Mecum Indy event offers rare chance to see 1953 Fiesta, Eldorado, Skylark, and Corvette all in one place

I’ve mentioned before that I think 1953 was the ultimate year in General Motors history. Never mind that it was twenty years before I was even born. The products, legacy, and accomplishments from that year speak for themselves.

But you can’t really get the full impact of just what GM was able to produce just by reading things. You really need to experience the crown jewels of the 1953 GM lineup firsthand. The Mecum Spring Classic Auction in Indianapolis is providing a rare, rare opportunity to do just that. Crossing the block will be the ultimate quartet of GM’s most ambitious and sought-after cars; a 1953 Chevrolet Corvette, a 1953 Cadillac Eldorado, a 1953 Buick Skylark, and a 1953 Oldsmobile Fiesta.

When you visit the auto show in Kansas City this weekend, it'll be good, but there was a time when it would have been spectacular

The Kansas City International Auto Show is in Bartle Hall this weekend, and I plan to go there and take a bunch of pictures for you and post them here. And they'll be OK. Lots of clean, shiny cars. Most of them just like the ones that are already out on the roads right now.

Did you know that there have been some 2012 model-year cars and trucks available for better than a month now?

Did you know that Chevrolet's concept car this year during their 100th anniversary at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the biggest show of the year, was a slightly modified new Aveo?

1953. The greatest year for the world's greatest company

The question as to what was the best year in the history of General Motors is often the source of hot debate. I think you could make a good case for several different years.

1967 is a big one that comes to mind. Chevrolet produced the most hairy-chested, desirable Corvette in its history. The Camaro debuted to tremendous fanfare. Bill Mitchell’s gorgeous front-wheel-drive Eldorado hit the streets. The Pontiac GTO had grown into its full potential. Everywhere you turned, good things were happening.

1957 is another high water mark. Everything they built became part of our culture. The ’57 Chevy is probably the most iconic car ever. Fuel-injected Chevrolets and Pontiacs were technological marvels. General Motors products from 1957 still influence what we see today.

But if I had to pick a single greatest year, I’d go with 1953. If there ever was an example of the ideal American corporation, the General Motors as depicted in ’53 was it. With World War II becoming a distant memory, the Korean War coming to an end, and a nation of happy, well-fed people looking to get their piece of the American dream, 1953 had it all.

General Motors concept cars were produced when anything was possible. A history of the GM Motorama and Parade of Progress.

There was a time when families gathered in wild anticipation of the latest offerings from Detroit. Cars were more than just a means to get from point A to point B. They were entertainment. They were enjoyable. They were fun.
Nowhere was this more apparent than with the General Motors show cars of the 1950s/early ‘60s. People didn’t look at GM’s giant displays as a marketing intrusion. They actually looked forward to it. And when you look at the cars they were able to see, it’s easy to figure out why.

Sometimes it is hard to remember this in light of everything that has happened lately, but GM has one of the most illustrious histories of any company. There was a time when they could produce anything their imaginations could think of. And GM hired the best and brightest imaginations money could buy. Nothing was too expensive. Anything was possible. It was an amazing period of creativity.