EarlyCorvettes Home

Photo Collection

GM Diagrams

Reference Materials

VIN Number Info

Noland's Books

Buy The Collection

Noland Adams is a well known author and Corvette historian, and a member of the Corvette Hall of Fame. When collectors first became interested in restoring Corvettes, General Motors provided Noland with unique access to GM's photographic library and engineering diagrams, and allowed Noland to freely come and go from GM's facilities. Noland also studied Corvettes very closely at shows and car meets. Noland combined knowledge gained from GM with his observations of used Corvettes, and published two landmark books dealing with Corvette Restoration - “The Complete Corvette Restoration & Technical Guide,” (Volume I, 1953 to 1962; Volume II, 1963-1967 model years). Using thousands of original GM photos, these books far surpassed anything else written, and greatly aided Corvette restorers. Noland had far more photos than could be used in these two volumes, however. So Noland also published his 5 book “Corvette, American Legend” series, which covers the original dream car prototype and 1953 production, “1954 and 1955 Production,” “1956 Production,” “1957 Racing and Production details,” and “1958 to 1960 Variations.”

Noland's contribution to the Corvette hobby goes far beyond these books. Noland has also hosted a series of restoration videotapes, written hundreds of articles for Corvette related magazines, and given numerous presentations on Corvette restoration all over the United States, plus seminars in Canada, Sweden and England. A consultant to the model car industry, Adams was the technical advisor on Monogram’s 1953 Corvette model car kit and Franklin Mint’s 1953 Corvette model. The US Postal Service used Noland's 1953 Corvette #284 as the model for the postage stamp celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Corvette. Noland was also the president of the Solid Axle Corvette Club for many years, which is a great club for C1 enthusiasts of all stripes, numbers matching or not.

Noland has accumulated a vast library of materials during his 50 plus years as a Corvette enthusiast and historian. The library is an incredible resource - a resource that Noland used to push the Corvette restoration movement forward unlike any other car brand. I scanned 20,000 photos and negatives, 5000 documents (about 30,000 pages), 3500 letters and surveys containing VIN related identifying information), and 3500 GM diagrams (most of which were 24in x 36in). And I did not scan everything in Noland's collection - many items were unscannable due to size or construction.

Creating a website featuring Noland's entire collection is an impossible task. For now, I am just going to start with a few interesting items - things that will hopefully spark your interest in learning more about Noland's collection.

Noland asked me to make a simple request on this website. If you are a C1 enthusiast, please consider joining the Solid Axle Corvette Club and the National Corvette Restorers Society. The SACC is a great club - I am a member and recommend it enthusiastically. The club published a wonderful magazine on a quarterly basis. The magazine features stories along with many how to articles. This is a must-join club if you own and drive a C1. The NCRS is of course a fantastic club as well, and covers the restoration of C1s thru C4s.