing purposes a total of 6 corvettes were made of steel by private individuals, but NONE for production and never any for public sales.

Sorry to be so late to this thread but I found this while i was looking at the possibility of a De'Loren style stainless steel body on a vette. BUT I do remember an very old kit car that sat on a C-1 chassis that was a steel body. I think it was called a victoros or victrus or something close. This was in the mid 1970's. I remember it well. Oh well.

Perry was correct in his answer about the Steel Bodied Corvette. Yes the Prototype 1953 Vette built in 1952 was a Steel Bodied Car. Corvette also prototyped the First Nomad. I have dealt with and owned Corvettes for over 50 years. (MIC)

FAKE NEWS Corvette was to be ONLY a styling exorcise. shown at the Waldorf-Astoria show. Design studies at that time weren't tooled up, too costly fiberglass was cheap and easy to destroy later So please stop spreading the BS.

Hey Astra_3471. No one said this was news. And you aren't in any way precise about what it is that you believe to not be factual. So use your words and tell us. Was there a 1953 non-production steel- bodied Corvette? Who are you? And why would YOU be a reliable source of information on this subject. Try to use complete sentences with punctuation so that we can clearly understand you.

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Rondine only one to ever be made with a steel body therefore one was auctioned off at 1.2 million dollars a few years back

could someone explain to me what appears to be rust all over the back of this car? please.

Rather than speculate on what appears to be "rust", have you attempted to confirm your speculation that it's a steel body by running a strong magnet over the ENTIRE shell. That should end the speculation fairly quickly. Just my two cents.

i just had a picture to go by. don't know where the car is.

Thanks I was in a discussion and was told there was never one. But my uncle actually 2 of them retired from GM. One was a manufacturer designer and actually had one covered up in his garage. Thanks for the info.

He was in on the corvette and the corvair and independent suspension. The first Vette made was metal.

I was in northern Utah a few weeks ago on business and outside my second story hotel window and over a privacy fence in suburbia was a steel bodied vette of the first year. Roached and without windows. Looked like a shell but appeared to have the dash and instrument panel. My wife said, "what kind of a junk car is that?" I said a possible treasure. It was tucked up as best as possible beside a garden shed in suburbia.

I use to live in near the headquarters in Warren Michigan and I personally saw a 70's corvette with rust holes in a parking lot in the early 80's. I never thought that any were made of steel also. Maybe a concept car that an executive had?

Chev never produced a all steel body, ... BUT there are 11 all ALUMINUM body (1964,5,6) that where built (I had 1 in my shop back in 1984, ... that was owned by Brook Stevens, a car stylist), ... I did not believe that there was a aluminum body corvette ... and the next day Brook drove the car into my shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Brook (who did disign work for GM) told me that Ghia was given a 1964 Corvette, and Ghia built 11 cars. All 11 cars where given away to prominent people from around the world, and Brook just happened to be given 1 of them ... When he drove that car into my shop ... I knocked on the fender to see it it was fiberglass, ... and I was told not to do that as the skin is very thin and it will dent. I took a magnet to the body, then I also looked at all the inside panels ... YES IT WAS ALUMINUM ... the interior was unfinished just like the race car A/C cobra's ... just aluminum floors and no door panels, but it did have the factory dash bolted in place, ... I did take pictures of the car, but since lost them ...

Back in the mid 80s i worked at a tranny shop, the shop next, the guy had a 73 metal body corvett. I felt,sat in it and admire it. From what i know, it was 100% real

You guys claiming to see all steel Corvettes are sadly mistaken. No one has ever produced an aftermarket steel body and I know for damn sure that this many random people hand shaped their own sheetmetal for those cars. So what's the explanation? The logical one is that you all are mistaken and they were fiberglass Corvettes like every OEM Corvette ever made.

Sorry saw it with my own eyes a totally rusted early to mid seventies parked in a lot adjacent to the general motors tech center in Warren michigan. Most likely a prototype

Some great information if you consider whoever it was designed the car. Beyond that, I dont know. I do know that I like Corvettes. And I should have stopped at the first entry. Thanks to all of the folks who truly know a lot about Vettes. I like Sausage too but really don't want to know how Sausage is made. ; ) JR68

I know this is an old post but I just came across it. I'm not a vette expert but know my car stuff. I'm really shocked all the "corvette" purist failed to see the elephant in the room. That's not a '63 front and by the looks of the rear it's some fabricated sheet metal rear. This is just someone's forgotten project.