by Scott Teeters as written for Vette Vues
Timeline Tales: December 28th,1953 – Production of the 1954
Corvette begins in the St. Louis plant

December 2015 Dateline: As Corvettes got better and better in the late 1950s and through the 1960s, new Corvette enthusiasts weren’t aware that the first batch of 300 Corvettes were built in a make-shift assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, that was previously a large garage. While the St. Louis plant was a big improvement, it left a lot to be desired. Built in 1920, the early days of big American industry, the plant was described in Mike Mueler’s 2009 book, “The Corvette Factories” as, “… not only archaic, it was also lacking in size and scope. Expansion was out of the question, as was modernization…”

Others described the plant as “old world” and “dungeon-like.” No doubt, this was part of the reason that the St. Louis Corvettes often suffered from “quality control” issues. But in retrospect, most American-made cars from that time had QC issues.

Regardless, the mass-production of Corvettes had to start somewhere. The last Corvette to roll off the St. Louis line was on July 31, 1981.