This 1954 Corvette is on its way back to life after sitting in a garage for the past 40 years.
Richard Helverson bought the car in 1961 in Florida, bringing it back to his home in Des Moines, Iowa.
Unfortunately, he didn’t use the car the way Zora & Crew would prefer.
“My family’s been bugging me for I don’t know how many years to do something – what are you going to do with that car? Why don’t you just pedal it, or get it fixed? So I finally decided it was time to get it fixed,” he said.
That’s when he decided it was time to bring the car to Darren Brown, who runs a shop called Nostalgic Enterprises in Valley Junction.
Brown enjoys bringing the old cars back to life.
“It’s like atrophy – it’s like someone sitting on the couch for 35 years, expecting they’re going to be able to get up off the couch and run to the mailbox,” Brown said. “They’re going to get off the couch and be lucky if they can walk to the front door.”
This ’54 was lucky. The first stage in the restoration was just getting the car to crank. Brown managed to accomplish that, and now the bad brakes and mice-eaten interior await his touch.
Helverson is just glad to see his old friend come back to life.
“It has a heartbeat, will roll down the road, it will stop sometimes too abruptly,” Helverson said. “So we’ve got a lot of work to do. The interior needs a lot of work.”
His fellow enthusiasts wish Helverson and Brown well in their quest to keep this 62-year-old car from having to retire any time soon.
Source:
whotv.com
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