Marine Corps Veteran Gifted With a Vintage “Lost Corvette” at the LA Auto Show

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

A 15-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps received the shock of his life Friday at the LA Auto Show, where Chris Ryan received the keys to a vintage Corvette as part of “The Lost Corvettes” sweepstakes.

The soldier, who has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in light-armored reconnaissance during his many years of service and will be retiring soon, thought he was at the auto show just to make a speech about the veterans support group, Stand for the Troops.

Instead, he became the proud owner of a white 1984 Corvette, originally part of the VH1 collection that included each model year from 1953 to 1989 and was awarded to a single winner in 1989. That person wound up selling the collection to pop artist Peter Max, who had planned to paint all the cars in his psychedelic style. Instead, they were stored for years in various New York City garages for years before being discovered by two families who bought them and began having them restored by Dream Cars Restoration’s Chris Mazzilli.

“All 36 were entombed in 25-plus years of dust with flat tires,” Mazzilli said. “It was the greatest Corvette barn find in history.”

Mazzilli and the Heller and Spindler families who purchased the cars from Max all have military backgrounds and decided to break up the collection and give them to 36 different people to raise funds for Stand for the Troops, a charity that helps combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.

Ryan’s Corvette is the 28th given away so far, and he was elated about the surprise Corvette. “Stuff like this doesn’t happen to me,” he said. “It really doesn’t. I’m over the top right now about this.”

Ryan said he plans to use the Corvette as a project car with his 8-year-old son.

“Guys coming up, learning how to work on stuff themselves is such an important thing to do,” he said. “I wanted to have something to show my son how to work on stuff, and this is a perfect timed blessing for our family.”

Eight Corvettes Still To Be Given Away

January 10th is the final deadline to enter one of the eight Corvettes remaining from the Lost Corvettes Collection: 1953, 1956, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1976, 1981, and 1985. Tickets for The Lost Corvettes start at $3 each with bonus ticket levels beginning at $25 and up. CorvetteBlogger readers receive Double Entries with ticket packages starting at $25!

Visit the Lost Corvettes today!

Source:
Spectrum News