Corvette History

The Corvette Story – Chassis by Maurice Olley

Chapter 2

Karl Ludvigsen··
Last updated:
Based on the photo of the chassis, this transparent view of the completed car was created.
Based on the photo of the chassis, this transparent view of the completed car was created. It showed the unnatural angle of the propeller shaft.

After Harley Earl and Carl Renner created the shape of the first Corvette, Maurice Olley had the task of putting a chassis inside it. His design matched the standards of the day and continued to underpin Corvettes during their first decade.

That Chevy’s engineers were able to fit all the necessary machinery inside the Corvette-to-be outer skin they were shown, without the almost inevitable hood bulge, was a tribute both to Maurice Olley’s firm grasp of the needs of sports-car engineering and to the excellent layout work done at Styling Staff by Robert McLean, who created the sports car’s package. Code-named “Project Opel”, it was being built in 1952 for the 1953 Motorama under Shop Order 1737 or SO 1737.

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