As the words generally attributed to Abe Lincoln go, “you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
Or maybe you can! It’s the premise of this book that Chevrolet successfully did indeed fool all of the people all of the time for nearly three-quarters of a century until this book was published with its revelations.
Chevrolet has always said this image, which had been divided into three segments and used on the cover of SAH J #s 264, 265 and 266 as you see here, had been that of the first two production Corvettes rolling off the assembly line.
More recently Ken Kayser contended that wasn’t the case and he set out to prove it. Irony is he used photos, papers, and files in GM’s own Tech Center archives and its Heritage Center Archives to prove his belief. And, he’s reproduced nearly 500 of those documents and images on the pages of this book. All are printed large enough they can be read.
Kayser is easily described as a GM insider. The moment he passed the SAT he entered GMI from which he graduated going straight to Tonawanda, New York and GM’s Chevrolet’s Motor Plant Complex. Retiring from his 40-plus year career as an engine engineer in 2008, he’s had virtually open access to files, documents, and photos in GM’s archives. In fact, its archivists have called on Ken to help identify particular engine photos and help put other materials in context when the supporting documentation for such are particularly vague, ambiguous or non-existent.
So he was in just the right place at just the right time to question those photos said to have been taken of the first two production Corvettes coming off the assembly line. He thought he spotted fake props and wondered why there were so many “suits” in the photos and so few actual production line workers.
You will have to read the book and examine each document and study each photo to see if you agree with the conclusion Kayser puts forth. What he asserts is given the date that photo shoot took place those Corvettes in the photo cannot be production but are very, very early test cars. Moreover those test Corvettes had long lives and underwent many changes such that “the five Corvettes under discussion embody a whopping sixteen different car number and name designations.”
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To date, Kayser has written and self published at least five books each titled Corvette Legend Or Myth & Zora’s Marque of Excellence. They differ one from another by their subtitles.
Volume I The “Real Story” of the 1953 Corvette & Zora’s Passion (2018)
Volume II Zora’s Fabulous “Mid-Ship” Corvette History (2019)
Volume III The History of Zora’s “Ramjet” Fuel Injection (2019)
Volume IV A Factual History The “First Two” Corvettes (2025)
Volume V The Single Most Important Production Corvette in History (2025)
It is the fourth volume in which Kayser reveals what he’s learned about those supposed “first two Corvettes off the assembly line.” (hvh)
Title: Corvette, Legend or Myth & Zora’s Marque of Excellence
Subtitle: Volume IV – A Factual History, The “First Two” Corvettes
Author: Kenneth W Kayser
Description: 456 pages, 11” x 8.5” softcover, 574 scanned images & documents, appendix & index
ISBN: 978 0 99986 974 1
Publisher: Tachometer Publishing LLC 2025 eBay.com – key Zora Kayser in search box
Price: $65